Practitioners' perspectives on the use of clinical supervision in their therapeutic engagement with asylum seekers and refugee clients

The present study is the first study undertaken in Australia that seeks to explore practitioners' perspectives on the use of clinical supervision in their therapeutic engagement with asylum seekers and refugees. We used thematic analysis to analyse extracts of interviews that were conducted with nine professionals who worked therapeutically with asylum seekers and refugees and had experience of participating in individual and peer supervision. The findings of the study suggest that supervision encouraged practitioners to develop multicultural awareness and explore therapeutic ways of working that are compatible with their clients' frame. In addition, supervision provided the context in which practitioners explored the impact of the asylum legislative framework on their clinical work and reflected upon their feelings of powerlessness and political impotence. Implications for practice that derive from supervisory needs of practitioners who work with asylum seekers and refugees are explored.