This workshop provides a practical and theoretical introduction to the use of video-based reflective practice in clinical supervision. It is based on a recently piloted intervention in which supervisors and supervisees shared their reflections after reviewing videos of one of their own supervision sessions (Hill, Crowe, & Gonsalvez, 2015). This reflective dialogue was structured by a series of questions based on the Interpersonal Process Recall (Kagan & Kagan, 1997) and reflective practice literatures.

The Workshop
Aims:
To introduce a recently piloted reflective practice tool involving review of supervision videos by supervisors and supervisees (Hill et al., 2015)
• To outline the rationale for the intervention in the supervision research literature
• To help supervisors develop skills in modelling the openness and transparency that is a desirable quality in supervisees
• To help supervisors develop skills in eliciting appropriate disclosure from supervisees regarding the content of supervision, the process of supervision, and the supervisory relationship
• To help supervisees develop skills in comfortably and appropriately disclosing concerns regarding supervision, be it in content, process or supervisory relationship
• To help participants improve their skills in identifying strengths and limitations in their supervision practice
• To encourage participants to consider how to facilitate reflective dialogue in supervision and, more broadly, how to encourage reflective engagement with professional power in mental health practice

Workshop Part 1: Presentation of research and intervention (20 minutes)
• Presentation of recent pilot study examining an intervention involving reflective dialogue based on videos of supervision (Hill et al., 2015)
• Presentation of videos and live demonstration of the intervention

Workshop Part 2: Participation using a modified version of the study protocol (50 minutes)
• Participants pair up and video a brief supervision session based on a deidentified case from their own practice (10 minutes)
• Next, participants review the video and make notes in response to the reflective practice questions (20 minutes)
• Participants then share their reflections with one another and discuss their experience of the intervention with the aid of a second set of questions (20 minutes).

Workshop Part 3: Group discussion and reflection (20 minutes)
• Group reflection on participants’ experiences of the intervention
• Discussion of implications for participants’ routine practice and service management

Background:
Clinical supervision is a common (and often mandatory) practice across a range of mental health settings (Bateman, Henderson, & Hill, 2012; Psychology Board of Australia, 2012). Given the investment of time and money involved, workers and organisations understandably hold high hopes for supervision. There is substantial consensus regarding what constitutes high quality supervision. In addition to clinical knowledge and skills, supervisors must have the capacity to develop a supportive relationship in which facilitating values and behaviours enable supervisees to disclose openly their thoughts and feelings about their therapy practice, and their thoughts and feelings about supervision (Bernard & Goodyear, 2009; Bordin, 1983; Falender & Shafranske, 2004). In the absence of a safe supervisory relationship, workers may fear a negative or unsupportive response should they disclose concerns, fears or problems regarding their clinical practice (supervision content), the supervision process or the supervision relationship itself (Ladany, Hill, Corbett, & Nutt, 1996). Problems may go unnoticed, undiscussed and unaddressed, leading to the risk of poor or unsafe therapy practices.
The research on which this workshop is based involved a novel application of video recording technology to this question of maintaining healthy supervision relationships. Video and recording technology is increasingly being applied to mental health training (Gonsalvez & Milne, 2010), however research into its application to the process of supervision has been limited. Prior research has suggested that review of audio recordings of supervision is perceived as useful by supervisees and may direct attention to otherwise neglected aspects of supervision (North, 2013). Other research has used videos to support reflection on the way supervisors ‘scaffold’ the learning of supervisees through the modulation of arousal (James, Allen, & Collerton, 2004). Considering other potential advantages of the application of video technology to supervision, Haggerty and Hilsenroth (2011) argue that the use of an objective sample of supervisory behaviour may help overcome cognitive and memory biases that inevitably afflict reflection based on memory alone.

Results of the study (Hill et al., 2015):
Participants in the pilot study identified that the intervention helped them:
• Increase appropriate disclosure in supervision, regarding therapy practice, supervision process and the supervision relationship
• Identify and address difficulties in the supervision relationship (e.g. role confusion)
• Increase supervisee willingness to clarify goals, discuss needs and provide feedback to supervisors
• Identify supervisee anxiety and address tensions between supervisee autonomy and dependence
• Identify and address excessive supervisor directiveness
• Make a shift from content to process issues
• Improve the supervisory alliance

We hope you will join us to make this an enriching and challenging conversation about maintaining healthy supervision relationships.