Applying the Therapeutic Function of Professional Supervision: Attending to the Emotional Impacts of Human Service Work

This book discusses the therapeutic function of professional supervision for human services, emphasizing the emotional support it provides to workers, particularly in the face of rising complexities and emotional impacts such as stress, distress, and trauma. It challenges supervisors to embrace the therapeutic role and prioritize safe practice and worker well-being to deliver high-quality services to vulnerable populations. Developed from a 'lived experience perspective, it offers practical applications and models the integration of experience into learning and knowledge for practitioners across human services.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 140 pages
Publication date: 10 April 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This groundbreaking book offers a novel and insightful perspective on the practice of professional supervision for human services, shedding light on its often overlooked but therapeutic role. In the face of the ever-increasing complexities of our world and the growing recognition of the emotional toll that human service work can take, the discussion of therapeutic function becomes particularly pertinent. These impacts encompass stress, distress, emotional labor, indirect trauma, and direct trauma. This book poses a challenge and invitation to supervisors to embrace the therapeutic dimension of supervision, thereby enhancing emotional support for workers. It prioritizes safe practice and worker well-being, placing them at the core of supervision to enable the delivery of high-quality services to society's most vulnerable members. While grounded in theory, this book is designed to be practical and accessible, drawing from a 'lived experience perspective' to provide a unique insight into actual practice. By modeling one of the primary objectives of professional supervision, which is to facilitate and enable the integration of experience into learning and knowledge, this book holds appeal to practitioners across a wide spectrum of human services, particularly both new and experienced supervisors.

Weight: 290g
Dimension: 216 x 138 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032416366