Family Law Supervision for family law firms - A clear space to reflect
Understanding the psychological aspects of divorce and separation on family lawyers and solicitors.
Offering family law professional services is emotionally demanding. The work can feel lonely and stressful. Dealing with divorce and separation on a daily basis means holding clients who are dealing with rejection, separation, abandonment and loss. This impacts family law professionals and can lead to burnout, reigniting our own fears and losses. It can lead to a sense of being overwhelmed.
This can also be compounded by the lack of supervision or space to share for family lawyers. Work demands and pressure to ‘just get on with it’ can mean that we feel ashamed or as though there is something ‘wrong’ with us.
This is where family law supervision for firms or individual family law practitioners can be invaluable and economical.
What are the benefits of Family Law Supervision?
1.) Ensuring high quality of work - We know that this work is emotionally demanding and cannot be sustained alone over long periods of time. Supervision provides time to check in with self, promotes reflection and learning so essential to professional practice.
2.) Self-care - We know that prolonged, unmanaged exposure to trauma and client distress or anxiety can lead to: chronic stress, fatigue, burn out, addictions, workaholism
3.) We are all unique and have different needs and learning styles, as do our clients, but we share certain common themes and needs too. Sharing learning and reflections promotes resilience, quality and ethical working.
Good enough supervision can:
1.) Help solicitors survive and navigate negative client feedback and experiences
2.) Help provide reassurance and care
3.) Help you avoid collusion and enmeshment
4.) Help you avoid blaming others and take responsibility
5.) Help you with learning day-to-day as part of reflexive practice and continuing professional development.
Perhaps most importantly, family supervision provides a chance to share and create space to offer more responsive, effective and professional care for clients going through what is often intense experiences of divorce and separation.