Strengths-based Questions for Reflective Conversations

By Roger Lowe and Russell Deal

www.innovativeresources.org

Strengths-based Questions for Reflective Conversations

By Roger Lowe and Russell Deal

www.innovativeresources.org

First published in 2014 by:

St Lukes Innovative Resources

137 McCrae Street BENDIGO
Victoria 3550 Australia
Ph: +61 3 5442 0500 Fax: +61 3 5442 0555
Email: info@innovativeresources.org
Website: www.innovativeresources.org
ABN: 99 087 209 729
St Lukes Innovative Resources & Roger Lowe 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may
be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the
prior written permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 978 1 920945 72 5
Edited by: Karen Masman

Foreword
BY FRANK N THOMAS

I see myself introducing A Vision for Supervision to practicum,

internship, individual and group supervision, and supervision
training contexts. Invent adapt learn enjoy!
What is the most useful question I could ask right now? This common
solution-focused line of thinking is made practical with this project by
Roger Lowe and Russell Deal. And while the target application is supervisory
relationship and process, this project is certainly adaptable to other contexts.
Lowe and Deal are seasoned human service professionals with impressive
credentials. And while others might have attempted to force an entire book
out of these generative ideas, the authors concept is to create something
both practical and flexible and theyve succeeded.
A Vision for Supervision begins with a bit of theory and personal history,
setting the stage for a project based on appreciative inquiry, solution-focused
practices, and strengths-based ideas. This introduction scaffolds what follows.
The project includes guiding ideas and questions on collaborating, noticing,
and appreciating within the supervision relationship, and its depth (value)
is far greater than its length (in pages). Admitting my bias, I am genuinely
pleased with the Solution-focused Foundations ideas introduced early in
the text. In keeping with the projects intent, I found this section kept the
theoretical to a minimum and appropriately moved toward very pragmatic
emphases and evocative questions.

iii

In the Embedded Narratives section, the authors acknowledge inevitable

differences between practitioner and supervisor stories as they both develop
in the process. Using the metaphor of a lens (which, as a photographer, I
appreciate), Lowe and Deal discuss framing and re-framing, accepting that
there are times one seeks the close focus (on specific circumstances and
experiences with necessary clinical decisions and actions) while other times call
for a wider view (opening developmental space for reflection and appreciation).
Now to the heart of the project: Lowe and Deal have created meaningful
connections and feedback with their deck of cards. Their intentions parallel
Lynn Hoffmans metaphor of starter doughsupervision is never a polished
process, but it requires a beginning point that is intentional and rewarding.
Recognising that a supervisor/practitioner relationship begins in the middle,
they first focus on establishing a respectful relationship that minimises hierarchy
and encourages disclosure in what they call the Beginning suit. The intent here
is to recognise resources and create a future together that is viable and valuable,
keeping with the strengths and solution-focused perspectives.
A natural shift from relationship to responsible teamwork takes place between
the Beginning and Contexting suits. Here the supervisor/practitioner team
collaboratively forms ideas and procedures that focus on best practices and the
nuts-and-bolts of competent work as human service professionals.
Another important area that overlaps the Contexting suit is Sharpening the
Focus. Here the team moves from agreement on common ground and the
accompanying rule-generation to a deliberate focus on decisions and actions
that involve both practitioner and clients. Session and case consultation are
key here, with deliberate attention to evaluation and appreciation.

iv

The process of reflection and storying continues with a suit the authors call
Widening the Lens. Every solid supervisory relationship requires deliberation
on change and developmental shifts, and this suit assists the team in taking a
periodic metaview of the supervision journey and encourages re-viewing of the
practitioners experiences.
Finally, as most supervision relationships are time-limited, the ending is
addressed intentionally with a suit that invites self-supervision and a future
focus on the common practitioner-to-supervisor transition.
The project culminates with cautions and permissions. The authors alert the
reader to potential misuses of this card set including rote application and
encourage adaptation so the suits, cards, and questions serve the supervisory
relationship rather than enslave it. They suggest ways to play with the card set
and tailor it for optimal use. Sustaining a postmodern approach throughout,
the authors offer inventive ways to improvise while keeping the seriousness of
responsible practice in the forefront.
All in all, this project is a wonderful supervision Legoland. Combinations are
infinite, but the practicality of the cards and suits creates a much-needed
structure. I see myself introducing A Vision for Supervision to practicum,
internship, individual and group supervision, and supervision training contexts.
Invent adapt learn enjoy!
Frank N Thomas, PhD LMFT-S
Author of Solution-Focused Supervision: A Resource-Oriented Approach
to Developing Clinical Expertise (Springer Science + Business Media, 2013);
Professor of Counseling and Counselor Education, Texas Christian University (USA).

Contents
Foreword by Frank Thomas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
Contents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
Publishers Preface: On Supervision and Sacred Cows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
Introduction: Putting Our Cards on the Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Strengths-based Supervision. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
What is the Vision?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Solution-focused Foundations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Embedded Narratives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Supervising Self-supervision.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Collaboration and Positive Parallel Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
The Complete Deck of Cards: Suits, Topics and Questions.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Beginning: Establishing a relationship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Contexting: Identifying our accountability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Sharpening the Focus: Making each session count. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Widening the Lens: Mapping our professional development. . . . . . 42
Ending: Celebrating the journey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

vi

Taking Care Before You Begin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Ways of Using the Cards.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Pre-supervision. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Within Supervision. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Between Supervision Sessions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Peer and Group Supervision. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
What Else?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
About the Authors: Roger Lowe and Russell Deal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
About the Publisher: St Lukes Innovative Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

vii

Publishers Preface:

On Supervision
and Sacred Cows
Supervising from a position of not knowing or one step down
is part of St Lukes supervision frameworktogether with other
guiding principles such as reciprocity between supervisor and
practitioner, non-pathologising, power-with and treating the
practitioner as the expert.
I met Roger Lowe for the first time at a solution-focused conference in
Singapore in 2012. We were both presenting, however Roger had picked up a
throat infection so most of his presentation was delivered in little more than
a whisper. Like the rest of the participants I had to concentrate intensely
to hear what he was saying. I became mesmerised by what, for me, was
a refreshingly different and challenging logic and set of questions he had
developed to give shape to supervisory conversations.
At the time of Rogers presentation, individual supervision, student supervision,
peer supervision and group supervision were all happening simultaneously in
different parts of my organisationSt Lukes Anglicare. We even ran workshops
on supervision for other organisations. However, in his presentation, Roger
offered a range of reflective questions that had not fallen within the ambit
of our models of supervision.

viii

As a practising social worker for some forty-five years and a director of St

Lukes Anglicare for thirty, the concept of supervision was firmly embedded in

my DNA. Since my student days at the University of Melbourne in Australia,

supervision had been imprinted on my understanding of the fundamental
elements of good practice. To be supervised, and then subsequently to
supervise, was an expectation that I never challenged. It was simply a norm
that I and my cohort of students, and then colleagues, took for granted.
It was simply what social workers and other human service professionals did
and needed to do.
Yet a disconnect had dogged me for many years and still casts its shadow
over me even though I am no longer in a supervisory role. Putting it bluntly,
the supervision I experienced was particularly poor.
As a student, the supervision I received in my fieldwork was very shallow.
I have little recollection of being stretched in any meaningful way or even
encouraged, let alone inspired. This might have just been bad luck on my
part but talking to many colleagues over the years I am keenly aware that
my experience is not at all unusual. Sadly, this shallowness continued into
my early years as a practitioner. Even more sadly it became the model for
much of my own journey as a supervisor. In short, I was not very good at it!
St Lukes Anglicare is an organisation that has long taken pride in ascribing
considerable importance to supervision and embedding it thoroughly (we
thought) in our organisational culture. Over the years this has led to a search
for models with touches of excitement and inspiration. In the early years
there seemed to be very little on offer (perhaps we were looking in the wrong
places?). But the discovery and incorporation of post-modern approaches
including narrative, solution-focused and strengths-based models, together
with the arrival of the technologies of Intensive Family Services, gave
St Lukes, for the first time, a more consistent practice framework.

