Professional Supervision

Professional supervision is offered for both individuals and for teams of workers in welfare organsiations.

Approach to Professional Supervision:

Professional supervision provides an opportunity for workers to reflect on their practice. My approach to professional supervision is based in a reflective approach to practice.

I believe that awareness is the essence of reflective practice – it is being conscious of what we are doing and why. Being conscious is important because it is the only way that we can ensure growth and change. If we are not conscious of what we are doing and why we are doing it, then the opportunities for change are limited. I believe that we need to be aware of how our values and understandings relate to our practice and how we, at times, will find it challenging to be consistent with this in our practice. I believe that inconsistencies between what we believe and know and what we do in practice, are the source of much tension for workers in this sector.

It is also widely acknowledged that the most effective tool in the prevention of vicarious trauma is awareness and therefore a reflective approach to practice can assist us in maintaining a healthy approach to practice which embraces a positive work-life balance and a high level of self care.

In keeping with my overall philosophy, workers who come for external professional supervision will provide the agenda for the sessions and will at all times be in control of the content and the direction of the discussion. I offer an informal and safe environment in which workers can explore the issues that are most important to them.

As a professional social worker I am committed to providing the highest quality professional supervision services. I am also committed to my ongoing professional development and I am involved in a range of activities to ensure that my practice is current and relevant to workers’ needs and community issues.

I am an accredited member of the Australian Association of Social Workers; a member of the Australian College of Social Workers (Clinical Division); an Accredited Clinical Social Worker, and an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker.

Individual Supervision: 

Individual supervision is offered in a safe, supportive environment allowing workers an opportunity to reflect on any aspect of their work, or on any issues that are impacting on their work. Generally, there are a number of ways that workers might use external professional supervision including:

  • debriefing critical incidents, support to deal with traumatic issues in the workplace
  • discussing client issues and possible responses, especially complex client issues
  • strategising organisational or team issues
  • exploring professional issues such as career direction, expansion of worker’s skill base, further study possibilities, current training opportunities, etc.
  • self care and personal and emotional well being

In addition to appointments in my office, supervision is offered to workers over the phone or by Zoom.

Team Supervision: 

I provide external professional supervision and facilitation to teams of workers. This may occur in the workplace or at my office.

There are a number of ways in which organisations might use team supervision, including:

  • debriefing critical incidents in the workplace that have impacted on a number of workers
  • group discussion of client issues often in the format of case review where workers rotate the presentation of a client issue
  • skills based learning where workers identify skills that they wish to focus on (similar to a training workshop format)
  • organisational and team functioning where the focus is on the health of the team and ways that the team might work more effectively together, including ongoing team building
  • self care and work-life balance for all members of the team
  • team planning and visioning
  • impacts of external factors on the team and on service delivery

Confidentiality: 

All professional services are treated with the strictest confidence and the details of my policy on confidentiality can be found in the documents attached to this page.

As a professional social worker I am an accredited member of the Australian Association of Social Workers and I adhere to the policies and Code of Ethics of the Association. The AASW Code of Ethics can be viewed at www.aasw.asn.au

A policy on confidentiality and privacy of information is provided to all clients prior to the first session. A copy of the policy is included in the Client Consent form attached below. All clients are required to sign this consent form which outlines the confidentiality policy and fees etc.

Cost:

The cost for a one hour individual professional supervision session is $220. Because supervision incurs a GST the total cost is $242. Workers should be aware that external professional supervision is generally considered to be an expense incurred in the course of your professional work and is commonly considered a legitimate tax deduction. Please keep your receipts for this purpose and discuss it with your tax accountant.

The cost of team supervision or facilitation is $330 per hour plus 10% GST. A fee of $125 per hour (+GST) is charged for travel time outside Metropolitan Brisbane.

Eftpos and credit card facilities are available at my office. Invoices are issued for organisational payment.

Referrals: 

Referrals can be made by contacting me either by phone (07-3311 2329) or email (mail@jennygilmore.com.au). If you have questions or issues that you would like to discuss with me first, I am more than happy to speak with you on the phone and answer any of your questions.

After we have made an appointment, I will send you an information pack which confirms our appointment and gives you details of the counselling process and the relevant forms to be filled out and brought to your first session.