A case study of clinical supervision to support early childhood leaders in times of natural disasters: “It’s not a designer handbag”

Abstract

This paper is a case study of clinical supervision to support early childhood leaders in times of a natural disaster. The case is of five Directors working in long day care services in regional New South Wales, and their Manager, following catastrophic flooding in the region. Data were gathered through individual interviews and thematic analysis conducted. The paper summarises the emotional and professional burdens experienced by the participants as a result of the flood. The case study identifies the benefits of clinical supervision for these leaders’ personal wellbeing and professional practice during natural disaster, and highlights the need for clinical supervision to be delivered by skilled, trauma-informed supervisors who understand the early childhood context. Some challenges to clinical supervision are identified. Arguments are made for supervision to be provided and sustained to support early childhood leaders in both the emergency and recovery periods of experiencing a natural disaster.

Introduction

High levels of attrition in early childhood have been problematic for a number of years (Totenhagen et al., 2016) and have led to unprecedented educator shortages, both in Australia and globally (Thorpe et al., 2022). Attrition in early childhood has potentially negative impacts on the consistency and quality of care experienced by children and their families, and is costly for employers, with flow on effects for society. A major cause of attrition is compromise to educator wellbeing – especially burnout (Thorpe et al., 2022) and psychological injury (Cumming et al., 2020).

The everyday work of early childhood educators with children, their families and communities, is complex, highly skilled, and emotionally challenging (Frosch et al., 2018). In particular, early childhood service leaders are responsible for leading their teams through challenging circumstances that may arise, one of which is facing natural disasters. But little has been written about how leaders in early childhood can been supported to both manage their own wellbeing and lead their teams through these challenging times.

This is paper reports on a case study that provides valuable insights into how one initiative –clinical supervision – was effective for supporting five Centre Directors (Directors) and their Manager, working in early learning services in communities that experienced the natural disaster of flooding.

Natural disasters

Throughout humanity, communities have faced multiple and frequent hazards, either natural hazards - such as floods, epidemics and storms – or hazards occurring as a result of human activity – such as pollution and environmental degradation (Prasad & Francescutti, 2017). A natural disaster is when the consequences of these hazards become overwhelming for a community’s resources (Prasad & Francescutti, 2017). Scholars argue that natural disasters are increasing due to climate change and societies must therefore be better prepared to deal with their consequences (Benevolenza & DeRigne, 2019).

As well as the economic costs of natural disasters associated with dealing with the immediate and subsequent consequences of its impacts, the trauma of experiencing natural disasters can have long-term negative effects on the physical and mental health and well-being of individuals, impacting their capacity to function (Benevolenza & DeRigne, 2019; Jenkinson et al., 2022; Prasad & Francescutti, 2017). Disaster relief includes both emergency responses in times of “turmoil, instability, and fear” (Prasad & Francescutti, 2017, p. 218), and recovery responses – the provision of resources “to cope with the economic and social strife that resulting [sic] from the disaster” (p.219). Recovery from a natural disaster, at both the community and individual level, can take significant time (Adamson, 2018).

Natural disasters impact early childhood education services. These impacts can be direct – such as through damage caused to services that may require partial or full closure. The impacts can also be indirect, such as through needing to deal with the effects of trauma experienced by children and their families, and/or educators, as a result of the disaster. Dealing with these challenges can be particularly difficult for those with the responsibility of leading and managing early learning services (Fonsén et al., 2023). In their edited book, Fonsén et al. (2023) provide multiple international examples of leadership practices in the face of the COVID-19 natural disaster: The examples highlight the challenges faced by leaders, including those associated with supporting their teams experiencing stress, uncertainty and anxiety, whilst at the same time maintaining the leaders’ own well-being. Such work requires support and resources for leaders. One support that has been found to be beneficial for Directors in early learning services is clinical supervision (Wong et al., 2021).

