Staying the Course
September 30th 2009 08:33
Along with five other trainees, I began a course today to become a Supervisor. Not as in supervising people who are working under me, but as in supervising those who come to me for supervision.
Plainly I've learned a lot already.
Supervision is in the same family as counselling, but its focus is different. People who come for supervision are there to discuss their work situation, and to think through difficulties and try and find some solutions. It isn't the task of the supervisor to find these for him or her, but to help the supervisee get a clearer handle on what's going on. Sometimes a solution will be found; sometimes not. Sometimes finding a solution isn't really the issue, and other underlying things have to be looked out.
It's a place for the supervisee to feel free to discuss anything about their work and their relation to it in a confidential environment, and to look at both good and bad stuff. A kind of sounding-board, or wailing wall (if necessary). It's a way of letting this person take some of the tension out the work situation, look at problems that are bugging him/her continually and make some progress.
Sometimes a supervisee will need to go onto a counsellor, especially if things are stressful and causing depression or mental health issues.
One of the current aims of our team is that the office supply new supervisors for the ministers working in the various churches. And the only way we can do that is by training new ones. So we're the first batch of a group that will be trained in two years time.
Anyway, the five other trainees and I had a fairly informal day - about five hours - and made some inroads into the process of learning what we're supposed to be learning. It was something of a 'feel your way' day all round; the trainer was working with a revamped curriculum, and having to find his way with it as well. So we were acting as guinea pigs in a sense.
We probably could have got through the material itself in well under five hours, but a good deal of the day was spent in forming a group (though there's still one more guy to come - he's overseas at the moment). Some of us knew each other already (three of us work in the same office) and only one of the people was totally new to me. The trainer was also someone I knew, from back when I worked in the shop. So it wasn't a group that was starting completely from scratch, and even the person who didn't know the rest of us fitted in quite comfortably.
We have 'homework' to do: writing up reflective journals based on a list of important life events we compiled towards the end of the session today. It's the sort of thing I do anyway, though here it'll be required to be a bit more focused.
So far the course has seemed relaxed and relatively easy. Time will tell whether that's a false impression!
Plainly I've learned a lot already.
Supervision is in the same family as counselling, but its focus is different. People who come for supervision are there to discuss their work situation, and to think through difficulties and try and find some solutions. It isn't the task of the supervisor to find these for him or her, but to help the supervisee get a clearer handle on what's going on. Sometimes a solution will be found; sometimes not. Sometimes finding a solution isn't really the issue, and other underlying things have to be looked out.
It's a place for the supervisee to feel free to discuss anything about their work and their relation to it in a confidential environment, and to look at both good and bad stuff. A kind of sounding-board, or wailing wall (if necessary). It's a way of letting this person take some of the tension out the work situation, look at problems that are bugging him/her continually and make some progress.
Sometimes a supervisee will need to go onto a counsellor, especially if things are stressful and causing depression or mental health issues.
One of the current aims of our team is that the office supply new supervisors for the ministers working in the various churches. And the only way we can do that is by training new ones. So we're the first batch of a group that will be trained in two years time.
Anyway, the five other trainees and I had a fairly informal day - about five hours - and made some inroads into the process of learning what we're supposed to be learning. It was something of a 'feel your way' day all round; the trainer was working with a revamped curriculum, and having to find his way with it as well. So we were acting as guinea pigs in a sense.
We probably could have got through the material itself in well under five hours, but a good deal of the day was spent in forming a group (though there's still one more guy to come - he's overseas at the moment). Some of us knew each other already (three of us work in the same office) and only one of the people was totally new to me. The trainer was also someone I knew, from back when I worked in the shop. So it wasn't a group that was starting completely from scratch, and even the person who didn't know the rest of us fitted in quite comfortably.
We have 'homework' to do: writing up reflective journals based on a list of important life events we compiled towards the end of the session today. It's the sort of thing I do anyway, though here it'll be required to be a bit more focused.
So far the course has seemed relaxed and relatively easy. Time will tell whether that's a false impression!
| 32 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
