Supervision in Workplace Mental Health: Beyond Oversight?

The last ten years have seen the necessary increase in mental health and wellbeing strategies infiltrating all levels of organisations. What started with awareness campaigns, swiftly moved to EAPs, Apps, Training (in person, online, hybrid), Wellness Wednesdays, and then to designated workplace mental health roles and responsibilities.

The workplace mental health standards are changing. Are you keeping up?

It is likely that you, or someone on your team has been assigned the role of the mental health paramedic and has been trained to a first responder standard with a list of sign posting numbers, websites, clubs, GPs, apps, video tutorials, anti-panic-toys, etc…

But, the new question being posed to business owners and managers is; are these people being looked after?

We all know that those who are most likely to put their hand up to volunteer for these roles of responsibility are generally those who have had experience, either with their own or somebody close to them’s, poor mental health.

Are we putting people in vulnerable positions where they may be exposed to situations and conversations that they are not trained for without oversight?

This is where the magic of Supervision Sessions come in.

What is Supervision?

While Supervision may sound daunting, invasive and like you’re a five year old that needs constant monitoring, it is a very normal, and mandatory practice within the clinical world. It consists of an experienced and trained supervisor conversing and debriefing with somebody who has been supporting others.

What might be included in a Supervision Session:

• Debrief feelings on a specific case

• Manage case loads

• Advise on new strategy

• Ensure suitability of supporter

• Maintain good practice

• Escalate issues

• Highlight missed procedures

• Ensure accountability

At Arthur Ellis, all our Mentors have either group or personal supervision sessions with a trained supervisor to talk through their case load, how it has affected them, their practices and the way in which they have handled situations that have arisen. It is a time for our Mentors to unload any personal feelings, issues or doubts and give our supervisors a chance to steer treatment, and to ultimately, check up on our Mentor who may be finding some cases difficult.

What is Supervision in the workplace?

Well, if you have trained your staff member as a Mental Health Paramedic, then you are giving them the green light to manage any wellbeing case that comes their way. Supervision offers that person support in their decision making processes, guidance and a place to debrief. It can help to mitigate risk and provide peace of mind to both your employee and yourself.

Is Supervision overkill?

Put it this way, if you have trained staff to manage wellbeing cases but have no routine oversight of these cases or updated training, or support for those staff members, how can you know that those cases are being managed effectively? Supervision puts all those things in place in one session.

Arthur Ellis Supervision

At Arthur Ellis, we recognise the importance of looking after the individuals who are responsible for the well-being of others. It can be a daunting, and difficult role to navigate so having the proper support from external trusted ambassadors can give your team the confidence they need to effectively handle and manage well-being cases within your organisation.

Our supervisors are trained to understand, analyse and advise the professionals within your organisation on how best to handle individual cases and general initiatives, mitigating risk and providing peace of mind.

With specific focus on case management, sharing knowledge and best practice, our supervisors can provide your employees with support in decision making and confidence in case handling, whilst implementing another level of security for your organisation.

We have experienced practitioners who are accredited with the Association of Psychological Therapies in Providing Good Clinical Supervision with the capacity to support organisations across the city.

Round Up

The #MentalHealthAtWork landscape is changing. Supervision is the next step in providing your employees with the support they need to be working at their best.

Let’s make a change to our #WorkplaceMentalHealthStrategies to #SupportTheSupporter