Clinical supervision

There are multiple definitions of clinical supervision (sometimes called reflective supervision) (Resier, 2021), and multiple models based on a range of theoretical perspectives, such as behavioural, psychotherapeutic, biopsychosocial and trauma-informed approaches (Knight, 2018; Koh et al., 2021; Reiser, 2021). Regardless of perspective, clinical supervision supervisors aim to provide safe, secure, trusting spaces in which the supervisees can reflect on their practices and interpersonal relationships, and the personal and organisational factors impacting their work (Knight, 2018; Koh et al., 2021). Essentially, clinical supervision is a process of review and intentional reflection on a supervisee’s work, to facilitate supervisees’ emotional processing, assist with their coping, and relieve work-related stress (Adamson, 2018; Bernstein & Edwards, 2012). Koh et al. (2021) argues that the aim of clinical supervision within organisational contexts is to foster individuals’ “capacity to be autonomous in examining their own practice, integrating new experiences, and developing self-awareness” (Koh et al., p.880). Clinical supervision is not only beneficial for empowering supervisees, by supporting their practice competence and capability with their clients and colleagues, it increases supervisees’ capacity to meet organisational goals.

Key aspects of successful clinical supervision are regularity of provision, and development of trust and collaboration between the supervisor and supervisee (Knight, 2018; Koh et al., 2021; Frosch et al., 2018). Factors that impact on clinical supervision include individual supervisee factors (e.g. their posture towards supervision and openness to change); relational factors (e.g. respect and trust between the supervisee and supervisor); and organisational factors (e.g. organisational commitment to supervision (Koh et al., 2021). However, the establishment of a robust evidence base to demonstrate the efficaciousness of clinical supervision, for any profession, remains problematic (Reiser, 2021).

Clinical supervision for the ‘helping professionals’ (e.g. social work and nursing) has its origins in the late 19th century (White & Winstanley, 2014). Multiple studies in these professions demonstrate the benefits of clinical supervision for supervisees and their organisations. For example, high quality clinical supervision has been shown to improve supervisees’ well-being, ameliorate the effects of vicarious trauma and reduce burnout in professionals working in child welfare (Hazen et al., 2020). Within early childhood educational contexts, however, where there is no tradition of clinical supervision provision, the research is limited (Frosch et al., 2018).

Virmani and Ontai’s (2010) study, the first to study the effect of reflective supervision on educators’ insightfulness, found some improvements from a relatively short period of reflective supervision provision (10 weeks over 2.5 months). On the basis of this finding, the authors argue for reflective supervision to be integrated into all ‘childcare’ services. Another study of clinical supervision for Directors working in early learning services with high levels of families experiencing challenges, found a range of benefits including for: Directors’ ability to support educators, children and families; enhancing Directors’ self-efficacy, professional identity and professionalism; building their resilience and well-being; and contributing to their retention within the organisation (Wong et al., 2021).

Likewise, the role of clinical supervision in natural disasters is an under researched area (Adamson, 2018). But Adamson (2018) argues that in the context of natural disaster, supervision needs to be trauma informed and attend to both the emergency and recovery periods. Trauma-informed supervision seeks to assist supervisees to recognise connections between their responses to trauma, and their personal and professional practices (Knight, 2018). Some roles of trauma-informed clinical supervision in the context of natural disaster identified by Adamson (2018, p. 229) are: assisting the supervisee in the emergency period to cope with the personal and professional impact of the disaster; and in the recovery period, to reflect on “new ways of coping, new learning, post-traumatic growth. Systems planning in response to the ‘new normal’. [and] Identifying triggers.” Importantly, Adamson (2018) argues for “the importance of taking a long-term view in our understanding of recovery after disaster” (p.223).

Although clinical supervision in the early childhood sector is uncommon, there is increasing interest among Australian providers in offering clinical supervision as a way of supporting educator well-being (Logan et al., 2020). Little is known, however, about the effectiveness of clinical supervision for supporting Directors and leaders working in communities experiencing natural disasters. The purpose of this study was to investigate Directors’ and Managers’ experiences and perspectives on the benefits or otherwise of clinical supervision, in the context of the natural disaster of flooding.

Method

This is a qualitative single-case study (Stake, 2008). Case studies provide an opportunity to provide rich narrative descriptions of a particular case, from the perspectives of participants (Simons, 2015). They are particularly useful for generating understandings of emerging phenomena – such as the provision of clinical supervision in early years settings.

