Supervision in the Early Years
For professionals and clinicians working in infant and early-years mental health looking to take on a supervisory role.
Please note - before booking your place on this course, you must complete an application form and have your place approved by a course tutor. More information on the application process can be found towards the bottom of this webpage.
This course is designed for professionals and clinicians working in infant and early years mental health who wish to take on a supervisory role or may have been in a supervisory role for some time but want to develop their skills in this area. Through teaching seminars and smaller work discussion groups, supervisors in training will have the opportunity to reflect on and develop their supervisory practice.
Early years mental health (or 0-5s) is a unique area of practice in which professionals simultaneously address the needs of the young child and wider family, whilst holding the needs of the former at the centre of their practice. It is well documented that it is an area of work that can be particularly emotionally taxing because of the vulnerability of the baby and the rawness of emotions in the perinatal period. Supervision of this area of practice therefore requires an additional skill set to enable supervisors to support supervisees to carry out their work with diverse families with complex needs, as well as to reflect on supervisors' own experiences and emotional resonances.
Key learning topics include the uniqueness of infant mental health supervision, transcultural supervision, supervision of cases which raise anxiety, parallel and group processes in supervision, supervising in mental health settings – mentalising the team, and using routine outcome measures in a meaningful way. These will be covered over a series of seminars.
Four follow-up monthly work discussion groups will take place between January and April 2022 and will be led by experienced infant mental health supervisors. These will be smaller groups of up to 6, where participants will bring recordings of supervision to discuss and consider with the facilitator and their peers so that you can learn about your supervision style and develop your supervisory practice. This part of the course prioritises experiential and reflective learning, rooted in real cases, thereby enabling participants to put their theoretical learning from the seminars into practice, to further develop their supervisory practice.
Please view the timetable for more information on the daily structure of the course.
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Michela Biseo
Deputy Head of the Early Years & Prevention Department
Courses this tutor is involved in Supervision in the Early Years
Dr Zack Eleftheriadou
Chartered Counselling Psychologist
Courses this tutor is involved in Supervision in the Early Years
Sheila Ritchie
psychoanalytic psychotherapist and group analyst
Sheila Ritchie is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and group analyst.
Dr Dickon Bevington
Medical Director, Consultant in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Caldicott Guardian, Safeguarding Lead, Consultant to AMBIT Programme
As Medical Director and Consultant in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, I offer medical/psychiatric support (consultations and assessments) to clinicians across Anna Freud, and oversee the appraisal and revalidation of other medical staff employed at the Anna Freud. I chair the Safeguarding Oversight Group which oversees staff training and the safeguarding systems that are in place across Anna Freud. As Caldicott Guardian I act as the ‘conscience’ of the organisation in relation to questions about data-sharing, especially as this relates to patients and families. I have co-led the development of the AMBIT programme with Dr Peter Fuggle, which supports teams around the world in working with complex risky client groups and have published a wide range of material on this work as well as reviewing evidence-based practice. In parallel to my work at AFNCCF, I have worked continuously for 30 years in the NHS, focusing on young people with multiple and intersecting needs, who present with high risk and are frequently underserved by mainstream services. I am a father of three.
Dr Emily Durling
Modality Lead, 0-5s
Contact: Emily.Durling@annafreud.org
Nicola Labuschagne
Parenting Interventions Lead in the Early Years Parenting Hub
Courses this tutor is involved in Supervision in the Early Years
Viktoria Bekeniova-Cestaro
Counselling Psychologist
Courses this tutor is involved in Supervision in the Early Years