Benefits of Supervision

[00:00:00] Marie Vakakis: Clinical supervision isn’t just a professional obligation. It is one of the most powerful tools I have for staying grounded, ethical, and connected in this work. In this episode, I’m sharing why supervision matters, how it’s shaped my own growth, and why I believe every social worker deserves access to high quality, psychologically safe support.

[00:00:22] Marie Vakakis: Hello and welcome to the Inside Social Work Podcast. I’m your host, Marie Vakakis, an accredited mental health social worker, family, and couples therapists, mental health educator, and well clearly a podcaster. In this solar episode of the Inside Social Work Podcast, I’m diving into why clinical supervision is more than just a box to tick.

[00:00:39] Marie Vakakis: It’s a powerful, reflective tool that supports us do the work we do well sustainably and with integrity. For me, clinical supervision has always been about creating a structured and reflective space where I can think critically about my work and unpack the emotional toll and challenge my blind spots, and this [00:01:00] is very different to sort of line management.

[00:01:03] Marie Vakakis: Task allocation, and I’ve had that as well. It was given or offered as supervision, but it really wasn’t supervision in the clinical sense. It was one-on-one meeting with someone, you know, a team leader or someone higher up and literally going through all the cases, you know, have you got enough resources?

[00:01:22] Marie Vakakis: How long are you spending with each one? Who can we allocate who needs to be discharged? And it wasn’t about reflective practice, it wasn’t a place to. Learn to grow. And I, I remember actually feeling like, well, if I’m trying to negotiate maybe a pay rise or you know, a promotion, I’m not gonna talk about the things that I’m struggling with.

[00:01:41] Marie Vakakis: Why on earth would I admit those things? So it felt very perfunctory and based on sort of ticking boxes and as someone who likes to learn, and if you’ve been listening for a little while. You know, I love learning, and if you haven’t, this is your first episode you’ve stumbled across, you’ll get to know that about me very [00:02:00] soon.

[00:02:00] Marie Vakakis: If there’s something that interests me or I wanna learn more about, I will do a course. I’ll get a book, I’ll listen to a podcast or do a webinar. And so I remember being a really eager and hungry social worker. Social worker was my second qualification. Well, my first one wasn’t really a qualification. My first degree didn’t really.

[00:02:17] Marie Vakakis: Give me any guidance. It was just a psychology degree with, with no anything else. And I was so eager to learn and to grow and to do things and to, you know, put all these things into practice and supervision was very much task allocation. And it wasn’t until I moved into more therapeutic roles. And started paying for external supervision that I realised what it was supposed to be like.

[00:02:39] Marie Vakakis: And supervision is, you know, a staple. You know, in the world of mental health for psychologists, social workers, counselors, it’s a important part of our work, but it’s also mandatory as part of our qualifications. For an accredited mental health social worker, there are a certain amount of hours you need to do for supervision.

[00:02:55] Marie Vakakis: I think it’s like 10, which I would do that in about a month. I’m [00:03:00] super keen, so probably don’t compare yourself to that, but it’s now also showing up in other settings like NDIS in education and in support work. And it makes sense. Anyone who regularly supports people is going to run into emotionally complex situations.

[00:03:13] Marie Vakakis: And so supervision’s not, it’s not about watching someone’s work and critiquing it. It’s not like management sort of looking down and supervising you like you know, you’re training to do your job. Clinical supervision or external supervision. There’s different words depending on. Your industry, it’s about personal growth, professional growth, reflective practice, and I’ve worked with people from a range of sectors and the moment we build in supervision.

[00:03:40] Marie Vakakis: Things shift. People feel more grounded, less isolated, and more connected to their professional identity, and they feel a little bit more secure in themselves. And they learn to trust their own instincts, and they learn when to receive support, how to ask for it, how to navigate tricky situations, and it’s ongoing.[00:04:00] 

[00:04:00] Marie Vakakis: I have supervision regularly. I have several different supervisors as well as group supervision and I’m in a number of different groups. Some peer led and some are led by a supervisor. So a lot more structure and I love the richness of group supervision. And there’ll be another episode coming out a little bit later about just group supervision on its own.