This case study was conducted in 2023, exactly one year after the participants experienced extensive flooding. Due to her connections to the organisation, the author became aware of the provision of clinical supervision and, with the organisation’s agreement, designed the project to generate and document learnings from this intervention. Following ethical approval from Macquarie University, all five Directors and their Manager in receipt of clinical supervision as a support following the flooding, were invited by email, and agreed, to participate. The participants differed in terms of qualifications and experience, and the services they managed ranged in size.

The case study was conducted over two days, during a regularly scheduled meeting of the Directors with their Manager, held in one of the services. Data were collected through audio-recorded individual face to face semi-structured interviews, conducted in a private room, and lasting between 20 and 70 minutes (average 37 mins). The interviews focused on Directors’ and their Manager’s experience of clinical supervision; their views on the impact (if any) of clinical supervision on their capacity to support their team of educators, and the children and families attending their services; and the contribution (if any) of clinical supervision on the Directors’ and the Manager’s well-being and resilience, and their retention in the organisation. Audio-recordings were transcribed for analysis.

Prior to agreeing to participate, and again prior to the interviews being conducted, Directors and their Manager were advised about the purpose of the study, how data would be used and stored, that participation was voluntary, and of their right to withdraw at any time up until data analysis. Whilst the purpose of the study was not to focus on the event of the flood but rather on their experience of clinical supervision, it was likely that this reflection could trigger difficult memories and feelings. Therefore, participants were advised that if they became upset, or appeared to the researcher to be upset, the interview would stop, either temporarily so that they could compose themselves, or completely. A list of contacts for mental health supports were given to all participants. In addition, participants were warned that, despite the intention to anonymise the findings, due to the specific location of the case study, there was a high likelihood that their services could be identified. To ensure that only information for which participants gave consent was included, they were provided with a copy of this paper prior to submission and offered the opportunity to edit the findings: No changes were requested.

Transcripts were analysed using inductive thematic analysis, as per Clarke et al. (2019). First, familiarisation with the data, included reading each transcript several times and making notations. Second, passages which either communicated ideas related directly to the research questions (i.e. participants’ views on the impact of supervision on their capacity to support their team, and the children, families and community; and on participants’ wellbeing, resilience and retention), or which provided other meaningful related insights, were coded. Third, coded data from across the transcripts were combined and like codes ‘chunked’ together. Fourth, like codes were examined for similarity of meaning and organised together to identify themes. As a result of this analysis, two major themes were identified: The first theme related to the benefits of clinical supervision for participants’ emotional wellbeing and professional practice; and the second theme related to the conditions required for clinical supervision to work. These themes are presented as a narrative.

Given the small participant size and the potential that services could be identified, to maintain anonymity, when reporting quotes in the narrative, no differentiation is made between the Directors and the Manager, and no information is given about the size of service individuals worked within. All findings are reported as per a pseudonym, or ‘she’ – as all identified as female. But first the case is described.

Case study site

In Australia, the site of this case study, the most common natural disasters are floods, storms, droughts, bushfires and cyclones (Jenkinson et al., 2022). The specific natural disaster that the five Directors and their Manager in this case experienced, was catastrophic flooding in the summer of 2022, in a regional area of New South Wales, Australia. This exceptional flood occurred as a result of on-going rain over several weeks that exceeded historical records, in multiple communities, and which resulted in flood levels that peaked over 14 m high (Lerat et al., 2022). Lives, homes, businesses and livestock were lost.

The floods impacted all of the early learning services in this case study – but in different ways. Some were completely or partially closed due to inundation, either temporarily in the emergency period and/or for significant periods afterwards. Some services were physically ‘cut off’. Others remained operational. The impact of these floods could still be felt over a year later – with damage to services still being repaired.

