Supervising Your Peers

'The strongest people make time to help others, even if they're struggling with their own personal demons.'

In the field of professional drug and alcohol treatment, the supervision of staff is standard practice, and by and large is a clinically based process. At Build on Belief we decided long ago to hijack the idea, and bend it to fit our needs. 

All of our volunteers should receive regular supervision from the paid members of their respective projects, but we also strive to teach our Team Leaders how to supervise their peers. So why do we do it?

We want  to know how you feel, how you are doing in general. 'How's life?' is the question. After that, we want to know about your experience of volunteering. Are you enjoying it? Have you made any friends? Is there anything you are struggling with? Do you feel it is worth your time and effort. The answer to these questions is very important to us.

Lastly, we want to help you achieve your personal goals. After all, you have given us your time, commitment and passion for little more than a sandwich and your travel expenses. We want to know if there is anything, within our admittedly limited power, we can give you. Because, if we can, we will.

Our supervision training looks at a few simple guidelines . . . .

• What is the framework within which supervision is conducted?
• Why do we keep notes, and what happens to them? 
• In a discussion with one of your peers, how and why do you keep the focus of the conversation on them?
• What do you do if someone has a complaint?
• How do you support someone if they ask for help and you're not sure what to do next?
• If someone is beginning to struggle with their substance use, what do you do?

Supervision is an important part of our operations, and this workshop is intended to teach people how to make ir effective, boundaried, friendly and supportive.