ix

The concept of parallel process became particularly important in creating a

set of standards for what we might reasonably expect from supervision. Thus
supervising from a position of not knowing or one step down is now part of
our own home-grown frameworktogether with other guiding principles such
as reciprocity between supervisor and practitioner, non-pathologising, power
with and treating the practitioner as the expert (mirroring treating the client
as the expert).
In more recent years we discovered the fuller articulation of these post-modern
approaches in the seminal works of Frank Thomas and Jeffrey K Edwards.
Thomas, in his book Solution-Focused Supervision: A Resource-Oriented Approach
to Developing Clinical Expertise (2013) has provided a comprehensive translation
of the array of principles that define solution-focused approaches into the
supervisory relationship. While recognising that such a definition is inevitably
multi-faceted and hotly-contested, Thomas decades-long grounding in
solution-focused practice and his collegiate relationships with Steve de Shazer
and Insoo Kim-Berg have meant that he has created an almost encyclopaedic
analysis of the applications of solution-focused therapy concepts to the
practice of supervision.
Edwards book Strengths-Based Supervision in Clinical Practice (2013) takes a
broader but very complementary pathway into supervision. Edwards draws upon
Appreciative Inquiry, positive psychology and psychotherapy, resilience theory
and narrative as well as solution-focused approaches to locate supervision in a
broader post-modern context. As well as being more eclectic it also charts his
personal journey.

The Vision cards are our attempt to ask some of the key
questions that may invite and encourage supervisors and
practitioners alike to define their own preferred ways of
doing supervision.

Both books explore leadership, teamwork, group supervision and workplace

issues. Both, therefore, have relevance to social work practice in public welfare
settings as much as therapy in private practice.
The decision was made early on in the evolution of A Vision for Supervision
not to attempt to encapsulate all the practice wisdom contained in these
two outstanding reference books. The Vision cards are not a prcis; they do
not attempt to be reductionist in any sense. While attempting to honour the
wisdom in the books by Thomas and Edwards, the authors of the Vision cards
have brought their own unique experiences to bear in the attempt to create
a practical, readily-useable tool for busy practitioners and supervisors
particularly those working in human service fields.
Coming from the domain of assessing trainee clinical psychologists and
with his longstanding interest in solution-focused brief therapy, Rogers
presentation at the conference gently and respectfully challenged many of the
assumptions I had made about supervision. Within the space of ninety minutes
he had rewritten my expectations of what a rich supervisory relationship might
contain and what it might generate.

xi

Afterwards we talked about our respective experiences and wondered out loud
what we might do with this seeming mix of strengths-based and solutionfocused ideas. I did know that I wanted others at St Lukes to be exposed to
his thinking and so we set up a symposium that again was a fertile exchange.
By then we had also created our first set of prototype cards that highlighted
the array of good questions for stretching the boundary of supervision.
The prototypes continued to be refined up until the first Australian and
New Zealand solution-focused conference on Queenslands Gold Coast when
we had the opportunity to co-present. More feedback, more refinement. Then
Innovative Resources consulting editor, Karen Masman, joined the fray and
the result was the vigorous interrogation of every concept, question and
word. Throughout this process Roger remained unfailingly patient and polite,
thoughtfully considering every suggestion we made but well able to question
and challenge our ideas whenever he thought we had missed the point.
We are excited about the result. The cards have a hybrid vigour that has been
generated by pooling the traditions of social work and counselling psychology
as well as blending ideas from the complementary worlds of solution-focused
and strengths-based approaches.
A Vision for Supervision is a new way of encapsulating good practice in human
services work. It invites both supervisors and practitioners to stretch their
reflection and conversation. It has the potential to keep supervision alive and
vital, to tackle distractions and to ultimately share ownership of a critical
component of any professionals growth and identity. It provides another vital
component in the structures that are crucial to ensure that our clients are well
resourced and honoured.

xii

We believe it honours the traditions of both solution-focused and strengthsbased approaches to supervision. Is this asking too much? No doubt some will
quibble with this claim and some may dispute our credentials for making it.
The Vision cards are our attempt to ask some of the key questions that may
invite and encourage supervisors and practitioners alike to define their own
preferred ways of doing supervision. Taking up the maxim If it works do it
more, we hope the cards will work as a tool to build fulfilling and stretching
conversations. If they lead to more curiosity, more questions and more
theoretical grounding, they will have done their job.
In retrospect, my own social work practice and supervision would have
benefited greatly had I had such a tool earlier in my career.
Russell Deal
Creative Director,
St Lukes Innovative Resources

xiii

Introduction:

Putting our Cards

on the Table
These cards encourage supervisors to persistently ask questions about
practitioners hopes, priorities, achievements, strengths, resilience,
resourcefulness, creativity, and ongoing professional developments.
They invite both supervisors and practitioners to live in a world which
values collaboration, affirmation, mutual respect, careful reflection and
constructive challenge.
At any given moment in a supervision session, we may find ourselves
wondering, What is the most useful question I could ask right now?
The aim of this card resource is to assist supervisors to find useful questions
in a variety of situations. This, however, begs another question: What do we
mean by a useful question? The way we address this question speaks to our
practice framework and philosophy.
From a strengths-based, social constructionist perspective, what we perceive as
real and important is not compelled by objective conditions but is negotiated
through dialogue and culture, and is therefore subject to change. Questions
are fundamental in constructingand changingsocial realities. All questions
carry particular assumptions and invitations. There is no such thing as an
innocent or neutral question.
One variety of strengths-based work, the field of Appreciative Inquiry, has
provided a number of guiding aphorisms including the following:
14

 We live in the worlds our questions create.

The choice of topics and questions is vital
As plants grow towards the light, human systems grow in the direction
of their curiosity - toward what they persistently ask questions about.
The usefulness of strengths-based questions lies in the particular topics
that they persistently ask questions about. The Vision cards encourage
supervisors to persistently ask questions about practitioners hopes, priorities,
achievements, strengths, resilience, resourcefulness, creativity, and ongoing
professional developments. They invite both supervisors and practitioners
to live in a world which values collaboration, affirmation, mutual respect,
careful reflection and constructive challengeirrespective of the topic under
discussion and the circumstances in which supervision occurs. They can also
provide a refreshing alternative to the varieties of deficit-based language that
remain pervasive in professional practice and supervision. Our selection of
cards, therefore, is neither neutral nor eclectic. We have deliberately stacked
the deck, but in a transparent way.
In this approach the supervisors most valued expertise consists of process,
not content. The supervisors expertise lies in asking questions that evoke the
practitioners expertise. The supervisors questions assist the practitioner to
find the answers they need.
This resource evokes a vision for supervision that we hope can support creative
practice in the wide variety of contexts in which contemporary professional
supervision occurs. Strengths-based dialogue is at the heart of the vision
and provides the foundation. However, we hope that the cards can make a
contribution to your practice irrespective of whether you (or those receiving
supervision from you) explicitly identity with a strengths-based perspective.
15

As always with strengths-based questions, we need to add the caution that

the questions themselves cannot produce change in any predictable way. While
they are chosen to invite certain kinds of responses, practitioners are at liberty
to accept, ignore, decline or refuse these invitations. The cards and questions
do not, in themselves, equate to supervision any more than a treatment manual
equates to therapy. They are simply resources to be used and adapted to fit the
unique context of a unique professional relationship. Therefore, we encourage
supervisors to tailor the questions to their own circumstances; to reword and
rework them, or develop new cards and questions, if necessary. We need always
to remember that, while supervisors can ask a question with a particular intent
in mind, the actual effect of the question is always unpredictable. As Steve de
Shazer, the pioneer of solution-focused therapy, was wont to say: In the end,
only the client can tell us if a question was useful.
Throughout this booklet, unless quoting from other sources, we have referred
to the recipient of supervision as a practitioner. Many supervision texts use
supervisee, trainee, worker or consumer. We prefer practitioner as this
term bestows a greater degree of professional recognition on the part of those
receiving supervision. The other terms tend to imply a passive or one-down
status in relation to the supervisor. While recognising that the supervisory
relationship may inevitably involve power dynamics and differences in
experience, descriptions such as supervisor/supervisee tend to reduce each
person to a narrowly-defined relationship. Instead, we want to highlight the
resourcefulness of both people independently of this relationship.