Staff, children and families were impacted in all services - both in the immediate emergency and for some time afterwards. Some of the ways they were affected included: being involved in the emergency response; losing their homes and belongings; providing homes for displaced families; experiencing food shortages; having no internet access; and experiencing fear and anxiety. In the emergency period, and for some time afterwards, some families and staff were unable to access their regular services. Children in families unable to access their regular service, were transferred to alternative services. Educators who were unable to work in their own service, were deployed to other services, worked from home or, where that was not possible, received paid disaster leave until their service reopened or they were redeployed. As one participant, Vicky, noted:

I had one staff member who has two children under the age of four. She lived in a caravan out the front of her house for a good six or seven months. No electricity. No hot water. She turned up for work every day. One foot in front of the other.

The early learning services that the five Directors and their Manager lead, are part of a not-for-profit organisation that provided clinical supervision to all Directors and their Manager in the geographic cluster affected by the flood. The aim of clinical supervision was to support their leadership responsibilities – including their ability to support the educators, children and families in their service, as well as their own mental health and well-being, both in the emergency and recovery period following the floods.

The clinical supervision offered to Directors and Managers this case, was an hour’s session, provided monthly, remotely via video-conference, by qualified, psychologists and/or counsellors external to the organisation, who implemented trauma-informed approaches, and who had significant experience of providing clinical supervision in the early childhood sector. At the time of this case study, the participants had been receiving clinical supervision for close to a year.

Findings

In this section the two themes identified are presented.

Clinical supervision supported participants’ emotional wellbeing and professional practice

All participants reflected on their experience of the flood, commenting about the challenges they and their community faced in the emergency period. Liz, for example said:

It was all consuming. It happened so quickly. And just the impact it was having on everyone and everything. It was exhausting. It was emotional.

The floods were a traumatic event that took an emotional toll. Karen commented:

There was a great deal of pressure from encouraging educators to come to work and then being worried that they might have difficulty in getting through the floods or be cut off and not be able to get home. So that there was a real concern with their safety and feeling responsible.

Several participants spoke about emotions they experienced as a result of the floods. Debbie recounted, for example, how she felt “bombarded and overwhelmed” with information about the floods – and this heightened her concern. For others, the level of vicarious trauma experienced was particularly high. Sharon recalled, for example, that during the emergency period she had an educator telephone from the roof of her house as she awaited rescue - to say that she wouldn’t be in on that day. Such conversations naturally led Sharon to worry about her colleague’s safety.

All participants reflected on how clinical supervision in the emergency period assisted them to reflect on this traumatic event and to cope with its personal and professional impact. Sharon stated:

During natural disaster, your world turns upside down and you lack the ability to make decisions and choices like you would when you’re not in the middle of a natural disaster. And those conversations [with the supervisor] can give you that – it helps you make those choices and prioritise.

Likewise, Vicky said that clinical supervision:

Helped me cope with the experience of the floods. And to talk about some of the life and death situations people faced.

All participants stated that clinical supervision had assisted them to process and deal with troubling and confronting emotions – but these emotions and how they dealt with them differed. Several participants spoke of ‘feeling guilty’, both for not having been personally affected by the floods and/or for feeling resentful. For example, Vicky said:

It [clinical supervision] was really helpful during that time. I was working in a peer group that was very affected by vicarious trauma. So for me, I'm feeling guilty that life goes on where I live. And then the suffering and the stories that I’d hear. I just felt so bad because I was on the outside - that's not happening for me. Clinical supervision helped me to be empathetic and to understand and that was actually enough - just to listen.

Other participants, whose services continued to operate during the emergency, also confessed feelings of resentment of those educators who were receiving paid leave due to being unable to work in their own service, as well as frustration when educators would not redeploy to open services. Tracey also noted that she then felt guilty about feeling that way:

We were doing it tough. It was emotional and I felt resentful that those other services were shutting their doors and educators wouldn’t come and work for us. I was like ‘I just want a few days off’. But I felt bad for having those thoughts.

Several participants commented that they felt that they had to ‘push down’ these emotions but clinical supervision provided them with opportunities to ‘surface’ and discuss these feelings and deal with them in healthy ways. For example, Karen said:

The emotional load, the push down of our emotions. Clinical supervision taught me that I don’t have to do that. I don’t have to push that down.

Similarly, some participants said that, as leaders, and especially during these traumatic events, they felt like they should not show weakness. Vicky explained:

Because we're the backbone of the centre - if we start falling apart then the educators see that - they need to see you coping with it.

