1.6 Supervision

As part of being a CYC in training, it is important for you to understand the concept of supervision, as it is a key element of training for most helping professionals. Supervision, as it relates to child and youth care, can be defined as “the relationship of a person assigned the role of supervisor, mentor, team, or individual for the purpose of supporting your development as a CYCP” (Fraser & Ventrella, 2019, p. 222). Fox (2019) states that supervisors in any field have three primary roles:

• performance planning,
• day-to-day monitoring and coaching, and
• performance evaluation (p. 229).

These roles are ultimately the responsibility of the placement supervisor; however, the CYC student should also be active in ensuring appropriate supervision occurs. Charles and Garfat (2016) remind us that CYCs need to know they are important and valued, that their work is meaningful; a supervisor can provide such reassurances through the supervision process. The supervisor/supervisee relationship first needs to be established and a sense of trust created, ensuring that both parties remain respectful of each other’s developmental stage, culture, and diversity.

Becoming competent in the role of a CYC is usually a gradual, experiential process that requires ongoing guidance and direction from a supervisor. Due to the intense nature of their role, Child and Youth Care practitioners need regular opportunities to discuss, process, and explore their experiences with a supervisor. A lack of adequate supervision can negatively impact the well-being of both practitioners and young people; this is an ethical issue for CYCs (Mann-Feder, 2018).

One of the challenges for Child and Youth Care practitioners in the supervision process is being able to safely discuss and explore thoughts, feelings, and experiences. For example, expressing their own difficulty dealing with young people or discussing their own biases. Practitioners need a safe space to reflect on their own racism, homophobia, or related issues. This type of critical reflection can be challenging, and these issues often remain unexplored because of the taboo associated with them (Gharabaghi, 2008). Feeling safe to work through these things with your supervisor is imperative.

When supervision occurs, it can be therapeutic in nature, but “however therapeutic the experience may be, maintaining a focus on career-oriented growth and development should be a theme of the process” (Hilton, 2005, para. 7). Supervision is also a reciprocal process where the supervisor can teach the student and the student can teach the supervisor: “In much the same way as good child and youth care work, good supervision is an interactive and artistic process and when skillfully done, it enhances the effectiveness and continued development of child and youth care workers who in turn do better work with children and youth” (Burnison, 2007, para 16).