Psychoanalytically-informed clinical supervision of staff in probation services

Abstract

At a time of considerable organisational change within Probation Services, the authors describe a new initiative to offer psychoanalytically-informed clinical supervision to frontline probation officers, linked to the development of a care pathway for offenders with personality disorders. An analysis of feedback forms from supervisors during the first months of this project highlighted the typical countertransference challenges of probation work. In subsequent months, concerns about organisational change were increasingly evident in supervision, possibly amplifying existing concerns about risk, formulation and management of countertransference responses. The complexities of offering containment and supervision to probation officers, at a time when they were anxious about the security of their organisational ‘container’, are explored.

Keywords::

• clinical supervision
• countertransference
• personality disorder pathway
• probation
• containment

Acknowledgements

We are indebted to the London Probation Trust, and the LPP led by Dr Jackie Craissati, for commissioning and supporting this work, and for permission to publish this account of our joint work with them. The Portman Clinic has housed and supported the project throughout. The team involved in delivering individual clinical supervision has also included Will Crouch, Caoimhe McAnena, Sue Hickman and Arabella Kurtz, and many of the ideas reported here are the product of shared discussions within this group. Stan Ruszczynski, Stephen Blumenthal and Carlos Fishman also provided some of the supervision and contributed to the supervisor feedback. Alison Flynn provided invaluable support in collating and analysing the supervisor feedback. Finally, we are grateful to the probation officers who have shared with us some of the daunting challenges of their role.