The role and responsibilities of Directors in particular, are challenging. Of note, is that they are always responsible for their service, and need to be constantly available. Consequently, they got little respite during the emergency period - receiving texts and emails at all hours of the day and night and at weekends. Moreover, given their unique responsibilities, they felt the need to maintain a distance from the other educators in their team. As Debbie reflected: “It’s a lonely job being a director.” For some participants, not showing weakness was tied to issues of maintaining control and power. For example, Sharon commented:

We need to be seen as if we are coping all the time. I can't cry at the staff meetings -'cause they’ll think they have power over me.

Clinical supervision provided participants with a safe space where these emotions, and other experiences, could be discussed. Tracy explained, for example, that supervision provides “A safe space to talk about your concerns”. A space, Sharon said, where you can “talk about anything and everything” and where Debbie noted you will “not be judged”.

In this way, as Sharon reported, clinical supervision is “A service that provides you with support for your mental well-being” and Vicky confirmed “builds our emotional resilience.” Through clinical supervision, participants recognised that prioritising their own emotional/mental wellbeing is not a selfish act, but is essential for their work and achieving organisational goals. Liz explained:

We just don’t prioritise ourself. And that’s what I’ve learnt through clinical supervision. That it’s important to look after yourself. If I’m not mentally well – I can’t be there for the children, families and my team. So that’s what’s really important.

Participants reported that dealing with these feelings of guilt and resentment through clinical supervision, assisted them to work more effectively with their team. For example, Debbie recalled:

It helped me move aside my emotions that weren’t needed and concentrate on what I can do to support people.

The flood not only had an emotional toll on the participants, it also created additional demands on their work. In the days and weeks following the floods, whilst things began to settle, and importantly concerns over people’s safety abated, it was a time when the educators in services ‘rallied around’ to support people in their community. Managing the services both in the emergency and recovery period required the leaders to manage human and other resources to maintain as ‘normal’ a service as possible for children and families. This required frequent communication with educators and families; relocation of resources; redeployment of staff to different roles – with the Directors often taking on other roles ‘on the floor’ as educators and cooks; rearrangement and extension of working hours to manage fluctuating numbers of children; settling children and families with unfamiliar educators; and creating intensive support plans and practices for children who had been traumatised by the flood. All of these circumstances placed additional burden on both the leaders and the educators.

All participants reflected on how, during the recovery period, clinical supervision assisted them in their professional practice, but this was distinct and individualised. For some, like Karen, the personal self-reflection afforded through clinical supervision built her self-realisation:

I have to know myself first and to identify when things that appear small and insignificant are actually very big. You can have lots of training - but without the opportunity to reflect on yourself you can't put that into operation.

For others, like Debbie, clinical supervision gave them deeper insights and recognition of the connection between their home factors that effected their work:

Obviously, we have a work life and our personal life. But because our work life is so demanding if everything is not A-OK in our personal life it will flow over into our work life.

For Karen, clinical supervision supported her to re-evaluate her work. She spoke about how her work following the flood was constant, she had many different roles and responsibilities to contend with, and often didn’t have time to do ‘everything’ that she wanted to achieve, clinical supervision helped her to reflect on what she had achieved:

That’s where I’ve changed my mindset. I used to go home thinking ‘I did nothing today. I achieved nothing’. And then I sit back and think ‘well I didn’t achieve anything on this list. But what I did do was this, this, this and this’. And often the day to day this, this and this, trumps the things on the other list.

Liz reflected on how clinical supervision provided her with ability to recognise triggers, and enabled her to regulate her emotions:

At times when I’ve felt, challenged or concerned or frustrated – historically I would have thrown my hands up in the air and jumped up and down and then have to retract my emotions a few days later. Whereas talking to [supervisor] she gets me level-headed, keeps me focused and regulates my emotions.

In so doing, clinical supervision during this period of natural disaster contributed to participants’ resilience. As Tracy noted:

Facing and dealing with these disasters has made me a little bit more resilient. I feel that I can manage with things better now.

