Abstract

Challenges in Professional Supervision draws on the latest research and theory to explore issues, trends and developments in supervision work.

The provision of excellent supervision is strongly linked to improved performance and staff retention. In this book, supervision is examined across a broad range of settings, addressing concerns common to a range of professions, including health, social work and counselling. The book is divided into two sections: the first describes the contemporary themes in professional supervision and the second discusses the models and skills being employed to deliver it. Issues such as supervising ethically, practitioner wellbeing and managing the process are all explored. There are also chapters on group supervision, supervision of managers and how to have difficult conversations.

This book is ideal for managers and senior practitioners in health and social care with an active interest in developing, energising and inspiring their supervision practice, as well as academics interested in keeping up-to-date with developments in the field.

This book is written by the two people who know most about professional supervision: Liz Beddoe and Allyson Davys. What is most exciting is the critical analysis that they bring; they really understand the complexities in practice today, and in exploring the challenges in supervision, they challenge us to raise our game, so that there are better outcomes for those who use our services.
Professor Viviene Cree, School of Social & Political Science, The University of Edinburgh
The scope of this text is truly impressive. The authors are unflinching in their critical analysis of the urgent developmental challenges facing supervision in all the health professions today. Their scholarly and up-to-date knowledge of the professional literature and current research in the field, combined with their keen awareness of the hard realities of practice in diverse contexts, makes for invigorating reading.
Jim Holloway, BACP Senior Accredited Supervisor, partner in Cambridge Supervision Training, co-author of Practical Supervision: How to Become a Supervisor for the Helping Professions
Liz Beddoe is Associate Professor in the School of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Liz has a background in social work in health settings and has been an academic for two decades. Liz's main teaching and research interests include critical perspectives on social work education and professionalisation, professional supervision, and political and news media framing of social work and social problems. Allyson Davys is a registered social worker who has a background of practice, supervision, teaching and management in health, social care and the tertiary education sectors. Her interest in professional supervision covers more than twenty years of supervision practice, education and research. Currently she is focussing on research, academic writing and doctoral study and has a small private practice. She has a particular interest in supervision as a generic practice and across different professions. They are the authors of Best Practice in Professional Supervision, also published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.