1. Registered with Health Care Profession Council ☑️

2. Member of Royal College of Occupational Therapy ☑️

3. Insurance over £6million ☑️

4. Regular Professional Supervision ☑️

Professional supervision is something we all can forget about when we move to work outside the NHS or Social Services, or when we are working an independent practitioner. It’s easy to let it slide off your ‘to do’ list as there are so many other things to consider.

The Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) Standards of Professional Practice 2017 state that, ‘as a practitioner, you receive regular professional supervision and appraisal, where you use critical reflection to review your practice.’

It is also recommended by the Health and Care Professions Council, (HCPC).

So apart from from it being part of your standards of practice what are the benefits of professional supervision?

Well forget about having to please your line manager, nodding and agreeing that everything is ‘going fine’, remembering the party line and which side of it you need to be on. Or trying to work out what exactly you are supposed to getting out of peer supervision as you haven’t spoken yet?

Having independent professional supervision gives you autonomy, choice and freedom. Sound good? Wasn’t that why you left you old job?

Is this the time to reflect on your current supervision arrangement, and check out if it is still fit for purpose?

Think about it in these terms…

Do you have the opportunity to decide the agenda, prioritise what you talk about and for how long?

Do you have a bullet point summary of everything you have talked about?

Do you receive this as an electronic or paper copy that you can amend if necessary which has been written down by your supervisor so that you can concentrate, critically reflect and clear your head each month?

Do you have a comprehensive realistic action plan, for the next month?

Is your action plan linked to each of the HCPC standards of practice, so you have 12 pieces of evidence for each standard for your yearly appraisal?

Will you have 24 pieces of evidence to demonstrate how you maintained your CPD all ready for the HCPC October 2019 audit?

I would like to think that my testimonials from qualified Occupational Therapists, and others I have supervised along the way really clarify the huge benefits of having regular professional occupational therapy supervision can have on you personally and professionally. The two are inextricably linked, as we know too well, please feel free to read them www.ot360.co.uk

I would love to hear your all your answers and any questions/comments you may have? margaret@ot360.co.uk