The creation of these ‘safe’ spaces was particularly important for participants who had limited opportunities to talk with others about their work. Family, friends and colleagues do not necessarily understand the complexity of EC work; and/or are not particularly open to discussions; and/or expect a clear demarcation between ‘work’ and ‘home’. Supervision offered the opportunity for participants to de-brief.

As Debbie commented: “Early childhood is about working in teams”. When asked to reflect on the benefits, or otherwise, of clinical supervision, all participants in this case study commented that clinical supervision had increased their capacity to work effectively with their team – based on their individual needs. For Sharon, clinical supervision gave her strategies:

I found that through having clinical supervision, I could come up with strategies to navigate difficult situations with my team.

For Vicky, clinical supervision assisted her to share workload responsibilities through delegation:

It [clinical supervision] helped me to recognise and acknowledge what was going on in my life. And realise I can't do everything, and I need to draw on the support of others.

A few participants commented that clinical supervision gave them skills and strategies to work effectively with families. For example, Karen developed rich understandings of emotions, behaviours and the strategies families can employ.

I just had a conversation with a family that’s struggling with their child’s behaviour they are miscuing their child they’re reactive to their child’s behaviour - so it’s not about the child now, it’s about them. I was able to help them understand this situation. They were tired, and lots of things were going on in their family. So their tolerance was limited. I was able to give them strategies to put in place.

Creating the conditions for clinical supervision to ‘work’

For clinical supervision to work, requires time and conditions for participants to engage. In the context of juggling multiple responsibilities, however, for some participants managing the time for supervision was a challenge. Most participants spoke of numerous occasions when they had to cancel and reschedule appointments. As Vicky noted: “Finding time to have an hour away from the centre is hard.”

All participants commented on the importance of finding physical spaces in which to engage in the private, and often emotional, conversations required through clinical supervision. As Liz explained:

There were times during my session where I kind of broke down and cried. And I don't want the team to see that. I wouldn't want them to see me being vulnerable in this space. And I need the time afterwards as well just to sit quietly with those feelings and work through them. It's important when you're talking about emotions and trauma.

Similarly, Karen said: “You need to be really present in the Supervision to get the most out of it.”

A lack of private space for clinical supervision was a challenge commented on by most participants. Some participants, quite reasonably, wanted to contain their clinical supervision sessions to within their work hours. For Directors, this often meant having supervision within their workspace at the early learning service. But finding a quiet, private space in the busy context of an early learning service, had its challenges, as Liz explained:

It’s challenging because the walls are thin. Even if I close the door and the windows, I can still hear the educators and the children. And families and educators who want to talk come into the office.

Within such a context, as Karen said: “you’re always going to think people are listening.”

Moreover, for some participants it was hard to ‘switch-off’ from their work responsibilities. Liz noted, for example:

We're trained to be hypervigilant always scanning and supervising. We're always listening out. So when we're in the centre it's really difficult. But for supervision, you need to be present in the moment.

To overcome the challenges noted above, participants carefully planned their supervision sessions and engaged in a variety of strategies such as: informing their team so that they were not disturbed during their session; turning off notifications on their computer and phone; scheduling supervision for quieter days, and/or during a quieter period of the day. Others, like Debbie, preferred to have their supervision sessions when they were at home:

When I'm in the service I've got my centre director's hat on and I'm not thinking about what things might be affecting me. Whereas when I'm at home everything that was going on with me - the holistic view - I can focus on what was going on in my life, to get me to that point.

Several participants who had negotiated flexible working arrangements, had their supervision session on a ‘work from home day’. Others chose to have supervision on non-workdays, or before or after their shift. Whilst ethically, work related supervision should perhaps be confined to work hours, these arrangements do highlight how important these participants found clinical supervision.

Related to participants’ development of trust, was the fact that the clinical supervision offered was from a qualified supervisor who is external to the service. Participants commented on the importance of clinical supervision being an independent perspective, that was unbiased. Tracy said for example:

A manager focuses on what you need to do to get your job done and isn't interested in your homelife. A supervisor brings both points together your work life and your family life and shows how these two interact.

Whilst external, however, all participants commented that it is important to have skilled supervisors who know the service and have an understanding of the early childhood context because, as Debbie said: “There’s just nothing like early childhood”.

