Professional supervision
Nurses are the largest registered clinical group in the mental health and addiction workforce. They have a major role in providing mental health services.
All nurses have a key role in leading the changes required to improve health outcomes. The challenge is to ensure the nursing workforce remains robust and resilient, and is adequately prepared for current and future services.
Te Pou’s nursing work provides strategic direction on leadership priorities for mental health and addiction nurses. This activity aims to strengthen both nursing leadership and practice within DHBs, NGOs, primary health care environments and professional bodies.
There can be nothing more refreshing for a person facing new experiences and challenges in the workplace than hearing they are on the right track or can improve results by using different strategies.
Professional supervision helps ensure the best possible service for people using mental health and addiction services. Working with trained supervisors helps new nurses develop both professionally and personally. Learning from someone more experienced and with greater knowledge helps develop new skills and wisdom. It also helps motivate, inspire and reduce burnout.
Te Pou is playing a key role in helping DHBs, NGOs and primary health organisations (PHOs) to embed professional supervision in regular practice.
Te Pou began this work by developing National Guidelines for the Professional Supervision of Mental Health and Addiction Nurses.
To help services and the nursing profession implement the guidelines and get the most out of supervision, Te Pou has produced three professional supervision guides. The guides are for leaders and managers, nursing supervisors and nursing supervisees. They are valuable, rich resources and a first for the sector.
The guides demystify professional supervision. They help people to have a mutual understanding of expectations and practices to get the most from their relationships. While the guides are written for the mental health and addiction nursing workforce, they can be used by other disciplines and the nongovernment sector.
Te Pou’s professional supervision work fits with national priorities, as outlined in Mental Health Nursing and its Future: A Discussion Framework (Ministry of Health, 2006).
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