Supporting front-line practitioners' professional development and job satisfaction in mental health and addiction

Abstract

Substantial organizational change in many health institutions has eliminated profession-based departments and replaced them with program management structures. This article aims to explore practitioners' perceptions of their professional work in a large urban centre for addiction and mental health that has undergone such change. Seventy-six practitioners from six professions participated in focus groups that were transcribed and analyzed. Practitioners' perceptions about their professional competence, performance, development, and job satisfaction were affected by three interrelated factors: available supervision from experts who validate practitioners' subjective work experiences and provide population-specific knowledge for effective interventions; teams that provide a home base and support through positive interpersonal relations, collaboration and informal feedback; and organizations and managers who provide assistance and training while expecting quality performance and productivity. Effective clinical and organizational leaders manage tensions between providing supportive environments and expecting accountability throughout the workplace.

Conflict in Practice-based Settings: Nature, Resolution and Education

“…Goleman (1998) suggests that there are four fundamental capabilities necessary for emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and social skills. Emotional security within teams has been shown to improve team effectiveness (Bogo et al 2011). Mischo (2005 suggests that students need to be socially competent, i.e.…”

Specialist Communication Skills for Social Workers

“…Certainly, some assessment methods have the capacity to elicit the integration of 'Knowing', 'Being' and 'Doing' in varying degrees. Those methods contain the integrative vision still, but the balance for learning productivity (Lambley and Marrable, 2012;Bogo et al, 2011a;Bogo et al, 2011b;Bourn and Hafford-Letchfield, 2011;Gibbs, 2001). The reforms have since placed standards upon employer organisations to ensure that effective supervision is provided regularly to social workers.…”

"Like being pecked to death by a chicken": Resilience and work-family equilibrium in teacher/mothers.

“…Clinical peer supervision is a process through which peers provide support and guidance for each other's professional development and efforts to maintain and enhance standards of practice-often with regards to the feelings engendered by their professional practice in particular (McNicoll, 2008). As summarized by Bogo, Paterson, Tufford, and King (2011), professionals in a variety of fields perceived the support of clinical supervision as conducive to enhanced professional competence, increased job satisfaction, and feeling protected against stress and burnout. Although not directed at or specifically inclusive of teachers, Bogo et al's research highlights concerns that are just as applicable to a classroom as to a mental health setting.…”

“…In peer supervision, the group in question is a gathering of professionals (peers) who meet to discuss and debrief their professional struggles-particularly those that are bringing up emotional material for the participants. Similar to the nurses interviewed by Bogo et al (2011), teachers are members of a regulatory college and "view themselves as autonomous and self-reliant with the expectation that they would initiate consultation with team members [i.e., other professionals in the same field] when they feel a task is beyond their scope" (p. 212). Given this culture, the equitable nature of a peer support group modelled on the tenets of peer supervision would likely fit the needs of teachers as it does nurses.…”

“…For example, the inclusion of school administrators as facilitators or group members might limit the willingness of many teachers to participate. Bogo et al (2011) found that participants may feel subtly criticized and undermined when supervision focuses on administrative issues, time management, or productivity-leading participants to find themselves caught in a dilemma if they felt they needed the support of supervision but did not want to either feel that they were wasting their time or risk appearing less competent.…”