Refocusing Child Protection Supervision: An Innovative Approach to Supporting Practitioners

Abstract

There is mounting empirical evidence regarding the potential negative impact of child protection work on practitioners' emotional and psychological well-being. Stress and burnout are endemic amongst this group of workers and there is increasing recognition of the influences of this on their decision-making regarding child protection issues. Supervision has been lauded as an important element in supporting practitioners. It creates opportunities for identifying stress and potential burnout and for implementing supportive mechanisms. However, many supervision models focus almost entirely on identification, referral and procedural issues to the exclusion of addressing practitioner's emotional needs. This paper presents an argument that technical–rational models of supervision fall short of meeting the emotional needs of those who engage in child protection work. A refocusing is suggested that encourages practitioners to adopt a reflective stance towards child protection practice, specifically one that focuses on the affective aspects of child protection work. To achieve this, an innovative, reflective approach is proposed—termed the “Peshkin Approach to Reflection”, it is grounded in recent developments of reflective practice from within nursing that acknowledge the primacy of emotions. The paper outlines the key stages involved and illustrates its ability to enhance practitioners' emotional well-being. Importantly, it also highlights its potential to impact positively on practice. It is advocated that the Peshkin Approach to Reflection be incorporated into child protection supervision to counter the traditional, long-standing technical-rational focus of most supervisory models. It will require empirical testing and evaluation to assess its full impact in a child protection context. However, based on use of the approach in other settings, it is likely to hold considerable benefit for practitioners who use it and, indirectly, the children they seek to protect.