Abstract

Effective supervision helps to nurture confident social workers who are able to look after service users in the best possible way. Social work supervisors and managers need mastery of the relevant knowledge and skills in order to ensure successful social work practice.

This book is an accessible guide to the essential skills of social work supervision. It covers the development of the supervisor–supervisee relationship, the assessment and management of risk, understanding and managing poor performance, and support for the supervisors themselves. The book follows a model which recognises the far reaching impact of supervision and provides a sound foundation for critical thinking and reflective practice. Practice vignettes and exercises for the reader are included throughout the book.

This book is essential reading for social work students, social work supervisors and managers, practice teachers and assessors, and trainers, as well as those in allied professions.

I found that this book contained wealth of knowledge and expertise. In fact each chapter contains so much information that it will merit being referred to tome and time again... It is an accessible text which brings together the literature on supervision and also makes useful links into general management theory and practice. I think all practitioners could benefit from reading it - from front line staff to senior managers - but it would be of particular benefit to supervisors of front line practitioners... Any tool that helps us understand it can only be useful.
Rostrum
I'm delighted to see a series that is accessible and that deals with the knowledge and skills needed to work creatively with the everyday concerns and complex issues encountered in direct social work practice. This series offers indispensable coverage of key issues.
Pamela Trevithick, Visiting Professor in Social Work, Buckinghamshire New University, UK
Jane Wonnacott is Director of In-Trac Training and Consultancy, UK, and is a qualified social worker, independent trainer and consultant. She has a long-standing interest in supervision and has trained social work supervisors across the UK. She co-wrote, with Tony Morrison, the Children's Workforce Development Council's guide and training programme for the supervisors of social workers in the first three years of their professional development.
In this intelligent and scholarly text, Jane Wonnacott offers an accessible and practical account of this important subject. This is an essential book for all supervisors and supervisees not least because it reminds us that "there is a direct link between the quality of supervision and outcomes for service users."
Pamela Trevithick, Visiting Professor in Social Work, Buckinghamshire New University, UK
This is a really useful volume that reminds us that relationships and managing relationships are at the centre of contemporary social work practice and at the heart of supervision. Jane Wonnacott engages her readers well and gives them the knowledge and the confidence to be an authoritative supervisor. This volume is full of helpful examples of ways to take on the challenges of being a supervisor, managing individual workers' performance and supervising social work assessments. It works well as a practical handbook for dealing with the day to day queries that will emerge for both new and experienced supervisors.
Dr Marian Brandon, Reader in Social Work, University of East Anglia
(...) Whatever service user group you work with, the models, tips and reflections are relevant and will help you to develop your own practice as a social work supervisor.
Social Work Matters
This book, written by an authority in the field, is especially welcome because the level of scholarship and the thoughtful application to supervisory practice offers both experienced and new supervisors a valuable resource.
Professor Jan Horwath, University of Sheffield