[00:04:20] Marie Vakakis: ’cause it can be, it’s so when it’s facilitated well, it’s incredibly affirming and expansive. And I have one group that I’ve been with now for about five years. I love it. Absolutely love being a part of that group. And then I also run a couple of groups myself. But anyway, I’m not here to talk about group supervision today.

[00:04:37] Marie Vakakis: I’m talking about individual supervision. It’s so important because it supports ethical decision making and clinical reasoning, and it helps manage some of that, you know, this psychological impact, that emotional impact of the work, especially things like vicarious trauma. And I think it’s a really key piece of burnout, prevention.

[00:04:55] Marie Vakakis: I know for me, regular supervision helps me. Sort of recalibrate [00:05:00] and just check in with myself. And sometimes my supervisor, especially after a while, building up a relationship with the same supervisor, they kind of get a sense of what’s your baseline? What’s your kind of normal, and can bring to your attention, Hey, you’re sounding a little more fatigued.

[00:05:16] Marie Vakakis: Or, you know, maybe your compassion’s running out a little bit. They can pull out some of those things that just help you check in with yourself, with, check in with how you’re feeling. So it is about. The work, the clinical work, but it’s also about how we show up as people in this work and things like transference and counter transference.

[00:05:35] Marie Vakakis: Are so valuable to explore and to understand. And I know that some of my favorite topics when I do supervision as a supervisor to bring out in my supervisees is to think about what is evoked for you? What is curious about why that particular client you find difficult? And leaning into some of those things and understanding them a little bit more is really helpful and not, not just for.

[00:05:59] Marie Vakakis: [00:06:00] Counseling roles like in private practice. I’ve done this work with people in mental health outreach teams and in organisations that aren’t sort of clinical in their nature, but they come across people’s stories and they hear about traumatic experiences or people’s living situations or. The systemic issues surrounding someone’s access to healthcare education, and it evokes feelings for them.

[00:06:24] Marie Vakakis: It touches on things that they’ve experienced or pain that they’ve seen for someone else. Stories, feelings, emotions, thoughts, all of these things. And we can’t just ignore that. We need a space to be able to process that. And also how we then talk about it when we get home. And that’s one of the things I also focus on, especially when there’s traumatic events and people are working in very frontline prickly work is how to set up some ways that you can talk about your day when you go home with your parents, partner, husband, wife, housemate, any, whoever it is that you’re talking to without.

[00:06:59] Marie Vakakis: [00:07:00] Trauma dumping on them without sort of exposing them to vicarious trauma and also so that they know how to support you. ’cause I know when I, when I was first starting out, especially on placement, uh, my placement was in child protection and I was, I was a young social worker. It was my first placement and I was.

[00:07:18] Marie Vakakis: Being exposed to some of the worst stories I have ever heard in my life. Like things that I didn’t even think I had seen in, you know, episodes of Criminal Minds or you know, this SVU and those old law and order shows that I sometimes still watch. And I’d be hearing all that and then going home and, you know, I had housemates and I’d have, you know, weekly dinner with my parents and I didn’t know what to share.

[00:07:43] Marie Vakakis: I mean, how do you. How do you share what, what you’ve seen and what you’ve experienced without trauma dumping on them or without them giving the kinds of responses that were so unhelpful, like, oh goodness, I could, I, I don’t know how you deal with that. And then just dismissing it [00:08:00] entirely. So I like to help people.

[00:08:03] Marie Vakakis: And maybe that’s the couples therapist and family therapist in me is actually then, well, how do we have conversations about that as well when we get home? How do we let our partner parents, whoever you’re living with, know you’ve had a tough day? Maybe you can share some of the feelings behind what you’ve, you know, what you’ve experienced without having to share the detail.