16

Strengths-based
Supervision
Strengths-based work is not owned by any profession
or set of ideas, and different supervisors may draw upon
quite different traditions.
Supervisionis a forum for reflection and learning. It is, we believe, an
interactive dialogue between at least two people, one (or more) of whom is
a supervisor. This dialogue shapes a process of review, reflection, critique and
replenishment for professional practitioners (Davys & Beddoe 2010, p.21).
This definition places interactive dialogue at the heart of the supervision
experience and is congruent with our approach. However, the supervisors
practice framework will influence the nature of the emerging dialogue which,
in turn, shapes the process of review, reflection, critique and replenishment.
In contrasting strengths-based supervision with other approaches, Davys and
Beddoe (p.38) suggest that it is essentially a way of being with supervisees
where attention is given to power with rather than power over, and the
environment is such that both supervisor and supervisee contribute their
expertise to the relationship. It is not a rejection or abrogation of the supervisors
professional knowledge, but a way of being with others that is not distracted by
it. Furthermore, it: facilitates supervisees to find solutions within themselves
based on their existing strengths and prior positive experiences (p. 46).
17

Davys and Beddoe (p. 42) suggest that in developing a strengths-based

perspective, it is important for supervisors to reflect on the following:
How do I notice and celebrate success with my supervisees?
How do I talk about service users in supervision? What am I modelling about
expectations of success and change?
Does our supervision model match the way we approach our professional
practice?
How often do we highlight what is working well and the times of exceptions
to problems?
What different kinds of power do I utilise in this relationship and what is the
impact of this? How important is it for me to be an expert? How do I invite
feedback from supervisees and respond to it?
How do we talk about challenging issues?
How do I reflect on my own supervision process? What goals do I set
for myself?
Compared with other frameworks, the above questionsand those featured
on the Vision cardsplace emphasis on the enabling aspects of supervision
(its contribution to professional growth and development) as opposed to the
managerial aspects (the monitoring and evaluation of performance). There is
also a relative emphasis on the practitioners work and experience, rather than
on the practitioners clients and their specific issues.

18

A broadly-defined strengths-based approach might include contributions

from a number of different fields, including solution-focused therapy,
narrative therapy, resilience, and positive psychology (Edwards 2013).
However, strengths-based work is not owned by any profession or set of
ideas, and different supervisors may draw upon quite different traditions.
For example, our selection of cards draws significantly upon the solutionfocused tradition but extends this to include an emphasis on developmental
and contextual themes.

19

What is the Vision?

It is important to look beyond the resolution of immediate issues
and search for opportunities to notice and appreciate connections,
developments and turning points in the practitioners life.
If our hopes for these cards were realised, and they were used to stimulate
dialogue over an extended period of supervision, we might expect to see:
a consistent use of strengths-based dialogue, irrespective of the content
of the session
the supervisor and practitioner working collaboratively to plan a direction for
their work, and pooling their personal and professional resources accordingly
attention to noticing and appreciating developments in the practitioners
knowledge, skills or perspectives
attention to noticing and appreciating developments in the way supervision
is conducted (for example, the practitioner becoming more active in their
own reflective processes)
the supervisor and practitioner collaboratively reviewing the process of
supervision and making adjustments where necessary
the supervisor and practitioner relating their work to its professional
context (for example, the various roles, functions and structures of
accountability involved).
20

There are a number of key aspects of this vision which can be elaborated:

Solution-focused Foundations
Of all the contributions to strengths-based practice, solution-focused
inquiry is the most minimalist in terms of eschewing complex theory in
favour of practical outcomes. It involves a consistent focus on cooperation,
client-directed goals and client resourcefulness. Originating in the field of
psychotherapy, its practices have been extended to many other contexts
including supervision (Thomas 2013). In adapting the solution-focused
perspective to supervision, Thomas suggests five important tenets: pragmatism,
tentativeness, nonpathology, curiosity, and respect.
In relation to supervision, a solution-focused perspective would ideally involve:
the practitioner deciding on the purpose of supervision and assessing
its usefulness
the practitioner deciding on the focus and scope of any supervision dialogue
an emphasis on the practitioners growth and development, rather than the
supervisors expertise or experience
encouragement of the practitioners idiosyncratic ways of working, when
these are shown to be successful
the coaxing of expertise rather than the coaching of expertise, with the
supervisor leading from one step behind
a persistent and detailed focus on the practitioners hopes and on instances
in which this preferred future is occurringthat is, on what is working
the supervisor knowing and doing as little as possible, and restricting their
contribution to the asking of questions and the offering of appreciation and
acknowledgment.
21

Embedded Narratives: Widening the Lens

and Sharpening the Focus
If we imagine a supervisor and practitioner discussing a particular topic (for
example, a counselling client, a work-related issue or an ethical dilemma), the
resolution of that topic does not occur in isolation but becomes part of the
ongoing story of the practitioners lifethe Practitioner Story.
How does the resolution of this specific supervision topic relate to the
practitioners development?
Is it a new kind of challenge?
What new skills have been learned?
Might it be a turning point in their career?
Each individual topic also contributes to the ongoing experience of supervision
the Supervision Story.
- Has the resolution of this dilemma required a change in the way supervision
is conducted?
- Could it mark a transition in the nature of the supervision alliance or signal
a new direction?
Another level of narrative relates to the professional Context in which the
work occurs.
- What other professional, organisational or ethical issues might be relevant in
the resolution of any particular supervision topic?
- What other stakeholders are involved?
- Which other voices might need to be included in the discussion?
22

Like a series of Russian dolls, we can picture a specific supervision topic as

embedded in a series of broader narratives (Lowe & Guy 2002). The following
diagram illustrates the connections between the immediate issue and the
broader stories.
DIAGRAM 1

SUPERVISION
STORY

PRACTITIONER
STORY
SUPERVISION
DIALOGUE

CONTEXT

In the foreground is the supervision dialogue of each session, with its focus
on the specific priorities of the day. In the background are the broader stories
which may come into the foreground on occasion and when appropriate.
23

Using the analogy of a video camera, it has been suggested that therapy (and,
by extension, supervision) encompasses two complementary processes: a
widening of the lens and a sharpening of the focus: The therapist shifts
between widening the lensopening space for new narratives and ideasand
sharpening the focus on solutions and action steps (Friedman 1997, p.8).
In adapting this analogy to supervision, we want to encourage supervisors to use
each session to both sharpen the focus on the specific issues at hand and also
to widen the lens, to take in potential developments in the broader Practitioner
and Supervision Stories, as well as the Context of the work. It is important to
look beyond the resolution of immediate issues and search for opportunities
to notice and appreciate connections, developments and turning points in
the practitioners life. These developments can often go unnoticed amidst the
busyness of supervision and the imperative to deal with pressing issues.

