This past week, I attended a workshop for my license on “Reflective Supervision” and while many times, attending an all day workshop in a small, crowded room leaves me feeling bored, disinterested or extremely fatigued, this workshop was delightfully engaging. It didn’t hurt that they began the morning with a practice in “mindfulness” by asking us all to participate in a brief meditation. This workshop provided me with a reminder of how important and crucial time for reflection is for all of us, though particularly for those of us working with families and young children. I imagine that all of us, at some point or another in our work environments, have had some type of supervision. So much of our experience and our ways of thinking about our work and ourselves can be influenced by our relationship to our supervisor. In my work within the field of psychotherapy, supervision is one of the building blocks in the development of the therapist, offering a safe, weekly forum in which to explore and conceptualize the clinical work and to further understand the therapist’s own reactions and feelings that arise within their work with their clients.

Reflective supervision refers to a style of supervision that aims to create a respectful and reciprocal relationship between supervisor and supervisee that becomes a model for how the supervisee may relate to the families and children he/she serves. This method of supervision has been used particularly with those working in the infant and early childhood mental health field with great success. It provides the supervisee a forum in which to share, discuss and manage the complicated feelings that often arise in those of us providing services to families with great and complex needs. Supervisees working with these populations are often asked to make decisions related to domestic violence, child protective services, reunification, and other matters that affect many families with young children. The individuals making these decisions deserve and need a forum in which they can participate in the complex and careful thinking that these situations require. And reflective supervision is not just for those working in the mental health field. Early childhood educators, early interventionists, home visitors all benefit greatly from this support, guidance and time for reflection.

In the Bay Area, there are often trainings on Reflective Supervision, provided by Mary Clarie Heffron and Donna Davidovitz of Children’s Hospital Oakland Early Childhood Mental Health Program. While there are no upcoming trainings listed, I will be sure to post future trainings on this blog as they are scheduled.

For more information on Reflective Supervision, try the following resources:

• Learning through Supervision and Mentorship to Support the Development of Infants, Toddlers and Their Families. Arlington, CA: Zero to Three/National Center for Clinical Infant Programs.

• Heffron, M.C. “Reflective Supervision in Infant Toddler and Preschool Work.” In Finello, K. (Ed.) The Handbook of Training and Practice in Infant and Preschool Mental Health. John Wiley & Sons, 2005.