Week 8: Clinical Supervision

Week 8: Clinical Supervision. Quality supervision is essential to quality social work practice. Social workers often engage with diverse individuals who are experiencing crises or who need assistance to function in their daily lives. Social workers often consult with others about the issues they address in practice. Social workers also need to have someone with whom they can process their feelings and reactions associated with their clients. Clinical supervisors fulfill important roles as they advise social workers about how to handle particular situations. They also serve as sounding boards where social workers can process their emotional reactions.

Students will:

• Apply strategies for debriefing after trauma
• Evaluate supervisory and leadership skills

Learning Resources

Week 8: Clinical Supervision

Required Readings

National Association of Social Workers and Association of Social Work Boards. (2013). Best practice standards in social work supervision. Retrieved from https://www.socialworkers.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=GBrLbl4BuwI%3D&portalid=0

Required Media

Laureate Education (Producer). (2014c). Sessions: Levy (Episode 5 of 42) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

 

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 2 minutes.

Accessible player –Downloads–Download Video w/CCDownload AudioDownload Transcript

Credit: Provided courtesy of the Laureate International Network of Universities.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2014d). Sessions: Petrakis (Episode 4 of 42) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

 

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 2 minutes.

Accessible player –Downloads–Download Video w/CCDownload AudioDownload Transcript

Credit: Provided courtesy of the Laureate International Network of Universities.

Optional Resources

Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen, S. M. (Eds.). (2014a). Sessions: Case histories. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing [Vital Source e-reader].

Walden University. (2014). Master of Social Work home page. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Visit the Master of Social Work interactive home page to explore resources available to students in the program.

Discussion: Remaining Compassionate and Professional

As a social worker, you interact with individuals who are at various stages of change in their lives. This may become frustrating for you when clients are struggling to achieve their goals. Thus, it is important for you to develop strategies to process your experiences so that you can maintain your compassion and professionalism. As you consider the strategies you have developed to address these issues, also consider how you might help other social workers to develop such strategies. Perhaps you consulted with your supervisors when you had difficulty processing your emotions in particular situations. As you consider assuming a supervisory role, how might you apply your learning from those experiences to helping those whom you supervise?

For this Discussion, review the Levy case study in this week’s video. Consider how you, as a social worker, might address the challenge of remaining engaged with a client while not letting your emotions affect the interaction. Also, consider how you, as a supervisor, might discuss this topic with a social worker whom you supervise.

By Day 3

Post a strategy that you, as the social work supervisor in the Levy case study video, might use to debrief the social worker after the session described in the video.

Support your post with specific references to the resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references.

By Day 5

Read a selection of your colleagues’ posts.

Respond to at least two colleagues with a thoughtful question or suggestion that builds on your colleague’s strategy for debriefing.

Return to this Discussion to read the responses to your initial post. Note what you have learned and/or any insights you gained as a result of the comments your colleagues made.

Submission and Grading Information

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 8 Discussion Rubric

Post by Day 3 and Respond by Day 5

To participate in this Discussion:

Week 8 Discussion

Assignment: Journal: Supervising Others

Take a minute and think about the supervisors you have had in the workplace. What were characteristics of effective supervisors? As you reflect on these experiences, consider how supervision affected your ability to complete the tasks associated with your job. Also, think about how leadership styles can influence the relationship between social workers and their supervisors.

For this Assignment, review the Petrakis case study in this week’s video and note how supervisory and leadership skills are portrayed.

Assignment (4–5 paragraphs)

Complete the following Journal entry:

• Identify attributes of leadership styles and approaches that facilitate quality supervision.
• Evaluate the supervisory and leadership skills demonstrated in the Petrakis case study by identifying which supervisory and leadership skills the supervisor demonstrated.
• Explain whether the supervisor in the video demonstrated quality supervision, and why. Provide specific examples to support your evaluation.

By Day 7

Submit your Assignment.

Submission and Grading Information

To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:

• Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK8Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
• Click the Week 8 Assignment link.
• Next, click Create Journal Entry.
• In the title box, enter the title of the Journal Entry. Please title it: WK8Assgn+last name+first initial.
• In the Entry Message box, type your Journal Entry or click Browse My Computer and select the document you saved as “WK8Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.
• Click Post Entry.

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 8 Assignment Rubric

Check Your Assignment Draft for Authenticity

To check your Assignment draft for authenticity:

Submit your Week 8 Assignment draft and review the originality report.

Submit Your Assignment by Day 7

To submit your Assignment:

Week 8 Assignment

Week 8: Clinical Supervision

Week in Review

This week you applied strategies for debriefing after trauma and evaluated supervisory and leadership skills.

Next week you will focus on how to help raise funds for organizations and ensure that the funds are spent effectively. You will also examine ways to demonstrate how resources will be used to support the mission of the organization.

Week 8: Clinical Supervision

Looking Ahead

As you work through the course, keep your Final Project in mind. For full details, refer to Week 10.

To go to the next week:

Week 9