Bringing your ‘whole self’ to the supervision relationship – history in the present
30th July 2026
“It is important for you to reflect on your life experiences, notice their ongoing influence and make sense of this for yourself so that your decision-making draws on your own practice wisdom and skill, available evidence, theory and research, as well as being informed by your unique life history”.
(Penny Sturt, 2019)
Introduction
In the second article in The Supervision Space on 12th June we explored the general concept of ‘becoming’ a supervisor. We considered that in contemporary social work practice, supervisors have to ‘do’ a lot and ‘be’ a lot and highlighted the importance of continuing to develop our self-awareness and insight. This includes reflecting on our uniqueness and the different aspects of our history and biography which shape our identity and how this influences our approach to practice.
As supervisors, it is so important that we are able to continue our exploration of self, in order to support our supervisees to continue this. Modelling self-awareness and reflection contributes to building a good supervision working alliance and influencing effective relationship-based practice.
The next two articles on The Supervision Space will therefore focus on this specifically and invite you to consider your own history and biography and what you bring to the role. In August we will explore the aspects of self which specifically relate to diversity and elements of the supervision relationship which can help supervisees to feel that they matter and belong. This month we will start with exploring our history and aspects of our personal and professional experiences which have influenced who we are now.
The article starts with a reflection from my own practice and provides a refresher of Jane Wonacott’s ideas on what shapes our supervision style. We then consider some other messages from theorists and researchers before moving on to an exercise you can do to explore your own history. As usual we end on key points and some reflective questions.
Reflection from my own practice
As I sat at my desk, Pauline [pseudonym] walked over to me, I could feel my tummy start to whirl around like a washing machine spin cycle. Her eyes were wide, with a pained facial expression, and her body as stiff as a surfboard. She had an omnipotent presence to her walk, seemingly charged with hysteria and fear. I could almost hear her shrieking voice before she uttered a word. Every part of my being wanted her to go away, my body willing me to exit fast. I hoped my phone would ring to cause a distraction.
Before I could take another shallow intake of breath, she was by my side. She stood ever so slightly closer than one should stand next to a colleague, which felt uncomfortable. I immediately became hot. I could feel my face flushing, as I smiled and calmly looked up and said, “are you OK Pauline?”. She launched into a speedy, anxious narrative about the Brown family [pseudonym]. I could feel myself needing to dig deep to conjure up feelings of care in my response. I didn’t feel much care at all.
This account draws on a few experiences I had as an inexperienced social work supervisor. These experiences were what led me to begin my research into attachment theory and supervision (Williams, 2022). I realised on reflection, that I found it hard to care about Pauline and this absence of feeling had transferred to the Brown family too. Her persistent anxiety about them had made them become problematic, and my uncaring emotional response was equally problematic. Pauline was a nice person and meant well. She cared passionately about her families and was a good social worker. But she needed more from me as a supervisor than I had capacity for and her way of relating led me to want to withdraw. It felt uncomfortable and I didn’t like the version of myself that I became in her presence.
I brought my concerns to supervision, where I was also able to reflect on some recent things that had emerged from personal therapy sessions. It led me to think about patterns in relationships in my own family and the position I had taken up as a child, and now and adult, to manage anxiety. This was a pattern I was trying to break and had presented itself at work through the dynamic with Pauline. I realised that she was representing someone else from my past. It helped me to think about who I may be representing to her and this enabled me to have a conversation with her about it in our supervision. This helped us to be more conscious of what we both needed to communicate more easily and effectively. Don’t get me wrong, this took a lot of time and patience for both of us, but we did get there.
What research and theory says?
As a refresher from the article on ‘becoming a good reflective supervisor’, we considered that taking time to think about what we bring to the supervision relationship can help us to understand what supervisees may need from us and what we may need to develop or reflect on more deeply. My colleague Penny Sturt (2019), who is a social worker and leading expert on bringing supervision into schools, has written about ways to explore ‘self’ as a supervisor and said:
“It is important for you to reflect on your life experiences, notice their ongoing influence and make sense of this for yourself so that your decision-making draws on your own practice wisdom and skill, available evidence, theory and research, as well as being informed by your unique life history”.
Wonnacott (2011) suggests that a whole range of aspects from our own biography and history shape our supervision style. This includes our personal experiences of growing up, key attachment figures, our work history and experiences of being supervised (for better or worse) and current peer relationships and context. As a refresher, this is illustrated in the model below on what shapes our supervision style.
Model based on Wonnacott (2011)
The concepts used for ‘use of self’ and which underpin ‘relationship based’ social work practice are psychoanalytic, based on the original ideas of Freud and Klein. A ‘psychosocial’ perspective is similar, in that early relationships are also thought to shape later relationships. In terms of relationship-based practice, the relationship itself is the means through which interventions are channeled (Ruch, 2018).
The research literature examining supervision historically, highlights the centrality of the relationship. In my own doctoral research, I observed supervisors and how they navigate relationships with their supervisees and a number of aspects emerged. One of the most evident findings was that participants drew on their own experiences of being parented, as informing how they engage with supervisees. It was also evident that they all undertook ‘hard emotional labour’ to read the emotional state of supervisees and convey empathy (or not), depending on several other factors.
