Florida Association for Infant Mental Health

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Reflective supervision/consultation (RS/C) is a relationship-based supervisory approach where an infant and early childhood mental health professional explores their thoughts and feelings about their work with infant/very young children and family with a qualified RS/C Supervisor. RS/C offers professionals the experiences of being heard, validated, and affirmed. RS/C is distinct from administrative supervision and clinical supervision due its focus on all of the relationships involved, including the relationships between professional and supervisor, between professional and parent, and between parent and infant/toddler. It is critical to understand how each of these relationships affects the other. RS/C for a manager/supervisor/or team leader would focus on the relationships with their staff and colleagues, and all of the other relationships related to their child- or family-serving work.

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Because words matter, we wanted to clarify the “slash” in RS/C - what is Reflective Supervision and what is Reflective Consultation? The Best Practice Guidelines for Reflective Supervision/Consultation (Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health, 2018) clarifies the difference between Reflective Supervision (and a reflective supervisor) and Reflective Consultation (and a reflective consultant):

 

Reflective Supervision is when a professional receives RS/C from a qualified supervisor within their agency or program. It is recommended that the supervisor schedule a meeting devoted to reflective supervision separate from administrative and clinical supervision. Reflective Consultation is when an outside consultant is hired to provide RS/C to an individual or group.

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