ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies the nature, rudiments and principal features of clinical supervision (CS), and in so doing be able to articulate what clinical supervision is and what it is not. It discusses why CS is useful for effective psychiatric/mental health nursing. The chapter identifies how engaging in effective CS can improve outcomes for clients, for nurses themselves and for the health care organization more broadly. Learning, growth and development within CS are also premised on the notion of lifelong learning, and such a position is clearly enshrined in the relevant nursing literature; particularly in the literature pertaining to ‘fitness for practice’, ‘continuing professional education and development’ and thus matters pertaining to ongoing nurse registration. In many contemporary health care settings, psychiatric and/or mental health nurses have a pronounced need to engage in supportive, emancipatory CS, particularly given the demise of traditional support systems, the emotionally challenging demands of mental health care and their increased accountability and responsibility.
