Understanding the Supervisory Relationship with Social Work Students

In my past field placement, I had two supervisors. This was something that was very new to me and, often, it was difficult to manage because of their different supervisory styles. Many times, I found myself preferring one supervisor over the other, because I felt I was better understood and that this supervisor’s supervisory style was more aligned with my learning style. These differences really caused me to struggle with how I approached cases and caused me to question the differences in my relationship with each supervisor. Until recently, I never thought or even considered that there were theories and styles of supervision that supervisors may use to help teach and guide MSW students’ development in their field placements.