Anti-racism supervision template to eradicate ‘colour blind approaches’

Published by Professional Social Work magazine, 22 October, 2022

An anti-racist supervision form for social work has been created in a bid to “integrate anti-racism in the supervisory space”.

The new form, which puts a strong emphasis on wellbeing, has been shaped by members of BASW’s Black and Ethnic Minority Professionals Symposium (BPS), practitioners, social work students, managers and practice educators.

Shabnam Ahmed, a member of BPS who led on the project, said it will help to eradicate “colour blind approaches in supervision”.

“I created this template because I believe that good social work supervision serves as a nourishment for social workers and is fundamental to their wellbeing and practice,” she said.

“However, if supervision is not reflective of anti-racist principles, then it can do more harm than good and, in my opinion, has the potential to reproduce inequalities.

“The template is therefore aimed at supporting supervisors to practice anti-racist principles through supervision as it encourages that all forms of oppression, including racism, are considered and discussed as part of supervision.”

The form starts by talking about health and wellbeing, such as stress, feelings and self-care and adds: “Discussions should include any impact and barriers around protected factors, ie race/disability discrimination”.

Ahmed said she was motivated to produce the template in wake of the murder of George Floyd by a US police officer. She consulted with “hundreds” of social workers and found that race, racism, anti-racism are rarely part of supervision.

“I wish such a template was not necessary, however events in 2020 – the pandemic and police brutality in the US shone a light on the disproportionate impact on people from Black and other Global majorities,” said Ahmed.

“It also broke silences around racism and reinvigorated the Black Lives Matter movement. The wide-ranging impact of structural and institutional racism on Black and ethnic minority social workers’ wellbeing, morale and progression became clearer than ever before.

“This led to me becoming curious about the supervision space and recognising that supervision will not be benign to the ills of society.”

The form is intended to be a generic template that can be easily adapted to suit specific demographics, levels and areas of practice, and not just aimed at Black and ethnic minority social workers.

Ahmed added: “I heard someone recently say, ‘If you can do good anti-racist supervision, you can do good supervision - it is as simple as that’. 

“I could not agree more and encourage all supervisors to reflect on the supervision that they provide and start by asking themselves ‘Do I provide supervision that incorporates the principles of anti-racism?’.”