[00:08:21] Marie Vakakis: And then how can you also keep some things in perspective? Because we can be exposed to some really difficult things and sometimes that can give us loads of compassion. I know for me at times it has been like I’m a very empathic person and I’m, I’m the kind of, I’ll cry in commercials. I’ve been right on a plane watching sad movies.

[00:08:41] Marie Vakakis: Tears will flood. But there’s something about, I don’t know whether it’s a threshold that I’ve reached in the past where someone will complain about something like, I don’t know, a burnt pavlova and. In my head, I’m thinking, are you kidding me? That’s not a real problem. Do you want me to tell you what a [00:09:00] real problem is?

[00:09:00] Marie Vakakis: Do you want me to share with you what someone has told me today? And I don’t say that sometimes I come really close, but I know that that pops up when I’m feeling. Overloaded when I’ve got a lot of complexity on my caseload or some things that I haven’t quite worked through, and whether that is with my own self-care and, and burnout prevention and stress management, or whether it’s with fatigue with the, the stories and having, you know, needing a space to process that.

[00:09:27] Marie Vakakis: So ping aware of those things is super important. Now I wanna talk a little bit about psychological safety and I mean, we, I’m not gonna go into sort of work cover legislation or anything like that, but part of. Having a good supervisor, and this is where it might be, you might have a really great line management supervisor.

[00:09:45] Marie Vakakis: There’s still, sometimes it can be hard to fully open up if you feel like maybe at some point they’re gonna be your referee or you are wanting a promotion or you know, they’re, they’re signing your, you know, you’re essentially signing your pay slips. But that can be hard because we need to create a [00:10:00] space where we feel that we can open up, where we feel we can be heard, validated, empathised, and.

[00:10:07] Marie Vakakis: Learn and get what we need out of that environment. And so as a supervisor, the relationship can be sort of like with therapy, where you wanna build a bit of a, a therapeutic alliance and a rapport and understand what that person needs if you’re capable of providing that. And it can be co-created. And so working back and forth and working together and collaborating on what you want the supervision to look like, continuing to check in.

[00:10:32] Marie Vakakis: As a supervisee, I think it’s important to realise, yes, there’s a power imbalance, especially if it’s line management, but this is also your learning opportunity. This is your chance for growth. And you are also a professional in this context, so being able to let your supervisor know how you like to learn, or even saying, I’m not sure, but could we try a few things.

[00:10:54] Marie Vakakis: It’s really an opportunity to practice some of those difficult conversations, practice being [00:11:00] assertive and practice asking for what you need. And even overt in that and even saying, look, I’m not very good at this. Maybe I’m beginning. As a therapist or as a social worker, and I don’t know how to make the most outta supervision.

[00:11:10] Marie Vakakis: Is that something we can talk about? And creating a bit of a rhythm between you both can be so valuable. So how do you choose a supervisor? I get this a lot and I see people post things in particular groups around. I need a supervisor who’s good this, this, and this. And I think it can be like therapy where you might want a particular modality.

[00:11:31] Marie Vakakis: Like if I was looking for. Therapy, I might say. I want someone who knows schema therapy and who can work with relational things and family therapy, and that’s important. You’ll need to have someone who understands the type of work you do and has some skills and expertise and experience in that. So they’re good questions to ask.

[00:11:50] Marie Vakakis: You know, when I’ve looked for supervisors, I’ve asked myself, do I want someone with a specific lens, like a feminist lens or trauma informed or. A particular modality, like EMDR therapy or act. [00:12:00] But then I also want people who maybe specialise in the same niches as me, so work with young people, or at the moment I’m doing my Gottman certification.

[00:12:09] Marie Vakakis: So my supervisor is a Gottman trained therapist, because that’s what is important for that pathway. I also have someone who I do EMDR therapy supervision with, because that’s part of, you know, the consultation pathway for that. So those things are important to me. And then I have. People that I use for family therapy case conceptualisation.

