The supervisory relationship is like a contract. Discussing a supervision agreement provides clarity around expectations and helps reveal what matters to each party, and gives both parties a voice to what happens during supervision. Supervision agreements can include discussion about: the benefits of supervision for organisations, professionals, and clients.
Expectations on the purpose and functions of supervision, including reflection.
How each party would like to handle disagreements and potential conflict. How each party would like to receive feedback, or feedforward, which focuses on future behavior. As well as the creation of supervisee wellbeing plans, which can be attached to the supervision agreement. Let's see how best to raise the supervision agreement within a first session.
I like to discuss supervision agreements with everyone I supervise. I find them useful and help prevent misunderstandings.
Have you done one before? I think I did one with my last supervisor. Did you get the blank supervision agreement I sent? And do you have any comments or anything you wanted to ask? I liked how it gets us to discuss the power between our work and relationship. But I did wonder, what was meant by transgressing boundaries?
Good question. That relates to the thinking of Vicky Reynolds and the ‘Zone of Fabulousness’.
She talks about us needing each other to help stay focused on the client in a healthy way. And to also be on the lookout for signs in ourselves and others of enmeshment or disconnection. Does that make sense? I can send you an article if you like.
Like all relationships, there will be times when supervisors and supervisees disagree or say something that causes conflict. In trauma and violence informed practice, this is referred to as a rupture, which needs repairing.
The supervisory agreement is a safe way of exploring how disagreements are best handled between the two parties. Sometimes during reflective supervision, I will be challenging with my questions and this might bring up some emotions, like anxiety, shame, or discomfort. This can happen when we approach what we call the learning edge.
And I'll need you to share with me if I'm touching on some discomfort so I can support you. Okay. And if I do say something upsetting, can you let me know? Yeah. And what do you want me to do if I sense you're upset? If it's during supervision, maybe ask if I need a break. Otherwise, check in with me privately. Sure. I also like to check in on how our relationship is going every six months.
I was thinking we could do this when we review our agreement. Does this suit you? Yeah. Getting back to the power imbalances that you raised before. I agree this is important if we're to work towards a ‘power with’ approach.
Do you want to tell me more about where this is sitting for you in terms of us working together? Going through each item of the supervision agreement will take time. It's often best to discuss the agreement over a couple of sessions, and then get it written up and signed.
In the next video of this series, we'll look at how to respond when a supervisee shares how their own lived experience of family violence impacted their work.
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