Supervising Self-supervision
The aim of supervision of clinical work ought to be supervision of the therapists
own self-supervision. As Confucius said, Give a man a fish and you feed him for
a day; teach him to fish and you feed him for a hundred years (OHanlon & Wilk
1987, p.264).
One of the developments that will hopefully occur in the Supervision Story
concerns the practitioners ability to usefully reflect on their own practice, and
to use formal supervision to enhance this experience. The practitioner develops
some additional kinds of expertise:
- learning to discern when assistance is needed and no longer needed
- learning to decide whether and how to implement a suggestion from
their supervisor
24

- learning to have more confidence in their own judgments, and

- learning to reflect on the changing relationship between supervision and
self-supervision.
Over time, therefore, the supervisors role may shift from supervising the
practitioners work to supervising the practitioners own self-supervision. The
cards encourage supervisors to return to these themes and to invite this shift
in perspective.
In the context of supervising therapists, Pond (1997, p.167) suggests: As
supervisors we can commit ourselves to behaviours that elicit energy from
supervisees, helping to produce therapists who may be described as selfconfident, able to generate appropriate custom-made interventions, and who
know when to ask for help and how to get help . This description resonates
with our emphasis on supervising self-supervision. The aim is for practitioners
to become self-sustaining; to become more confident and creative in their
work, to discern when they need assistance, and how to find that assistance.
Rather than simply being supervised, they are encouraged to identify their
particular supervision needs and priorities, and to make these known. By
shifting to a stance of supervising self-supervision, the supervisor hopes to
encourage the development of these reflective skills (Lowe 2000).

The aim is for practitioners to become self-sustaining; to become

more confident and creative in their work, to discern when they
need assistance, and how to find that assistance.
25

Collaboration and Positive Parallel Process

The literature on supervision contains a number of similar but different terms
that relate the dynamics of supervision to the dynamics of practice: parallel
process, parallel practice, isomorphism (Edwards 2013; Thomas 2013).
Parallel process is the best known term, originating in psychodynamic theory
and suggesting that the dynamics involved in a therapists struggles with
their clients may be unconsciously replicated or paralleled in the dynamics
between the therapist and their supervisor. This initially has a negative effect
on supervision, at least until the supervisor is able to identify and work with
the parallel process, which may then result in useful insights. A strengthsbased perspective is more interested in the potential for this process to work
in reverse: for the dynamics in the supervisor-practitioner relationship to flow
into the practitioner-client relationship. Positive parallel process (Lowe 2000)
refers to the ways in which a collaborative relationship between supervisor and
practitioner may facilitateconsciously or unconsciouslya similar relationship
between the practitioner and their clients.
Therefore, an important guiding principle for supervisors is to try to interact
with practitioners in the same respectful and collaborative ways that they
hope practitioners will use when interacting with their clients. If this does
not happen, then the strengths-based content of a supervision session can
effectively be undermined by a hierarchical or power over process.

26

The Complete Deck of Cards:

Suits, Topics and Questions

Who are we? Where do we want to go? How will we get there?
The complete deck consists of 40 cards arranged in 5 colour-coded suits.
Each card features a topic on one side and 4 questions on the other, giving
a total of 160 questions in the deck.

Suits
The five suits are:
1. Beginning: Establishing a relationship (11 cardsgreen)
2. Contexting: Identifying our accountability (6 cardscoffee)
3. Sharpening the Focus: Making each session count (10 cardsorange)
4. Widening the Lens: Mapping our professional developments (7 cardsblue)
5. Ending: Celebrating the journey (6 cardscherry)

27

Topics and Questions

Within each suit, each card features a selected topic on one side and four
questions on the other. The questions are not intended to cover every aspect
of the topic, nor to be used in a fixed sequence. They are starter material
to get the conversation going. While on some cards, the order of questions
might contain a logical development, in other cases, the questions initiate
different themes within a topic, and these can be explored separately. There
is no expectation that all the questions on a card will be relevant and users
are encouraged to adapt the questions or develop their own supplementary
questions.
The aim of the questions is to open up different paths of inquiry, not to follow
them to their conclusion. The supervisor and practitioner will develop each
path in their own way.
We have chosen to place the topic on one side of the card and the questions
on the other to encourage users to develop their own questions, in their own
style. Users of the cards can simply spring into a conversation or reflection
using the topic as the prompt. The questions on the reverse of the card can
then be used to provide impetus for the discussion or to enrich the discussion
once it is underway. For example, supervisors and practitioners might develop
their own conversation on a topic, and then turn over the card to see whether
our sample questions add anything that is helpful. Alternatively, they might
study the questions we have provided first, then turn the card over and begin
their own conversation about the topic.

28

Order of Presentation
Below you will find a list of all cards within each suit, presented in a particular
order. This is intended to provide a general sense of direction or thematic
development that users may find helpful. For some suits in particular (for
example, Sharpening the Focus) the order maps the authors conception of a
logical sequence of topics. However, the map is not the territory and the cards
are not the journey. In any actual dialogue, there will be moments of changing
direction, pausing to take stock, going back to the beginning, finding interesting
detours, and heading down unexpected pathways. While it may be reassuring
to have a general sense of direction, it can be more useful at times to get
lost, throw away the map and head off somewhere on the spur of the moment.
Therefore, while the cards are listed in a particular order, we have not
numbered them, in order to invite flexibility and improvisation.

29

1. BEGINNING: Establishing a relationship

At the beginning of a supervision arrangement, there are typically three key
questions for a working agreement: Who are we? Where do we want to go?
How will we get there? (Davys & Beddoe 2010). However, it is important
that these questions do not become reduced to contracts, requirements
and stipulations (some of these aspects are covered in the Contexting suit).
This suit addresses these key questions in a strengths-based way. The eleven
topics and accompanying questions invite reflection on the Practitioners Story
to date, hopes for further practice developments, the contribution of previous
experiences of supervision, hopes for supervision, and on the qualities and
experiences that both supervisor and practitioner might contribute.
30

Here are the 11 cards in the Beginning suit:

Bringing strengths
What personal, professional and cultural strengths do you
bring to your work?
What experiences have helped to develop these strengths?
How do these strengths make a difference?
How do others notice these strengths?

Professional experience
What first attracted you to this vocation?
What continues to attract and inspire you?
What would clients and colleagues say they most appreciate about your
approach to your work?
What have been some highlights and turning points in your professional life?

Present situation
Where are you in your professional journey?
What are your sources of satisfaction at present?
What are your most difficult challenges?
What contributions are you most pleased about making right now?

31

Hopes and plans

What sparks your curiosity?
Where are you heading?
In your dreams, what is your ideal work situation?
Is your current way of working supporting your aspirations for the future?

Hopes for supervision

How do you hope that our supervision might help enhance your practice?
If our supervision could result in one significant or surprising change, what
might it be?
What do you think will be the best use of our time in supervision?
Thinking about your hopes for supervision, what image comes to mind?

Experience of supervision
What experience of supervision have you had?
What is your understanding of the value of supervision?
Are there any stories or feelings about supervision you would like to share?
How would you like our supervision experience to be different or similar to
these stories and feelings?

32

Monitoring supervision
How will we know when supervision is going well?
How and when will we review our supervision?
What signs would suggest we need to change the way we work?
What other professional development might be useful?

