Trust, Power and Safety in the Social Work Supervisory Relationship: Results from Australian Research

Abstract

Social work, as a discipline, places considerable importance on the provision of supervision, promoting it as a key process supporting critical reflection and practice improvement. A supervision relationship built on trust has the potential to provide a safe context within which practice issues can be explored. This article reports on an Australian study of social work supervision and the ways in which a trusting supervision relationship supports safe practice and critical reflection. A context of trust within the supervisory relationship is found to promote safe practice, providing the basis for what supervisees felt was satisfying supervision. Within a trusted and supportive supervisory re..