Practitioners’ perspectives on the use of clinical supervision in their therapeutic engagement with asylum seekers and refugee clients

ABSTRACT

The present study is the first study undertaken in Australia that seeks to explore practitioners’ perspectives on the use of clinical supervision in their therapeutic engagement with asylum seekers and refugees. We used thematic analysis to analyse extracts of interviews that were conducted with nine professionals who worked therapeutically with asylum seekers and refugees and had experience of participating in individual and peer supervision. The findings of the study suggest that supervision encouraged practitioners to develop multicultural awareness and explore therapeutic ways of working that are compatible with their clients’ frame. In addition, supervision provided the context in which practitioners explored the impact of the asylum legislative framework on their clinical work and reflected upon their feelings of powerlessness and political impotence. Implications for practice that derive from supervisory needs of practitioners who work with asylum seekers and refugees are explored.

KEYWORDS:

• Supervision
• clinical work with asylum seekers and refugees

Acknowledgements

We thank all the professionals who participated in this study. Their willingness to share their experiences with us have been integral to this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Zoe Apostolidou is an Endeavour postdoctoral fellow and holds a Doctorate degree in Counselling Psychology from the University of Wales, UK. She has worked in a number of NGOs and charitable organisations and provided psychological therapy, and psychosocial support to migrants, asylum seekers, women suffering from domestic violence, as well as, with individuals facing other psychosocial difficulties. In addition, she has worked as a researcher on projects that focus on refugees’ and migrants’ psychosocial needs.

Robert Schweitzer is Professor of Psychology at Queensland University of Technology where he established the postgraduate training program in clinical psychology. He is the founding editor of the Indo-pacific Journal of Phenomenological Psychology. His current research involves refugee wellbeing, and also psychotherapy process and outcome.

Additional information

Funding

The research was conducted in fulfilment of the Postdoctoral Endeavour Research Fellowship funded by the Australian Government.