Leadership in Child and Family Practice by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Social Work
ISBN: 9781351810951
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2018-06-13T04:00:00+00:00

Reflections of the power of supervision and leadership (Sarah Waters)

My journey towards leadership is, and always will be, a work in progress, and can best be described as an ongoing struggle to achieve the appropriate balance between heart and mind. As Peter Senge (1990) says, writing on one of his five disciplines for building learning organisations, “personal mastery is not something you possess. It is a process. It is a lifelong discipline” (p. 142). We learn to lead from those around us, and develop a catalogue of experiences of being led through challenging and often transformative situations. We form our own template of ourselves as leaders, and consciously and unconsciously choose approaches that resonate with us and discard those that do not accord with the image of the leader we aspire to be. So whilst the perfect balance between heart and mind may be forever elusive, we gain competency in walking the tightrope.

The following example pinpoints an occasion, early in my career, where the balance between my heart and my mind was challenged, and supportive leadership helped me develop the skills to resolve the immediate challenge and to build my catalogue of positive leadership experiences. I was working as a foster care worker in a non-government agency in Melbourne, Victoria. In this context, my primary interface with leadership was through my supervisory relationship with my team leader. The direct guidance, as well as the organisational and system context, was navigated through this important working relationship.

Sam was three and a half years old when he was admitted with a ruptured spleen to intensive care at a large hospital. Upon discharge, he was placed into foster care. The child protection report suggested that Sam had been thrown across the room and against a wall by his mother as punishment for wetting his pants. She was subsequently charged with assault.

Sam was a pale, underweight child with large searching brown eyes. In the early days of his foster placement he avoided eye contact, spoke little and was frightened of everyday things like an iron and a garden hose. His speech was severely delayed, and he was not toilet trained.

The court ordered Sam and his mother to have contact three times a week for two hours at a time. As a young, passionate social worker who had seen the long surgical scar on this little’s boy’s body and the fear in his eyes, I was incredulous. Whenever the word ‘mum’ was mentioned Sam would retreat behind furniture and become very still and quiet, usually sucking his thumb. How could we subject this little boy to contact with the person charged with inflicting his injuries, someone he clearly feared?

Sam’s mother was unimpressed that the contact was supervised. I would be lying if I said my disposition as the access supervisor was friendly and welcoming. At best it was professional. Sam would refuse to enter the room ahead of me, and held onto the back of my clothes. His mum would reach out; Sam would retreat further behind me.

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