Thinking into, through and out of a concern
Describing the support you feel you need, to enable you to approach practice more curiously, those of you who responded to our survey frequently recognised the importance of good quality supervision which is systematic, outcome focused, and trauma informed. What you value are conversations with your managers, your peers and your wider team colleagues, which help you to have confidence in your professional instinct, to think about the questions you might ask in troubling situations and to deal confidently and meaningfully with the responses you receive.
The Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership previously offered best practice guidance which focused on ensuring the delivery of high quality and effective supervision to meet these exacting expectations of what good supervision sessions can achieve. More recently, however, senior leaders have recognised that ‘one size does not fit all’, acknowledging that different members of our diverse partnership utilise a whole number of supervision models which are inherently curious about the lived experiences of children.
When considering your comments, our expert practitioner group felt it was important to mirror that view, with members keen to include in this resource a section which considers the range and variety of the supervision models available to practitioners in Leeds. This section is both for those of you who receive effective supervision, to give information which we hope you find useful about alternative models to those you may already have in place, but is also for those of you who are looking for more constructive and structured ways to manage your supervision conversations. Take a look at the examples below:
Management support
Supportive managers are essential for practitioners to be successful at professional curiosity and looking beyond what they see.
In our work to develop this resource, our panel of expert practitioners from the LSCP Practitioner Group, stressed the importance of giving managers clear insight into what their teams find helpful and supportive
They told us that having the right management support is crucial in being professionally curious.
So, straight from the survey, here are some of the practitioner views we gathered:
- Access to resources, safeguarding training, and support from leadership or colleagues
- Management courage, to allow them to be inquisitive and to act on what they find, when they ask the right questions
- Encouragement to foster a person-centred approach in work with families, allowing them to build positive relationships in order to truly understand children’s lived experience
- The provision of a supportive environment, where they comfortable asking questions and discussing difficult conversations
- Access to workshops, briefings and short training sessions on professional curiosity
- Access to training on motivational interviewing techniques, to encourage the use of open-ended questioning and active listening
- Opportunities for role modelling, shadowing and peer supervision during professional post-induction periods
- Coaching and guidance on managing difficult situations curiously
- Reassurance and empowerment
One of the ways that the LSCP Business Unit is supports effective and curious conversations in teams, is by providing a series of Team Briefings; a manager’s resource which is focused on enabling them to foster peer learning, build confidence, and promote a culture of continuous improvement