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SUPERVISION EXPERIENCE AND EXPECTATION
OF CHILD PROTECTION WORKERS IN ESTONIAN MUNICIPALITIES
child protection worker affected by client (the child and the family). Reflective
supervision guided by a psychoanalytic framework provides a sophisticated
model of containment that takes account of both conscious and unconscious
factors in drawing together an understanding of a case. If the social worker
can be better contained in their involvement with a case, then they will be in
a stronger position to offer the kind of containment that the client desperately
need." Supervision sets out to attend to the development of the supervisee’s
practice, to ensure adherence to legal and ethical working, and to support and
"restore" the helper. However, although increasingly recognized as being of
value in a range of helping professions, there are still numerous professionals
working in helping relationships who do not have access to supervision."
NEED OF SUPERVISION IN HELPING PROFESSIONS
The need for supervision across the helping professions has been argued
strongly. Hawkins and Shohet® assert that counselors, social workers, and
medical practitioners are not the only professionals who facilitate helping,
therapeutic, and healing relationships with clients. They cite a range of
practitioners in different employment contexts who engage with adults, young
people, and children in order to work toward positive change.? Hawkins and
Shohet” suggest that a heightened awareness of the need for supervision across
the helping professions exists. They cite a range of reasons for this. In particular,
they suggest that the issue of accountability for those who work in helping
relationships with clients has become paramount. One way for organizations
to ensure accountability is to provide supervision to their workforce, whereby
client work undertaken by each practitioner is scrutinized in depth." The
Estonian child protection workers acknowledged the need for the support and
supervision in order to maintain their own well-being as the child protection
work is difficult. Child protection workers mentioned the possibility of having
° A. Harvey - F. Henderson, Reflective Supervision for Child Protection Practice — Reaching
Beneath the Surface, Journal of Social Work Practice: Psychotherapeutic Approaches in Health,
Welfare and the Community, 28 (3) (2014), 355.
J. Westergaard, Line Management Supervision in the Helping Professions: Moving from
External Supervision to a Line Manager Supervisor Model, The Clinical Supervisor, 32 (2)
(2013) 170.
P. Hawkins — R. Shohet, Supervision in the helping professions, (3rd ed.), Milton Keynes, UK,
Open University Press, 2006.
° Ibid.
10 Ibid.
1° Ibid.
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