Clarifying arrangements
Have we established our meeting times and places?
Have we established how long our supervision relationship will last?
When might we have to suspend business as usual?
Are we clear about how we will manage privacy, confidentiality
and disagreements?

Comparing our stories

What would be helpful to share about our professional stories, learning
styles and cultural backgrounds?
How do these compare in terms of orientation, strengths, skills
and experience?
What stands out in terms of similarities and differences?
Are there areas where our strengths complement each other?

33

Combining our stories

What are some promising signs that we can form a creative partnership?
What could make this supervision experience unique for both of us?
How can we best combine our respective strengths?
Might we each have strengths that could get in the way of our
supervisory relationship?

Contributing to supervision
How will you prepare for supervision?
What do you think is the best way for you to contribute?
What do you think a supervisor would value most about your contribution?
What do you think you would value most about a supervisors contribution?

34

2. CONTEXTING: Identifying our accountability

This suit can be used in conjunction with the Beginning suit but may also be
relevant on other occasions. It recognises that supervision occurs in a particular
professional context (for example, a service provider or training organisation).
As such, this context involves attention to formal requirements, roles,
professional expectations and structures of accountability. In strengths-based
dialogue, it is important that these constraints on supervision are discussed in
a collaborative and transparent way. What might be the limits of strengthsbased work and collaboration? How else might need to be involved and when?
The topics on these cards expand the horizon by locating the supervisory
relationship in a broader professional context.
35

Here are the 6 cards in the Contexting suit:

Professional alignment
How do your professional values align with those of your organisation
or colleagues?
What would change if there were greater alignment?
What does your organisation expect of you in regards to supervision?
What do you expect of your organisation in regards to supervision?

Roles and responsibilities

Are we clear about our respective roles and responsibilities?
What situations are we required to report elsewhere?
How will each of us balance self-care with our professional responsibilities?
Who else, outside of supervision, will we draw on for support and feedback?

Formal agreements
Do we need a formal agreement?
Does it need to be seen or approved by others?
What should it contain?
When and how should it be reviewed?

36

Feedback and evaluation

Is formal evaluation required?
How and when should feedback be offered?
What form will evaluation take?
Who will have access to feedback and evaluation?

Respecting clients
How will we handle client-related emergencies?
What will be shared about clients during supervision?
What will be shared with clients about supervision?
How will we know if it is ever useful or important for the supervisor
to meet with a client?

Recording
What records of our supervision do we need to keep?
Do we have a shared understanding about the privacy and confidentiality
of these records?
Do we have a shared understanding about who owns these records?
What will happen to any records at the end of our supervision?

37

3. SHARPENING THE FOCUS: Making each session count

This suit of ten cards is designed to ground or anchor each supervision session
by establishing a focus, reflecting on specific issues raised, appreciating
successes so far, reflecting on challenges, canvassing possibilities and
reviewing the session. They are based on well-known solution-focused themes
and questions which form a process that the supervisor can use irrespective of
the specific content raised by the practitioner. They tend to focus on the specific
topics or issues that the practitioner prioritises on the day, and to make each
session count by following a similar process throughout. Looking at diagram
1, this suit informs the central supervision dialogue of each specific session.
However, when opportunities arise, the themes can be linked with the embedded
narratives of the Practitioner and Supervision Stories by using the Widening
the Lens cards or the Contexting cards.
38

Here are the 10 cards in the Sharpening the Focus suit:

Opening the session

What are your main hopes for our work today?
If these hopes were realised, what would be different?
How will you know if our work today has been helpful?
What will others notice?

Building on our last session

Whats been different since we last met?
Is there something from our last session that you would like to re-visit?
What have you tried out since we last met?
What observations and insights have occurred since we last met?

Practitioners reflections
What are your reflections on this situation so far?
What questions have you already addressed and what others do you want
to explore?
What do you hope our discussion will add to your own reflection
and practice?
How will you decide that you no longer need to bring this topic
to supervision?
39

Noticing success
While you may be experiencing challenges, what has gone well or better
than expected in your work?
How have you contributed to this?
How have others noticed and responded?
How do you notice and celebrate success?

Scaling change
On a scale from 1 to 10, where would you place yourself in terms of
confidence, optimism, readiness, determination, or other desired changes?
Where would your clients or colleagues place you?
If you have moved up or down recently, how did this happen?
If you were to move one step higher on the scale, what would you and
others notice?

Appreciation
What can you appreciate about your work this week?
If your clients and colleagues were here, what would they say they have
appreciated about your work?
How have you achieved this in the face of difficulties?
What is a genuine compliment that could be made about your work?
40

Resilience
When things have been at their toughest, what have you done to keep going?
How do you care for yourself in these situations?
What will you do if things dont improve or get worse?
What helps you maintain hope in these situations?

Supervisors contribution
How are you hoping my ideas on this situation might be different from yours?
How will you decide if my ideas are helpful?
Suppose you wanted to try a suggestion, how might you adapt it to suit
your style and clients?
How will you know that you are ready to use it?

What else?
What else is on your radar?
Has anything slipped through the cracks?
If there is an elephant in the room, how would we name it?
If we needed a new card for today, what would we call it?

Closing the session

What will you take away from this session?
What practical difference might this make?
What might be the next steps?
Do we need to plan our next session?
41

4. WIDENING THE LENS:

Mapping our professional developments
The purpose of this suit is to notice and appreciate potential developments in
the practitioners work and in the ways in which supervision contributes and is
conducted (that is, changes in the Practitioner and Supervision Stories).
Particular themes may include changes to the practitioners sense of identity,
the range of skills they demonstrate, the way they respond to challenges, and
ways in which they utilise and contribute to supervision.
This suit complements the Sharpening the Focus suit which focuses on specific
issues, rather than developmental changes over time. The Widening the Lens
suit encourages supervisors to be alert to the possibility of turning points or
significant developments in a practitioners life and to bring these into the
42

conversation. These developments cannot be forced and will occur

unpredictably over time. Therefore, this subset of cards will be used selectively
and occasionally rather than regularly. For example, after a number of individual
sessions using the Sharpening the Focus cards, a supervisor may sense that the
practitioner is now more skilful and has greater confidence in their ability.
Some of the topics in the Widening the Lens suit (for example, Noticing
changes in identity, or Supervisors observations) might offer a useful segue to
explore these potential developments. Since supervision began...
Here are the 7 cards in the Widening the Lens suit:

Noticing changes in identity

How would you describe yourself as a practitioner now?
How have you changed since we began our work?
Are there areas in which you feel more competent and confident?
What factors, within and outside our supervision, have contributed to
this change?

Responding to challenges
Have you noticed any changes in the ways you respond to challenging
situations?
What new skills, strategies and strengths have you used to address
particular situations?
Does one example stand out?
Have any aspects of supervision helped you respond to challenges?
43

Supervisors observations
Would it be useful to hear my observations about how your practice has
developed since we started?
Would it be useful to hear my observations about how our style of
supervision has evolved since we started?
How do our observations match up?
Who else might have some useful perspectives?

Noticing changes in supervision

What changes have you noticed in the topics you bring to supervision?
What changes have you noticed in the way you prepare for supervision?
What changes have you noticed in your goals and priorities for supervision?
What changes have you noticed in the ways we each contribute?

Challenges in supervision
What has been the most difficult challenge we have faced in our
supervisory relationship so far?
What can we appreciate about the way we have both responded?
Having worked through this situation together, how might it change the
way we do supervision?
Have there been other challenges that would be useful to discuss?
44

Self-supervision
How do you decide whether to ask for assistance in a particular situation?
What is a sign that you no longer need assistance and can rely on your
own reflections?
How are you learning to have confidence in your own judgment whilst
respecting the views of others?
How can our supervision help you to continue developing these skills?

