Clinical supervision can be a difference-maker

Last fall, we explained the benefits of using Walker Partnerships to provide clinical supervision to your school-based personnel.

Through the consultation model Walker Partnerships continues to provide direct clinical supervision to school-based social workers, guidance counselors, and school adjustment counselors. Several districts have purchased a set number of hours for the year to provide on-site clinical supervision and consultation to these critical service providers.

This supervision model has, in the words of one school-based staff member, allowed for the opportunity “to reflect upon the content and the process of their therapeutic work.”

In many districts, school-based professionals do not receive the ongoing clinical supervision that is essential to their work with students and families. When working in a school climate that is experiencing great pressure to effectively case-manage some of the most complex cases, clinical supervision becomes even more critical.

As one school adjustment counselor recently said, “I have been able to receive the ongoing clinical support I need to maintain a framework for counseling services, ranging from collaborative goal setting with clients, the use of treatment plans to track goals, and how to collect and utilize data to evaluate student progress.”

Clinical supervision: strengthening your team through education and support

 
This fall we have seen an increase in the number clients and colleagues who have looked to Walker Partnerships to provide clinical supervision to school-based personnel.

An essential component of the clinical work, case management, and professional development of a school adjustment counselor or school-based social worker, clinical supervision helps your team bring a powerful set of helping strategies to individual students and their families, relevant and applicable in school, at home, and in the community.

Walker Partnerships clinical supervision provides two major functions that enhance the service delivery of social workers and counselors: education and support.  Skilled supervision is a platform for continuous learning and helps professionals expand their breadth of knowledge, particularly related to evidence-based practices.  It is also a way to mediate the effects of the difficult challenges your helping professionals face each day by providing constructive feedback, building skills for managing and resolving conflicts, and facilitating cross-cultural communication.

Supervision traditionally includes an administrative component that involves directing responsibilities and evaluating performance. Although our supervisors do not provide these functions directly to staff members who are not Walker Partnerships employees, we do work very closely with building-based administrators to ensure that performance information about your school-based personnel—strengths, areas requiring growth—is incorporated into an employee’s evaluation.

With the help of Walker Partnerships, supervision can provide the support for your team that sustains morale, facilitates personal growth, and promotes an increased understanding of your shared mission, vision and values.