Indeed, participants noted that supervisors’ understanding of the early childhood context is essential to ‘surface’ potential problems and provide effective supervision. As an example, Vicky said:

[Supervisor] needs to understand the stresses and strains that I’m facing all day. My supervisor understands the early childhood context and the work I do. And which tasks are big. So I can’t just ‘gloss over’ things; Whereas people that don’t know that context might not recognise how challenging certain things are.

Participants preference for mode of delivery of supervision was largely based on individual preferences. Some participants would have preferred in-person supervision rather than the on-line option that was offered. Liz noted, for example, that she found “it hard to connect with people online”. But the caveat to a preference for face-to-face supervision, was the need for sessions to be held locally - without too much travel time. In this study, participants were living in regional areas where there is a lack of available local supervisors – necessitating online supervision. Most participants, however, stated a preference for video-conference, rather than phone, supervision.

In regard to length of supervision sessions, whilst all participants said that 1 hour once a month was sufficient, many pointed to the importance of on-going supervision. As Sharon noted, challenges may not arise until several months after the event:

Sometimes things don't arise until life starts to get back to normal and then it's ‘I've just been through that roller coaster and now I can't sleep at night’. And that's why I think that if we are really committed to early childhood educators and Directors, we need to be doing this a lot longer than that [one year]. Because we're not trained to be psychologists, counsellors and plumbers - but that's what we're doing – what we're dealing with. It’s a lot. And I feel like to make this profession really work well and people to stay in it - we need to support them.

Relatedly, several participants mentioned that it took a period of familiarisation before they understood what clinical supervision was about. Liz said, for example:

I really didn’t understand it when I started it. But now I really look forward to it.

With time, participants’ trust in their supervisors grew and their ability to share their feelings and thoughts increased. In some cases, enabling participants to share intimate aspects of their personal lives so that these ‘issues’ could be dealt with. As Liz went on to explain:

For people like us [Directors / Mangers] who hold themselves to high standards. We have to be vulnerable - they [supervisors] can only help you when you say what the problem is.

For some participants, however, even after close to a year with a supervisor they liked and respected, it remained difficult to ‘open up’. Vicky, for example, shared her realisation that she had been ‘holding back’ on her true feelings:

When it’s really busy and I’ve got an hour for supervision - I think ‘I won’t tell her all my issues because it’ll take too long’ – and I push it down. And that’s really bad.

The on-going relationship with her supervisor, had now gotten Vicky to the point where she felt not only ready to talk about highly personal feelings, but that she deserved to have this opportunity. As she said:

I need to know that I deserve that. I’m ready for that now.

Most participants expressed a strong desire for the continuation of their supervision sessions to sustain them in the profession. Debbie commented:

I sometimes wonder if I didn't have it - how I would cope? And I don't want to be pushed out of something [early childhood] that I truly love. I'm so lucky to have that long-term supervision and to have gotten past that ‘I don't know what to talk about stage’. You need that commitment of yourself. And that's what we don't do we don't prioritise ourselves.

Likewise, Karen argued that:

It [clinical supervision] should just be something that we have. It’s like ‘can I have a glass of water?’ – That’s how important it is. Every centre director and manager working with services should have it. It’s not a luxury. It’s not a designer handbag. It’s something that is needed to support our mental health and well-being. It’s really important.

Several participants argued for clinical supervision to be available to all educators and included in professional development to sustain educators and support retention. Tracy, for example argued:

We haven't done early childhood education in Australia really well and we're putting band aids on severe wounds all the time. And we need to start in the training levels about clinical supervision. They start that with other professions really early. Why don't we value early childhood teachers as really important as well? And then they might stay if they feel really important.

Likewise, Debbie expressed:

If supervision was implemented in early childhood, then you would have a more supported workforce, and get less burnout and work-related stress leave.

Discussion

As has been noted in relation to other natural disasters (Benevolenza & DeRigne, 2019; Jenkinson et al., 2022; Prasad & Francescutti, 2017), the floods experienced by the participants in this study, was a traumatic event that took an emotional toll on them. This case study has demonstrated how clinical supervision assisted participants to reflect on this traumatic event and to cope with its personal and professional impact both in the emergency and recovery period.

