Volunteer peer supervision: In an ever-changing social service environment

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to start a discussion around the importance of peer super- vision with social service volunteers (New Zealand Federation of Voluntary Welfare Organisations [NZFVWO], 2001, pp. 61-63). This will be achieved by addressing the history of volunteerism and the rise of Charitable Trusts (Styles, 1979, pp. 86-88). The structure of volunteerism changed, as policymakers identified the importance of including specific volunteer’s roles and functions in legislation. Furthermore, policymakers began introducing clarification around peer supervision and peer support, linking the importance of supervision for volunteerism in the social services (NZFVWO, 2001, pp. 61). The introduction of peer supervision for volunteers in the social services is to provide accountability around professional practice and registration for many social service professions. The importance of peer supervision for volunteers working in the social services should be viewed as a safeguard to provide better practice for the volunteer, client and agency (O’Donoghue, 1999, p. 7). Volunteering New Zealand (VNZ) offer an alliance with supporting agencies and government around volunteering best practice in the support and development of managers and coordinators of volunteers (VNZ, 2014, para 1-15). An example of this is the Volunteer Army, which came to fruition around the Christchurch earthquakes, getting the community working alongside each other to support and help those in need. However, none of these professional bodies offer a code of ethics to provide guidelines to volunteers. The Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) does offer a Code of Ethics, not only to social workers but to all social services and volunteers (Beddoe & Randal, 1994, p. 31), which could be incorporated and used as a guideline. Although social work has a code of ethics guideline there is still some debate around mandatory registration to provide accountability and safeguard clients and social work practice.