[00:12:28] Marie Vakakis: So those skills are important. And then there’s also about the person’s style. You know, you can ask them what’s your supervision style? Have you supported supervisees through accreditation? So if you’re wanting to apply for your. Mental health accreditation, or if you are applying for accreditation as an EMDR practitioner through MDR, maybe for your clinical family therapy registration.

[00:12:51] Marie Vakakis: There might be certain people that you need or certain credentials that your supervisor needs, but also experience in that process [00:13:00] and even asking, you know, what’s your experience with my client group? How do you structure your sessions? So don’t be afraid to ask these questions. Don’t be afraid to meet people more than one.

[00:13:09] Marie Vakakis: You know, they might have a five, 10 minute phone conversation. If that’s not enough, have a whole session. It might take a little bit of work. You might need to try a few different people to find the right fit, and that’s okay, because if you find the right person or someone that you can connect with, it’s going to mean that you’re more comfortable and you can really bring more of yourself to those sessions.

[00:13:31] Marie Vakakis: It can be hard. And I think when we talk about professional sort of things that we find difficult or our air quotes, you know, weaknesses or blind spots, that’s hard to talk about on the best of days. So finding a supervisor who feel like they’re not gonna judge you, that they’re going to be open, curious, explore those things with you is so important.

[00:13:53] Marie Vakakis: So I wanna share a story here and. I’ve just got it here as my tea story. And I had a supervisor, [00:14:00] it was one of the first ones I tried externally, and she had, um, a nice room. Her credentials looked good and she had this little table with a teapot and tea. I, I love drinking tea if you haven’t picked that up.

[00:14:12] Marie Vakakis: I drink several cups a day and she had this beautiful teacup with this like teapot and all these flavors and I was like, oh, great. And I went to make a cup of tea and she’s like, oh no, that’s for clients. So she had this fancy tea and teapot just for her and wouldn’t share it. And I was just like, are you kidding me?

[00:14:29] Marie Vakakis: Like I’ve just come from working a full day, busting my butt in my workplace, dealing with all of these things, and I’ve come here. And she wouldn’t even give me a cup of tea like it felt. So I was so taken back by that, that I was horrified. We didn’t click for a number of reasons, but that was one of the things that really sort of, I guess, stood out to me.

[00:14:51] Marie Vakakis: And so this is, I mean, that’s something you can’t really quantify, right? Like how do you create the space that someone feels comfortable and doesn’t get shitty over? [00:15:00] A cup of tea. But again, we just, we don’t know. And that person actually wasn’t very receptive to feedback. She was very brief in her emails and kind of made me feel like I had done something wrong instead of taking on board feedback.

[00:15:15] Marie Vakakis: And I don’t remember the details and I don’t have those emails anymore, but it was so long ago. But I do remember it as a particularly negative experience. Maybe now I could do it different and provide some different feedback or give things to her, you know, give her the benefit of the doubt and try again.

[00:15:30] Marie Vakakis: But it just, it just didn’t work and I needed it to work. I needed someone I could really trust and I could connect with and talk to, to be able to talk about the difficult things happening in my caseload and at my, at my job. And over time, I mean, my supervision needs have changed. They’ve absolutely changed over the years, and I think that’s normal.

[00:15:50] Marie Vakakis: At the start, it was a lot more. Content specific. I was working more in case management roles and I really wanted to know, how do I do this? How do I [00:16:00] refer here? What helps available? There was a lot of resources that I needed and I didn’t have an awareness of the use of sense of self, and sometimes that wasn’t even an option.

[00:16:09] Marie Vakakis: Because people were in such crisis points in their lives, there was so much sort of fast-paced demand needed. That reflective practice wasn’t really available. We did cover it in in practice groups. We had professional practice groups. We had a social worker practice group, which was amazing. And actually, I think one of the favorite things.

[00:16:26] Marie Vakakis: One of the best things at the time ’cause the work could have was so intense, was actually a sort of weekly or monthly, I can’t remember now, a meditation group that was offered around lunchtime. And so actually spending time with my colleagues without talking with guided meditation was phenomenal.

