A Community Mental Health Professional Development Model for the Expansion of Reflective Practice and Supervision: Evaluation of a Pilot Training Series for Infant Mental Health Professionals

Abstract

The Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health identified a need for reflective supervision training for infant mental health (IMH) specialists providing home-based services to highly vulnerable infants and their families. Findings indicate that this pilot of an IMH community mental health professional development model was successful, as measured by the participants' increased capacity to apply reflective practice and supervisory knowledge and skills. Furthermore, IMH clinicians demonstrated an increase in the frequency of their use of reflective practice skills, and their supervisors demonstrated an increase in their sense of self-efficacy regarding reflective supervisory tasks. Finally, the evaluation included a successful pilot of new measures designed to measure reflective practice, contributing to the growing body of research in the area of reflective supervision.

Stress and coping among early childhood intervention professionals receiving reflective supervision: A qualitative analysis

“…Hence, RS/C may become a powerful tool for supporting individuals and organizations that provide relationship‐based services (Eggbeer et al., ; Gilkerson, ; O'Rourke, ). Our findings extend the literature to ECI professionals and suggest that RS/C has the potential to support awareness and insight (e.g., Virmani & Ontai, ) into the self and others, along with self‐efficacy (e.g., Shea et al., ) and a renewed commitment to infant mental health — benefits that may contribute to an organization's functioning and “bottom line” more so than simply the number of families served.…”

“…While some research has focused on job‐related stress among child and family professionals, less work has focused on understanding how professionals report coping with that stress. The provision of RS/C is one recognized best practice for supporting early childhood professionals in more effectively facing the stressors and challenges that they experience (e.g., Eggbeer, Mann, & Seibel, ; Shea et al., ; Tomlin, Weatherston, & Pavkov ; Watson, Neilsen Gatti, Harrison, & Hennes, ). RS “is an approach to supervision that encourages not only attention to the content of the work, but asks supervisors and clinicians to look deeper into their own reactions and processes as they relate to their experience with clients” (Franklin, , p. 205).…”

“…Second, and related to understanding professionals’ perceptions of self‐efficacy (Bruder et al., ; also see Shea, Goldberg, & Weatherston, ), research has suggested that organizations may benefit from better understanding sources of stress and challenge for their employees. This stress appears to occur both within organizations and within individuals.…”

Infant mental health home visiting therapists’ reflective supervision self‐efficacy in community practice settings

“…Anecdotal and case study evidence about infant mental health (IMH) intervention supports the value of reflective supervision in IMH professional development and IMH home visitors’ capacity for tolerating powerful emotional content in the context of IMH home–based practice with vulnerable infants, toddlers, and families (Eggbeer, Shahmoon‐Shanok, & Clark, ; Gilkerson, ; Heffron & Murch, ; O'Rourke, ; Schafer, ; Shahmoon‐Shanok, ; Weatherston & Barron, ; Weatherston, Kaplan‐Estrin, & Goldberg, ). However, there has been minimal empirical evidence to demonstrate the growth of reflective practice skills and the impacts of reflective supervision on IMH home visitors’ practice and issues related to IMH home visitor wellbeing, including burnout and job satisfaction, though there is a growing effort to develop this area of inquiry (Finello, Heffron, & Stroud, ; Gallen Ash, Smith, Franco, & Willford, ; Shea, Goldberg, & Weatherson, ; Tomlin & Heller, 2016; Watson, Gatti, Cox, Harrison, & Hennes, ; Watson, Harrison, Hennes, & Harris ). The Michigan Infant Mental Health‐Home Visiting (IMH‐HV) evaluation, a statewide effort to evaluate the IMH‐HV psychotherapeutic service provided by Community Mental Health Services Programs (CMHSP) agencies, provides an opportunity to examine the relationships between reflective supervision and home visitor characteristics such as Infant Mental Health Endorsement (IMH‐E), reflective supervision frequency and type, and job satisfaction and burnout.…”

Defensive patterns in reflective group supervisions at Child Health Centres

“…These professionals all feel obliged to be nice and smile (Hochschild, ) and may revert to surface acting or end up in a painful emotional dissonance (Hoffman & Bateson, ) between personal feelings and behaviors toward customers or patients. However, as many authors on RS (Amini Virmani & Ontai Lenna, ; Eaves Simpson, Robinson, & Brown, ; Emde, ; Frosch et al., ; Gilkerson, ; Harrison, ; Heffron, Reynolds, & Talbot, ; O'Rourke, ; Osofsky, ; Shea, Goldberg, & Weatherston, ; Tomlin, Weatherston, & Pavkov, ; Weatherston & Osofsky, ) have noted, IHC work seems to bring out specific emotional challenges. I will compare their descriptions with my experiences at a Swedish Child Health Centre (CHC), where I work as a psychoanalyst in brief consultations with families with infants and as supervisor of the nursing staff.…”