Supervision in the Early Years

About this training

This course is designed for professionals and clinicians working in infant and early years mental health who wish to take on a supervisory role or may have been in a supervisory role for some time but want to develop their skills in this area.  Through teaching seminars and smaller work discussion groups, supervisors in training will have the opportunity to reflect on and develop their supervisory practice.

Early years mental health (or 0-5s) is a unique area of practice in which professionals simultaneously address the needs of the young child and wider family, whilst holding the needs of the former at the centre of their practice.  It is well documented that it is an area of work that can be particularly emotionally taxing because of the vulnerability of the baby and the rawness of emotions in the perinatal period. Supervision of this area of practice therefore requires an additional skill set to enable supervisors to support supervisees to carry out their work with diverse families with complex needs, as well as to reflect on supervisors' own experiences and emotional resonances.

Key learning topics include the uniqueness of infant mental health supervision, transcultural supervision, supervision of cases which raise anxiety, parallel and group processes in supervision, supervising in mental health settings – mentalising the team, and using routine outcome measures in a meaningful way. These will be covered over a series of seminars. 

Please note - before booking your place on this course, you must complete an application form and have your place approved by a course tutor.

Aims of the training

• To develop a pathway for experienced early years practitioners to move into supervision roles;

• To develop specific skills for already experienced early years supervisors;

• To equip supervisors with knowledge and skills particular to reflective supervision that supports the mental health and development of children in the early years;

• To embed and enrich knowledge and skills in supervisory practice.

Who is this training for?

This course is suitable for any mental health clinician or early years professional who is working with families with children aged 0–5 in a managerial and supervisory role.  This includes professionals working in the following teams and services: 

• Perinatal and infant mental health

• Parent-infant/Birth

• Parenting

• Early years

• CAMHS

• Family Nurse Partnership

• IAPT Under Fives

• Specialist health visitors

• Early Attachment Services

If you have any specific questions about the suitability of the module for your practice, please email training@annafreud.org.