Preparing a supervision model for the aftermath of Grenfell: an auto-ethnographic inquiry of relationship-based supervision

Abstract

In this paper, we describe the preparation for the supervision approach that we used on behalf of the Social Work Company to supervise workers at the Grenfell Support Service. This paper centres on a moment of new consciousness concerning the formation of values that occurred when discussing a poem written by the first author, Deborah, during a narrative interview conducted by the second author, Hellmuth. We present the poem and use auto-ethnography to explore the new realisations that arose through the dialogue. We consider the multi-dimensional listening that created the opportunity for this new realisation and consider the conceptual resources that a dialogic theory of action might add to the practice of relationship-based supervision in social work.