Staff supervision and dependency culture: A case study

This article draws on research which examines the introduction of a new supervision policy in a social services department. It specifically addresses the use of supervision as an instrument of change within a welfare organisation, which was thought by its senior management to be constrained by a 'culture of dependency'. Although evidence of such a culture was at best equivocal, the organisation was pervaded by polarised mythologies of dependency and autonomy which aligned it with wider political discourses hostile to social welfare. This contributed to the generation of heightened anxieties, distorted communication and destructive states of mind. The paper highlights some of the ways in which the supervision policy, once established, was able to help staff overcome the difficulties that its implementation had initially triggered. It illustrates the function of supervision as a container for quite severe organisational anxieties which enable it to play a vital part in avoiding the consolidation of group defences.