Abstract

This chapter was originally presented in Fundamental Themes in Clinical Supervision (Cassedy et al. 2001: 198–209). Due to the importance of the topic and the timelessness of the content, the editors have chosen to include the chapter in this book as well. The authors focus on discussing cross-discipline group supervision. They describe how, at the request of their local NHS Trust, two mental health nursing tutors provided a series of group supervision sessions to general registered nurses who were about to take on the role of clinical supervisor for the first time. They show how the groups were established, illustrate some of the experiences of being in these groups, and identify some of the issues that arose, primarily during the early stages. The chapter draws attention to one particularly important issue, which is that some novice supervisees may be discouraged from participating in supervision if their supervisor is from a different discipline. However, exposure to and experience of supervision provides such novices with an awareness that the supervisor’s skill in providing supportive, reflective and challenging supervision is more important than sharing the same discipline.