[00:16:44] Marie Vakakis: Anyway, that’s got nothing to do with supervision, but sometimes supervision is just one of the things we need. We need lots of other things. And over time my needs have changed and grown, and I’ve changed supervisors, but I’ve had those conversations with them. I’ve not just abandoned them. I’ve actually said, [00:17:00] thank you for the time that we’ve worked together.

[00:17:01] Marie Vakakis: I’m moving on to someone else, or my needs have changed, or my role has changed because I value that communication and I value that. They’re a person who I’ve built a relationship with and. I guess there’s a transactional component, but they’re also human and I owe them, well, I don’t owe them. I guess some people would have an issue with that, but I actually think it’s the right thing to do to say that I’m, I’m moving on, rather than just never booking sessions again and ignoring someone completely because.

[00:17:28] Marie Vakakis: That puts doubts in their mind of are they doing a good job? What did they need? Did they miss something? It doesn’t cost anything to put a few dot points in an email and let them know, you know, I’ve decided to focus on my EMDR accreditation. Or, you know, my last supervisor, I worked with her for several years and I was able to say, I’m moving on to someone who specialises in Gottman therapy.

[00:17:49] Marie Vakakis: I’m gonna work on the certification track, and I’ve loved working with you, and I got a lot out of it because I think having those conversations is really important. Now you might get from this episode, [00:18:00] I’m excited, enthusiastic about supervision, but it is not the everything. There are some limitations to supervision.

[00:18:07] Marie Vakakis: It’s important, but it’s not magic. It can’t fix a toxic work culture. It can’t fix under-resourced teams or structural barriers in the sector. It needs to sit within. A wider wellbeing strategy and supervision being one piece of that puzzle. And this goes for individuals organising supervision. I get pulled into a lot of organisations to run group supervision and individual supervision, but it’s also, if you’re the individual seeking it out, your supervisor can’t wave a magic wand.

[00:18:37] Marie Vakakis: They can help you understand some of those things and process it, but they can’t fix. All of those other things happening. And the last bit I wanna talk about is vicarious trauma and psychosocial hazards. Vicarious trauma is real and it builds up over time. I have felt it myself and it’s a slow erosion of empathy, of energy and of hope and a.

[00:18:58] Marie Vakakis: Sometimes I get [00:19:00] pulled into over-functioning and doing more and reading more and learning more, and signing up for more courses and then I burn out. Supervision is one of those tools that helps me notice early and it helps me make sense of what I’m holding and put some protective strategies in place and in my group supervision.

[00:19:16] Marie Vakakis: One of our first reflective activities is we go around the. The room and we, we give our valued living a score out of five how well we feel like we’re living in accordance and in congruence with our values and how burnout is, and I know when I’m very burnt out, it’s actually when I don’t wanna go to supervision that my instinct is like, no, I just need to do this extra thing or this extra case.

[00:19:40] Marie Vakakis: So sometimes even just. Checking in with, if I’m feeling ugh about going, that’s probably when I need it most, and that gives me a bit of a clue as to how I’m tracking. So your challenge if you choose to accept it, is think about your current supervision setup. It doesn’t meet your needs. Reach out to maybe a potential new [00:20:00] supervisor or ask your colleague, a colleague who they recommend, and if you don’t wanna change supervisors or you don’t need a new supervisor, awesome.

[00:20:08] Marie Vakakis: Reflect on your last session and think about what did you take away from it, what was missing, and maybe that’s a conversation that you can take to supervisor. I’ll pop a link in the show notes to a free PDF with some reflective questions around. Getting the most outta supervision. If you think that’s helpful, there’ll be linked to that in the show notes.

[00:20:29] Marie Vakakis: You can access that resource for free and keep your eyes and ears open, peeled listening, whatever to the podcast because there’ll be come up, coming up will be some other episodes around group supervision and reflective practice and all that kind of stuff. And if you’ve got a question that you want answered, there’s a link in the show notes or send me a dm, send me a voice memo.

[00:20:50] Marie Vakakis: I’d love to hear from you.