Professional Supervision in the domestic and family violence sector Ms Gabrielle Borggaard Nicholson
Accredited Family Violence Social Worker and Founder of Inner Vision Consulting
Professional Supervision Gabrielle’s experience spans the human services sector, including the domestic and family violence, child protection, family support, counselling, and disability areas. Her passion is the support and mentoring of staff, as well as emerging and seasoned leaders in the domestic and family violence sector. Recently she stepped out of a decade-long role as the CEO of the Domestic Violence Action Centre to pursue her commitment to enabling organisations, leaders, and practitioners to realise their vision. She is also in the process of completing a Research Master’s Degree, with the CQUniversity, exploring the incentives and challenges that exist for women leading specialist Domestic and Family Violence Services. Gabrielle is dedicated to co-creating a sustainable, ethical, equitable, and innovative social services sector. We have all chosen to work in the domestic and family violence (DFV) sector for different reasons. We might find it fulfilling to support people. Maybe we want to feel we are making a difference. We could be keen on developing policy, being at the coalface of practice or we could have lived experience or other reasons for being passionate about working with people who have been impacted by this kind of terror. Whatever the reason, whether we are in frontline or management roles, working in this sector comes with its own incentives and significant challenges. This work has a substantial impact on us as people and as practitioners. It will develop our strengths and skills in incredible ways, yet workers in this sector are also at a high risk of compassion fatigue, burnout, or vicarious trauma (Chiller & Crisp, 2012; Cortis, Seymour, Natalier, & Wendt, 2020; Friesema, 2016; O’Donoghue, Wong Yuh Ju, & Tsui, 2017). Being able to reflect on our responses and develop our skills with a supervisor can make a big difference to our practice and wellbeing (Chiller & Crisp, 2012; Cortis et al., 2020; Friesema, 2016; O’Donoghue et al., 2017). I started working as a social worker more than 17 years ago and an integral part of my professional development was accessing professional supervision. I realised, as I progressed in my practice, that not all professions in the social services sector utilise professional supervision or considered it to be important. Occasionally, people would ask what supervision was and why they needed it. 03 . QCDFVRe@der, June 2021
We all engage in some form of internal line management supervision when employed in the DFV sector. Some may have also engaged in professional supervision provided by an external qualified and experienced supervisor or an appointed professional supervisor positioned within the organisation. Some have accessed supervision as individuals and others as a group process. Others may receive very little supervision at all. The DFV sector faces incredible pressures such as increasing demands for service, high-risk urgent work, limited funding, and the expectation that there is time left over to upskill other generic services, raise awareness, and create social change. When organisations are faced with these unrealistic pressures it is hard to find the time for practice reflection or for staff at any level to access professional supervision (Chiller & Crisp, 2012; Cortis et al., 2020). Organisations may also not have the funds to pay for all staff to access professional supervision externally. We need to keep these challenges in mind when we explore why professional supervision is so important in the DFV sector. Regular external professional supervision paired with positive internal relationships with my line managers during my professional journey have been instrumental in developing my skills, strengths and ability to work through challenges. Supervision and positive relationships have helped build my evidence base and practice confidence,