How are we travelling?

Are we on track with our goals and priorities for supervision?
Is our style of supervision sitting well with you?
Are we fulfilling our professional roles and responsibilities?
How are travelling in relation to our formal agreements?

45

5. ENDING: Celebrating the journey

The final suit of cards is designed for use at the conclusion of a period
of supervision or at a designated time of review. The topics are used to
mark a transition in the practitioners life. As well as inviting reflections on
how supervision has been useful to the practitioner, the cards include futureoriented questions about the practitioners own potential to become a
supervisor. Again, the focus is on the broader Practitioner and Supervision
Stories, and the theme of supervising self-supervision.

46

Here are the 6 cards in the Ending suit:

Looking back
Compared to when we started, how would you describe yourself as a
practitioner now?
How has this changed since the beginning of our work?
In what areas are you more accomplished and confident?
Is there a symbol or metaphor that describes your experience of our
work together?

Whats worked?
What can we appreciate most about how we have worked together?
What particular experiences stand out as the most important for you?
What do you think has been most valuable for your clients?
What can we appreciate about the way we have responded to challenges?

Whats left to do?

Before completing our work do we need to consult with, or inform, others?
Have we fulfilled our formal agreements?
Have we complied with other professional requirements?
Is there any unfinished business we need to discuss or complete?
47

Looking ahead
Ideally, what form of supervision would you like in the immediate future?
How would this be similar or different to our present supervision?
What do you see as the best combination of supervision and
self-supervision for you?
Have your priorities for supervision changed?

Becoming a supervisor
Imagining yourself as a supervisor, how would your style be different
from mine?
What will you take into your own supervision practice from our
experience together?
What questions have we explored that might be valuable in your own
supervision practice?
What will be the key strengths that you offer as a supervisor?

Marking a transition
How will we celebrate the completion of our work?
How can we mark the transition into the next phase of your professional life?
Who else would appreciate knowing about this transition?
What legacy from our work will we each carry forward?
48

Taking Care
Before You Begin
Questions, no matter how respectfully they are framed, can be very
confronting; they can give rise to unexpected memories, fears and
associations. Powerful emotions can begin to tumble out.
It is important to emphasise that the cards are not intended to be either
prescriptive or exhaustive in their selection of topics and questions. Any
supervision session might take many paths and include areas not specifically
included in the cards (for example, analysis of client problems, evaluations of
the practitioner, discussion of ethical issues, formal teaching or coaching,
and so on).
The cards provide a strengths-based foundation or background to whatever
is discussed in the foreground. They provide a collection of major themes to
return to wherever our journey momentarily takes us. The cards suggest themes
on which we hope users of the cards will find their own variations.
Returning to the importance of collaboration and positive parallel process,
a key principle is that the ways in which the cards are introduced and used
should be congruent with their strengths-based content. In using the cards,
we encourage you to keep several points in mind:
The topics and questions are a resource that can be called upon to help
re-focus, refresh or widen the scope of the conversation. However, they are
not a substitute for conversation in the sense of a manual or a checklist of
49

 questions to be worked through in a routine way. Such a use would suggest

that the supervisor is not fully present and is depending on the cards to
conduct the session.
The cards should not be imposed in a top-down or power over way.
They are designed to be used with practitioners, not on practitioners.
It is important that practitioners feel respected, however the cards are used.
They should not feel that they are being examined or interrogated by the
questions, but rather that the questions are interesting invitations on topics
worth pursuing. The questions and topics are intended as conversation
starters, not conversation stoppers.
Some questions may need to be reworded or reworked to fit the context and
language of individual supervisors and practitioners. For example, the very
first question reads: What personal, professional and cultural strengths
do you bring to your work? We would not suggest that you simply read this
densely-packed question straight from the card (and expect to get an
answer!), but that you unpack its themes and develop a conversation around
them in a style that fits for you.
Even with the most diligent attention to the points above, no hands-on
conversational tool works for everyone. Each of us has our own personal taste
in language, metaphor and graphic style. Great care can be taken, and yet a
resource or activity simply may not work for a particular individual or group.
In addition, questions, no matter how respectfully they are framed, can be very
confronting; they can give rise to unexpected memories, fears and associations.
Powerful emotions can begin to tumble out.
50

In using any conversational prompt it is always important to be aware of this

potency and potential impact. We can all be caught by unexpected revelations in
our conversations, and adopting a position of taking care requires that thought
be given to:
The facilitators own comfort with the cards. Does the resource work for you?
Are you comfortable using it for your own reflection about your practice? Can
you imagine recommending it to colleagues, family or friends who may work in
human services fields?
Your knowledge of the materials. Have you used cards before? What did you
discover? Are you familiar with these cards? Do you need to use all of the
cards or are there some you can leave out? Is the order in which they are used
significant or important to you?
Your knowledge of those with whom you will be using the cards. Does your
knowledge of the culture, age and literacy of those you are working with
suggest that they will relate to the cards? Are you comfortable taking the risk
that the cards may not work as you anticipate?
The safety of the setting. Do you believe you have created a safe space
for people to talk openly and honestly? If you are introducing the cards
to a group, what are the dynamics and mood of the group? Is there respect
in the group? Is the timing right? Have ground rules such as listening
and confidentiality been established? Have you thought about how you will
enable people to passthat is, to feel free to decline an invitation to share
or comment if they wish? What if the cards elicit strong emotionsif this
happens, how will you help ensure that people are cared for during or after
the session?

51

 Valuing peoples own interpretations. Have you thought about how to

support peoples own interpretations of meaning while keeping the door
open to consider other possibilities?
Your expectations. How do you imagine conversations will flow? What if
something different happens? Do you have an alternative plan if something
isnt working?
Inclusiveness: If you are suing the cards in a group, how will you help
ensure that quiet voices are heard?
Setting the context. Have you thought about how to best introduce the
cards? Do you want to introduce them with a particular activity? Will you
introduce them ahead of the first session so that people can browse through
them at their leisure?
Time management: Have you allocated enough time for each activity or
question you wish to cover? How will you conclude an activity while
ensuring that the practitioner has had the time they need or that each
person in a group has had their turn to contribute?
Evaluation: What do you think constitutes successful or unsuccessful use
of the cards? How will you find out what worked for participants?
Follow up: Is there any follow up that you will do with the individual or
group before using the cards again?
Records: Will the cards be used (or not used) in any records that are made
of the supervision sessions? How will this be agreed on transparently with
participants? Who will own these records and have access to them?
52

Ways of Using the Cards

How the cards are used, and when they are introduced, needs
to be negotiated respectfully by all participants in a supervisory
relationship.
The intent of A Vision for Supervision is to identify some of the key questions
that can add meaning and vibrancy to supervisory relationships within the
domain of human services.
These questions have emerged from the post-modern practice philosophies
of solution-focused and strengths-based approaches. They represent the
authors attempt to apply the principle of parallel process. That is, we hope
the questions mirror in supervision the hallmarks of best practice as they have
been articulated in direct service contexts.
How the cards are used, and when they are introduced, needs to be negotiated
respectfully by all participants in a supervisory relationship. Traditionally, this
is between two people the supervisor and the practitioner. But increasingly,
peer supervision and group supervision are stretching, and adding to, our
understanding of ways that supervision can be constructed.
Whatever form supervision takes we believe it is crucial that all parties feel
safe, well informed and in a power with rather than power over relationship.
Accordingly, the questions and cards have been designed to have application
and relevance to all parties in a supervisory relationship.
There are no prescribed rules for using the cards. They might simply be placed
on a desk or table during supervision and only referred to if stuckness sets in.
53

Or the whole set might be used sequentially throughout the unfolding of a

supervisory relationship. The authors suggest that the pattern of use of the
cards be determined by the users and that the motto If it works do it more be
the guiding principle.

