ABSTRACT

There are many settings such as residential institutions, therapeutic communities, day centres, hospital, clinic and social work departments where group work is a major method of service delivery or there are a number of workers running a variety of groups. These workers may be required to attend a supervisory group or it may be that a more experienced worker is called upon to offer guidance and assistance to less experienced workers. Initiating and running a group to help two or a number of group workers think about their work and develop their skills can appear to be a daunting task, so in this chapter I want to put forward a model for group supervision which presents the essential elements and tasks of the supervisory process. In Chapter 15 I distinguish between the consultant as one who is voluntarily sought

out by an individual group worker to help support and develop practice and the supervisor who has some responsibility for overseeing the worker’s practice. I focus on the very common dyadic relationship, whereas now I have in mind a form of group supervision where two or more group workers meet regularly with a facilitator for an hour or more to consider and share the dynamics and dilemmas generated by their work. It is essential that you read these two chapters together when planning a supervision group.