In her work on ‘use of self’ in social work, Trevithick (2017) draws on Bowlby’s attachment theory of ‘internal working models’ to explain how we internalise our early experiences of care. She argues that this can shape and influence the way we interpret and react to situations and informs our ability to recognise and name the emotions and feelings that make up who we are. This, in turn enables us to be aware of, and to ‘read’ the emotional state of others. It is therefore very helpful for supervisors, at any stage of their career, to reflect on this.
The Tree of Life exercise
The Tree of Life metaphor has its cultural origins in the Zulu people. It was created by Ncazelo Ncube (2006), a psychologist and narrative therapist, and supported by David Denborough of the Dulwich Centre, Australia. Although originally developed as an approach to assist colleagues who work with children affected by HIV and AIDS in southern Africa, it has become widely used in work with adults across the world. It is a useful tool to use in a leadership context and in this case, gives supervisors a different way to reflect on what has influenced them in their role.
The Tree of Life is a visual tool to structure reflecting on your past, present and future. To do the exercise you will need a pen and paper as a minimum – do feel free to get creative and use coloured pens too! You can use A4 paper although A3 or flipchart paper can give you more freedom for expression. There is also a video on The Supervision Space YouTube channel, which talks you through this exercise, if you would prefer to access it that way rather than reading.
To start with, draw your own version of the tree in the image below. Try to fill up the whole paper if you can. Remember, this is a reflective exercise, not a test or an art competition! It is important that you have specific elements. These are:
Roots
Ground
Trunk
Branches
Leaves
Fruit
Now you have drawn your tree, take some time to reflect on each of the aspects separately, writing notes onto the drawing as you go. Take your time. You might want to complete this over more than one session.
The Roots – Where do you come from? Think about events and people that may have influenced you. What brought you to this work? Who and what inspired you to become a social worker? And a supervisor?
The Ground – How long have you been in this role? What does your role consist of? What are some of the values and commitments of being a supervisor that are most meaningful to you? Why are they meaningful? How does your role fit with the values and commitments?
The Trunk of the tree – Write your skills and values on the trunk. What values do you bring into a supervisor role? What skills do you bring? What is the history of these skills and knowledge? Who in your life first noticed these skills and knowledge? Could you tell a story about how it might have been visible to them? Who in your team is most aware that you have these skills? Is there an example of a time when these skills and knowledge would be most evident to that person?
The Branches – What are your hopes and dreams for your work? For your role as a supervisor? What are the next steps for you in your career and in your life? Add these to the branches.
The Leaves – Write down the names of those people who you feel are supportive to you in your work on the leaves. These may be colleagues, past colleagues, other people in your organisation, they may be external people (friends, mentors, teachers, religious leaders).
The Fruits – What have the team and others contributed to your development? What have they given to you? What do they most appreciate about your work, your skills and knowledge? What might they say you have contributed to their work and life? Look at the names on your leaves and think what ‘fruits’ might be connected.
Now you have completed this part of the exercise, work through these reflective questions:
What has been your experience of doing the exercise? What stood out?
What patterns or influences do you need to be aware of in your role of practice supervisor?
How do you understand your professional journey so far?
How has the exercise developed your understanding about how you engage with others and aspects of your role as a practice supervisor?
What has had the greatest impact on you from doing the exercise?
How might you facilitate doing the exercise with your supervisees or peers?
Summary of key points
Becoming a supervisor is a continuous process
Reflecting on self and our own biography and history can provide powerful insights into our supervision style
Modelling reflection on self and developing self insight is important as part of influencing social work practice with supervisees
Undertaking reflective exercises about our personal and professional experiences can shed light on our supervision relationships.
Final reflective questions
What have you learnt from reading this article today?
What struck you the most?
What will you take away and think about more deeply?
What impact might this/has this had on your own practice and the people you work with i.e. your supervisees or people who use services?
What might they say they have noticed about you since you read the article?
Who might you have a peer reflection with about your learning from the article i.e a colleague or your manager?
Ncube, N. (2006) The Tree of Life Project Using narrative ideas in work with vulnerable children in Southern Africa, The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work, 1, 3-16.
Ruch, G. (2018) ‘The contemporary context of relationship-based practice’, in Ruch, G., Turney, D. and Ward, A. (eds) Relationship-based social work: getting to the heart of practice, 2nd edition, London: Jessica Kingsley.
Ruch, G. (2018) ‘Theoretical Frameworks Informing Relationship-Based Practice’ in Ruch, G., Turney, D. and Ward, A. (eds) Relationship-based social work: getting to the heart of practice, 2nd edition, London: Jessica Kingsley.
Sturt, P. (2019) PSDP—Resources and Tools: Lifeline exercise. Dartington: Research in Practice.
Trevithick, P. (2017) The ‘Self’ and ‘Use of Self’ in Social Work: A Contribution to the Development of a Coherent Theoretical Framework. British Journal of Social Work 0, 1–19
Williams, J. (2022) Supervision as a secure base: the role of attachment theory within the emotional and psycho-social landscape of social work supervision. Journal of Social Work Practice, 37(3), pp. 309-323.
Wonnacott, J. (2011) Mastering social work supervision. London: Jessica Kingsley
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