Pre-supervision
A good starting point for working with any tool is to take some time to
experiment with using it before introducing it to others. In the case of A Vision
for Supervision, supervisors might like reflect on their own supervision practice
as a way of preparing for a new supervision journey with another person or
group. The various topics and suits can act as a set of prompts or reminders of
potential themes that could be introduced, if appropriate. Also, supervisors may
be aware that they can become stuck in the same conversational grooves, asking
the same kinds of questions over and over. If this is the case, the cards can
assist supervisors to move out of their comfort zone and experiment with
different kinds of questions. In this and other ways, the cards can act as a form
of self-supervision for supervisors.
Simply lay the cards out in their respective suits, topics facing upwards,
questions downwards. As you look over the array of cards in front of you,
consider the context in which you practice supervision, and the ways in
which the cards might enhance the experience.
Which cards represent topics you tend to emphasise or give a lot of time to
in supervision?
Which topics dont seem to come up in your supervision experience?
Can you choose cards with topics you are most or least comfortable raising
in supervision?
54

 Reflecting on your own experience as a supervisor so far, which cards

represent an area of supervision in which you feel you have been most or
least useful to the practitioner or student?
Which questions do you typically ask?
Which questions do you tend to return to again and again?
Can you identify cards with questions you have never asked, or would never
ask? Why not? Would you consider incorporating them and if so, how
and when?
Which question would you most/least like a supervisor to ask you?
It is important to be mindful that when students or practitioners are entering
into supervision for the first time they can be fearful and anxious. The
reasons for this might be numerous hearing negative reports about others
experiences, lack of confidence, fear of being judged, self-doubts and so on.
If supervision is a new and novel experience for the practitioner, it can be
experienced as very daunting. If the student or practitioner has experienced
previous supervision in any setting that has been constructed in terms of
control, conformity, criticism and power-over, their expectations may well be
jaundiced.

In the case of A Vision for Supervision, supervisors might like

reflect on their own supervision practice as a way of preparing
for a new supervision journey with another person or group.
55

So the cards and booklet from A Vision for Supervision may have a role to play
in allaying such fears even before supervision commences. The student or
practitioner may be offered the entire set or perhaps only the Beginning suit
to take away and use as a basis for their preparation for the first session, with
such prompts as:
These cards will give you an idea of some of the territory we will cover in
our supervision. Would you like to take them away and browse at your
leisure before we meet for our first session?
We will address many of the topics in the Beginning suit in our first
session. You may wish to gently reflect on your responses to some of them
ahead of time.
Are there any 2 or 3 cards in the Beginning suit that you feel are
particularly important for us to address in our first session?
Are there any questions or topics not addressed in the Beginning suit that
you would like us to bring up in our first session?
Using the cards in this way to prepare for the beginning of supervision
may provide a significant basis for creating a context of safety and respect,
offering assurance that the tone of the supervisory conversations will not be
condemnatory or judgmental. For many people, it may also generate a sense
of excitement that the supervisory setting will provide an opportunity for
invaluable exploration, learning and growth.
It may also provide the student or practitioner the real option of deciding that
a solution-focused approach may not work for them.
56

Within Supervision Sessions

The cards can be introduced as a potential tool or resource that might assist
the supervision process. Supervisors can explain and demonstrate the potential
contribution of the cards and discuss options for their possible use. These
might include:
laying out the cards on a table at every supervision session as a regular
menu from which the most relevant could be selected by supervisor
and practitioner
using the cards occasionally (for example, every third or fourth session) to
refocus on key themes or to review change
using the cards on an as needs basis to help with impasses or difficulties,
or to stimulate new directions.
While there is not a prescribed sequence for using the cards, they have been
themed in a way that suggests relevance to different stages of supervision.
Practitioners and supervisors might agree to begin their engagement with the
cards by working collaboratively through the Beginning suit. This could be
done using an agreed number of cards per session, or one card after another
in a sequence with time allocated according to the perceived relevance of the
questions. Both parties can use the cards to describe their experience and
expectations of supervision.
The authors imagine that over the course of any supervisory relationship the
cards and the questions will vary in their usefulness and relevance.
57

Here are some ideas for how you might use the cards during a supervision
session:
From the menu of cards on the table, the supervisor and practitioner
could select a number of cards that are priorities for them, and initiate
a discussion.
Some cards might be selected for reflection between sessions and for
discussion at the next session. (Please see the next section for suggestions
on using the cards between sessions).
The cards could be considered in silence at the beginning of a session as an
exercise in orienting to supervision and reflecting on priorities
If the supervision process has become predictable, the supervisor or
practitioner could pick a card at random (or draw it out of a hat) and begin
a conversation.
In ongoing supervision, the sets of cards could simply be present as a
reminder of potential topics.
In group or team supervision, each person could be given a selection of
cards from a particular suit and invited to ask questions from them,
when appropriate.
The topics and questions could themselves become an interesting starting point
for dialogue and reflection on the supervision process:
Are the topics and questions useful for us?
How can we adapt them to make them fit our circumstances?
What is missing from the deck?
In what ways do the cards help or hinder our supervision?
58

In situations where the supervision process seems to have become stuck (for
example, over the content of a specific issue) or if the energy in the relationship
seems to be waning, the different suits, topics or questions might suggest ways
of widening the lens or sharpening the focus elsewhere.
Here are some relevant questions that supervisors may choose to ask:
- Which of these cards do you think would be most useful to us at this stage
of our conversation?
- Is there a particular card that addresses an issue you have been grappling
with?
- Which of these cards and/or questions are going to build on your strengths
right now?
Alternatively, to add a touch of novelty, perhaps a random choice activity could
be introduced by choosing one or more of the suits and blindly choosing a card
from that suit or the whole set. Sometimes random choice presents elements of
surprising synchronicity.
- What message might this card have for us?
- Randomly choose 2 more cards. Do you see any connection between
these cards?

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Between Supervision Sessions

The Vision cards are a conversational tool but as such they should not get
in the way or become a distraction within supervision. The cards distil rich
sources of practice wisdom and can provide the skeleton upon which the flesh
and blood of practitioner expertise can be enhanced. This can take time and
the nature of the questions within the card set is such that ample reflective
time deserves to be allocated.
For this reason the authors believe that the cards may be as useful between
sessions as within sessions.
Reflecting on the questions between sessions can help build the conversational
agenda for the next or subsequent supervision sessions. The supervisor or the
practitioner may discover a question that nails a particular insight or concern.
If a reflective journal is kept by either party the cards can provide a prompt for
writing up these thoughts and feelings as an ongoing record of each persons
reflections and professional growth.
For a daily reflective prompt the cards can be displayed on a workers desk
and rotated sequentially so that there is a topic and questions of the day to
consider and possibly journal about.
These cards have been designed to help ensure that supervision is a rich
experience for both of us. Would you like to take the set home with you and
each time we meet, bring one card that you think we could usefully spend
time discussing?
I imagine that between now and next time you will be thinking about our
supervision today. Is there a card you would like to reflect on in the days
to come?
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 Do you keep notes or a journal about your practice? Whether you do or not,
in the time before we meet again, would you be prepared to write a short
reflective piece about your learning? Perhaps you might consider using one
or more of the cards as a prompt?
Would you consider selecting a different card each day to focus your
thoughts?
Are you comfortable bringing these reflections to our supervision sessions?

