Reflective Supervision for our School Mental Health Specialists

Minds Ahead have taken an innovative approach to supporting their School Mental Health Specialist students. By providing a space for reflection, reflective supervision has helped our students enhance their well-being and improve their practice.

We know how busy school environments can be and how much our colleagues in education juggle. Sometimes we are so busy ‘doing’ that we don’t tale opportunities to reflect on what we have achieved and consider new possibilities.

Research supports the effectiveness of reflective supervision. A study found that reflective supervision had a positive impact on professionals’ well-being, job satisfaction and the ability to cope with job-related stress (Frosch et al., 2018). Another study highlights that reflective supervision is a unique professional development practice rapidly increasing in use and holds promise for building early childhood professionals’ social and emotional well-being (Susman-Stillman et al., 2020).

Minds Ahead’s model of reflective supervision takes a coaching approach not a clinical one.

Reflective supervision has given our students the opportunity to 

• Reflect on their achievements and strengths, enabling them to build confidence and trust in themselves. 
• Offload and process stressful situations that have led to overwhelm and dealing with high stakes accountability environments. 
• Challenge themselves to be part of the whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing culture change.
• Reflect on their current practices and gain the headspace to consider new possibilities and ways forward. 
• Navigate tricky workplace relationships that can often hinder their ability to embed strategic change. 

We are drawing out the Mental Health specialists’ skills/capacity rather than putting in as a therapist or mentor might do. Reflective Supervision is carried out on both a 1:1 and group basis. 

The 1:1s provide the opportunity for individual, tailored support allowing students to build their self-awareness, resilience and confidence to flourish as a School Mental Health Specialist. 

All  School Mental Health Specialists have been offered the opportunity to opt in to the programme. The programme provides huge value for the students from both a professional and personal development perspective.