Holding space for those who heal: Reflections from the Rahbar Supportive Supervision Programme during the Covid 19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

The pandemic impacted the well-being of communities globally. In providing psychosocial care, mental health practitioners at the frontlines had to deal with soaring demands that left them feeling overwhelmed. In response, a supportive supervision program was launched by Rahbar in India. This paper presents supervisors’ reflections on providing supervision based on principles of social justice, trauma informed, and strengths-based practice to mental health practitioners and psychosocial care workers to navigate challenges in remote counseling, supporting children and persons diagnosed with Covid-19 and managing their own well-being. Implications for supervision programs, specifically in crisis/trauma contexts, are outlined.

KEYWORDS:

• Supervision
• Covid-19
• mental health
• trauma-informed supervision
• social justice

Acknowledgments

We thank all individuals and organizations that reached out to us for the program. The names and details of individuals and organizations have not been mentioned to ensure confidentiality and anonymity.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

The first and second author developed the program, co-led the supervision sessions, and documented the work. The third author contributed to the writing of the manuscript.

Data availability statement

Data is available from the first author.

Data deposition

Data will not be submitted to the depository. However, it is available from the first author.

Notes

1. The restorative dimension of supervision is one the three tasks of supervision identified in Inskipp and Proctor’s (1993) conceptualization, which include the formative, restorative and normative tasks in supervision.

2. Rahbar also initiated a university approved Post Graduate Diploma programme in Supervision for Mental Health Practice in 2021. The programme offers comprehensive training and practice for being a supervisor over a 7 month duration.

3. Field Action Projects are outreach initiatives and extension activity of University faculty to meet the emerging needs of society by demonstrating new interventions.

4. Tata Institute of Social Sciences is a Deemed University with four campuses across the country, offering a wide variety of higher education courses in social sciences, public policy, law, and development practice. The institute aims to create a people-centered, sustainable, and just society through training and other initiatives.

5. Covid-19 specific helplines were launched early on in the pandemic as part of the psychosocial response for individuals diagnosed with Covid-19 and their family members, as well as for the general public and certain special groups such as pregnant women, immunocompromised individuals, etc. (Ravindran et al., 2020).

6. The manual, written by the first and second author, is available in the public domain. It includes knowledge, skills, and reflective practice frameworks for counselors on basic skills of telephonic counseling, and detailed interventions for working with Covid-19 related challenges such as grief, sadness, guilt, anxiety, anger, stigma, etc. https://tiss.edu/uploads/files/RAHBAR__NDMA-manual1_compressed1.pdf

7. In India, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, 2012 (POCSO Act) provides the legal framework and guidelines to protect children against sexual offenses.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chetna Duggal

Chetna Duggal is an Associate Professor in the School of Human Ecology, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. She has completed her Ph.D. from TISS, Mumbai and her M.Phil. in Clinical Psychology from NIMHANS, Bangalore. She is a psychotherapist with over 15 years of experience and has worked with children, adolescents, couples and families. She is a psychotherapy trainer and supervisor and teaches courses on psychotherapy and community mental health. She heads two field action projects- the School Initiative for Mental Health Advocacy (SIMHA) - that focuses on the well-being of young people in educational systems - and Rahbar - an initiative to promote psychotherapy supervision and professional development of therapists. She has been a J1 scholar at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and the recipient of the Faculty Mobility Initiative Grant by the Embassy of France. Her research interests include psychotherapy training, practice and supervision, social justice and trauma perspectives in psychotherapy practice, child and adolescent mental health, religion and spirituality.

Bakul Dua

Bakul Dua is a clinical psychologist and Psychotherapist based in bangalore India. She has an M.Phil in Clinical Psychology from NIMHANS and is a doctoral scholar at TISS. Her research interests include psychotherapy process, professional development, supervision, and child psychotherapy. She is the project coordinator of Rahbar - a field action project which aims to promote training and supervision for mental health practitioners

Arushi Kothari

Arushi Kothari is a practicing psychotherapist and PhD Scholar in the Department of Psychology, University of Delhi. She has done her undergraduation in Psychology from Lady Shri Ram College for Women and her Masters in Applied Psychology with a Specialisation in Clinical Psychology from Tata Institute of Social Sciences. She is working as a Teaching Assistant for the Postgraduate Diploma in Supervision for Mental Health Practice at TISS. Her training and practice is informed by principles of social justice and strengths based orientations.