The clinical supervision provided in this instance reflected recognised best practice standards of clinical supervision (Knight, 2018; Koh et al., 2021). It provided participants with safe secure spaces, built on trust, that afforded opportunity, and increased participants’ capacity, to critically reflect. In keeping with established aims of clinical supervision (Bernstein & Edwards, 2012; Koh et al., 2021), and especially trauma-informed clinical supervision during natural disasters (Adamson, 2018; Knight, 2018), the clinical supervision in this case helped participants to recognise and process how the trauma associated with the floods impacted their emotional health and professional practice. It enabled participants to process and deal with troubling and confronting emotions arising as a result of the flood. In particular, clinical supervision assisted participants to deal with guilt, a commonly experienced emotion in times of natural disaster, but one that may be particularly significant for the early childhood sector, where often in times of natural disasters early childhood educators are required to put aside their own feelings in order to provide support for others (Fonsén et al., 2023). Such “emotional labour” has been shown to contribute to educator burnout (Purper et al., 2023). In this case, clinical supervision contributed to sustaining participants through this difficult time, by facilitating their emotional coping with guilt, building their resilience and relieving the stress experienced, and so ameliorated the effect of the trauma.

More than this, the participants experienced other benefits previously attributed to clinical supervision, namely increased practice competence and capability with clients and colleagues (Koh, 2021). In this case, clinical supervision raised participants’ professional self-awareness (Koh, 2021), and empowered (Knight et al., 2018; Koh et al., 2021) their post-traumatic professional growth (Adamson, 2018). It benefited their professional practice and leadership skills with their team and families, contributed to their self-efficacy and well-being, and sustained them in the profession, ultimately contributing to their capacity to meet their organisation’s goals.

But for these benefits to accrue requires certain conditions. First, as Adamson (2018) argues, this study highlights that whilst clinical supervision needs to be implemented fairly immediately after a natural disaster to support people through the initial trauma, it also needs to be sustained. For several participants in this study, challenges did not arise until several months after the event, without sustained supervision participants may not have been able to process these challenges. Sustained supervision is also important to develop the stable, familiar relationships between the supervisor and supervisee that enable supervisees to feel safe to share the emotions they are experiencing, and the professional and personal challenges they are facing (Knight, 2018; Koh et al., 2021; Frosch et al., 2018).

Second, the study has highlighted that the process of engaging in, and getting the most out of, clinical supervision is a skill (Adamson, 2018). It requires supervisees to understand the purpose of clinical supervision and to engage. In this study it took a while for some participants to understand what clinical supervision ‘is’ and meant to achieve. As a fairly recent and uncommon initiative within the early childhood sector, educators may require time and professional development to reap the benefits of clinical supervision.

Third, and relatedly, the study also confirms previous findings unique to the provisions of clinical supervision in early childhood settings (Wong et al., 2021) namely that clinical supervision in early childhood requires skilled supervisors with knowledge of the early childhood context and a lack of private spaces in early learning settings is problematic to work-based clinical supervision.

Conclusion

Early childhood education is complex and challenging work that takes a toll on educators’ and leaders’ physical and emotional wellbeing. Especially in the face of high levels of attrition from the profession, more must be done to support and build the resilience of early childhood educators and leaders – particularly during times of challenge like during natural disasters, which are likely to be experienced increasingly by educators.

This case study tells the story of how clinical supervision supported Directors and their Manager impacted by the natural disaster of floods. Given the dearth of empirical evidence of the use of clinical supervision in the early childhood sector – especially in the aftermath of natural disaster (Adamson, 2018; Resier, 2021) - the ‘case’ provides a valuable contribution to the literature. Whilst limited in its scope and generalisability, the learnings are potentially transferable to other contexts (Simons, 2015), and should be tested more broadly. In regard to whether or not clinical supervision should be available to all educators – not just leaders – further research is required.

Whilst supervision on its own won’t answer all the challenges leaders face in natural disasters – supportive structural and policy contexts are also required – it can build Directors’ and Managers’ resilience and sustain them in traumatic times.