Peer and Group Supervision

Outside of traditional individual supervision the cards can provide a lively way
for generating conversation with colleagues in group supervision formats.
Participants can be invited to choose a topic or questions that interest them
for whatever reason, and then to share this with the group. They may want to
ask the group for input to the questions named on the cards.
Participants can be invited to choose one or more cards at random and asked
to explore the relevance of the topics and questions to them personally, the
relevance to the group and the connection, if any, between the cards that were
selected.
Introducing an activity where each participant in a peer or group supervision
has one or more cards, and then inviting each person to offer comments or
thoughts about their card is one way of ensuring that everyone in the group
is given the space to contribute. This kind of activity also recognises the wide
variety of considerations or views that might be offered on any given topic.
If the group communicates via email or social media questions from the cards
can be attached simply as the question of the week or used as the prompt for
an exchange of viewpoints.
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 For our group supervision session today, I suggest we try a random choice
exercise using the Vision cards. Simply take one card from the deck without
reading it. (Or you can ask someone to randomly deal cards to people).
What is its key message for you?
Could each person who has chosen a card pleaser read out the topic. Without
knowing the questions on the back of the card, what questions would you
ask to explore that theme?
As we plan to establish the culture of this supervision group, which of
the cards identify key components of the culture you would want us
to exemplify?
What if we rotate the leadership of the group? Perhaps if the designated
leader brings a case story or challenge from their practice, they could also
bring a card they would like the group to discuss?
Perhaps our supervision group could set up a blog or email exchange based
each week around one card. Everyone can take the opportunity to comment
on the relevance of the questions.

What Else?
The authors of A Vision for Supervision agree that one of the key, never-to-beforgotten questions from the solution-focused tradition is: What else?

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The Vision card set is far from comprehensive. There will always be other
questions. We hope that the topics and questions we have included invite
inquiry. We hope they generate more questions than answers! Our benchmark
for the success of the cards is the curiosity they inspire.

Whether the cards are experienced as directly useful or not, we hope that users
of the cards will always consider the What else? question.
What are the topics and questions that you would include in a card set that
you designed to aid your supervision? What else might exist that we havent
thought of? Whats stopping you from producing your own conversation-building
materials for supervision settings?
The Vision cards name 40 topics and 160 questions relevant to supervision.
What other topics and questions would you want to include in your own
card set?
Can you identify your top 10 questions from the whole set? Why not create a
poster to place near your desk?
What question has a child asked you that you found intriguing?
If a spider on the wall could ask a question relevant to this supervision
session, what would it be?
What would a person you admire say about a challenge you brought to
supervision today?
What is the best, worst and funniest thing that has happened to you with
a client?
WHAT ELSE?

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About the Authors

Roger Lowe
Roger is a private consultant based in Brisbane and specialising in strengthsbased approaches. In a previous life (which lasted 26 years), he taught at
Queensland University of Technology, contributing to masters programs in
counselling and clinical psychology.
Roger continues to offer private supervision and workshop facilitation,
and maintains his involvement with several universities, where he teaches
supervision and provides live clinical supervision (often using a reflecting team
process). His book, Family Therapy: A Constructive Framework, was published
in 2004 by Sage. He is also the author of several chapters and articles on
supervision.
Roger is a registered psychologist, whose professional memberships include
the Australian Psychological Society, the Australasian Association for SolutionFocused Brief Therapy, and the Australian Association of Family Therapy.
Having left full-time work, he enjoys having more time to travel, to read, and
to devote himself to projects like A Vision for Supervision that genuinely excite
him. He hopes that these cards will prove to be an innovative resource that
can enhance the collaborative and creative potential of strengths-based work.

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Russell Deal
Russell is the founder and creative director of St Lukes Innovative Resources,
and a director of St Lukes Anglicare. He has an academic background in social
work, psychology and education. Initially, he worked as a social worker in the
Prisons Division of Victorias Social Welfare Department (as it was called at
the time) before becoming a social work educator and then joining St Lukes
Anglicare in 1984.
In the early 1990s Russell became interested in use of hands-on tools for
building conversations with St Lukes clients. This led to the creation of
Strength Cards a set of 48 illustrated cards that named possible strengths
people might identify as resources for facing challenges in their lives.
In 1994 he was awarded the Anita Morawetz Scholarship through the University
of Melbourne for innovation in family therapy research. Russell used this
scholarship to research how practitioners used Strength Cards and other
therapeutic artefacts to build conversations. Since that time he has created
or published over 50 seriously optimistic, conversation-building tools through
Innovative Resources, and delivered hundreds of highly interactive workshops
demonstrating their use.
In 2013 he was the recipient of an Order of Australia Medal for services to
social work education and the community.

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About the Publisher

Innovative Resources
Innovative Resources is the publishing arm of St Lukes Anglicare, based in
Bendigo, Australia. St Lukes runs over seventy programs for children, families,
young people and adults struggling with issues of mental health, disability
and gambling, among other concerns. St Lukes has some 370 staff and over
15 work sites throughout North Central Victoria and into New South Wales and
Southern Australia.
St Lukes has developed a strengths-based practice philosophy that underpins
all its programs and reinforces its commitment to working towards a fairer and
more just society. Innovative Resources has endeavoured to bring alive this
philosophy by creating and publishing original, seriously optimistic, handson tools. Innovative Resources also runs a bookshop and offers training on
creative ways to use its materials for building strengths-based conversations
and organisational cultures.
Innovative Resources is a unique, not-for-profit social enterprise that has
operated for over 20 years without government or philanthropic assistance,
with the aim of making a financial contribution to support St Lukes programs
and services.
St Lukes and Innovative Resources feel privileged to be able to work in
partnership with many individuals and organisations throughout Australia
and around the world.
To learn more about St Lukes:

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www.stlukes.org.au

To learn more about Innovative Resources:

www.innovativeresources.org

References
Davys, A & Beddoe, L 2010, Best practice in professional supervision:
a guide for the helping professions, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London.
Edwards, JK 2013, Strengths-based supervision in clinical practice,
Sage, London.
Friedman, S 1997, Time-effective psychotherapy: maximising outcomes
in an era of minimised returns, Allyn and Bacon, Boston.
Lowe, R 2000, Supervising self-supervision: constructive inquiry and
embedded narratives in case consultation, Journal of Marital and Family
Therapy, 26 (4), pp. 511 521.
Lowe, R & Guy, G 2002, Solution-oriented inquiry for ongoing supervision:
expanding the horizon of change, in M McMahon & W Patton (eds),
Supervision in the helping professions: a practical approach, pp. 67-77,
Pearson Australia, New South Wales.
OHanlon, B & Wilk, J 1987, Shifting contexts: the generation of effective
psychotherapy, Guilford Press, New York.
Pond, C 1997, Highlighting success in groups: Empowering and energising
supervisees, in CL Storm and TCF Todd (eds), The reasonably complete
systemic supervisor resource guide, Allyn and Bacon, Boston.
Thomas, FN 2013, Solution-focused supervision: a resource-oriented approach
to developing clinical expertise, Springer, New York.
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Supervision plays a pivotal role in the professional development of social

workers, psychologists, counsellors, managers, health practitioners, life
coaches and other human service professionals. At its best, supervision
can be a powerful crucible of discovery and learning for both supervisor
and practitionerwith the benefits also flowing to clients.
A VISION FOR SUPERVISION CONSISTS OF:
40 cards arranged in 5 colour-coded suits
each card with a key topic such as Hopes and plans, Present situation,
What worked? and Noticing success
each card with 4 questions that go to the core of supervision conversations
a total of 160 strengths-based questions for building your supervision
conversations from start to finish, plus
a booklet filled with suggestions for using the cards.

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www.innovativeresources.org