Clinical Supervision and Professional Support in Bolton PCT

How does the scheme work?

As a supervisor:

If you have clinical supervision training from outside the Trust, have your own supervision, and have your line manager’s permission, and would like to offer your services to Trust staff, you can have your name on the Register (NHSnet only) which is open to all staff.
If you would like to be a supervisor but have no training, or would like a top-up, do attend one of the regular 2-day, multidisciplinary, solution focused training courses run at Pikes Lane. After this (provided you have the permission of your line manager and have your own regular supervision) you will be invited to join the Register.
Once on the Register you may be contacted by a potential supervisee from anywhere in the Trust. You can normally take up to three supervisees. If you feel you have enough, whether this is one, two or three supervisees, you can explain that you have no places available for the time being.
The policy states that staff may have 4-6 hours per year of protected time for CS, so each session will take one hour (plus any travelling time). As a supervisor you will not take notes, except in certain well-defined circumstances laid down in the policy. You have no responsibility for monitoring your supervisee or ensuring that they do what they say they will, as we assume supervisees will be responsible for their own work and planning.
You can negotiate with your supervisee about offering extra sessions if they need them in exceptional circumstances, and about where you will meet. There is a standard contract in the policy which should be discussed, amended, and signed when both partners are happy with it. The only formal paperwork is a signature sheet we ask you both to sign every third session, and return to by email, so that we can monitor the use of supervision in the Trust (see policy)

As a supervisee

After checking with your line manager, you can contact anyone on the Supervisor Register and ask if they have any spaces available. If so, you can make an initial appointment to have a chat. If you then decide to continue, you can call the supervisor back and ask for further appointments. You and your partner will review how things are going at around the fourth session; it takes a few sessions to build up trust and effective collaboration. You can then make a joint decision about whether you’d like to continue to work together.
In supervision you can discuss anything which is part of your job or affects the way you do your job. Expect your supervisor to be interested in your strengths and successes and the pleasures of your work, as well as any problems or difficulties. Sometimes you may want to arrive ready to explore your thinking from a ‘blank mind’ rather than preparing an agenda.
Aside from the circumstances of Child Protection issues and the like, (all the exceptions are detailed in the policy) your supervisor will treat the relationship as completely confidential and will not take notes, although you are welcome to do so if you wish. You’ll be invited to review how useful the sessions are at regular intervals. Supervision is not just for times of difficulty or weakness; it’s a career-long commitment. Prioritising sessions and booking them for the months ahead will ensure that you use them in a focused and effective way.