Issues of child protection are very complex, difficult and often overwhelming to deal with for front-line professionals in every context. Learning from supervised practice is an essential component of the education and training of all professionals directly working with children and families. Supervision is the “cornerstone” of good practice for these professionals, and is geared toward efficiency, accountability, professional standards and high performance of workers.
Based on these key principles, at the beginning of 2020, ChildHub initiated a series of supervision sessions, offered to the professionals involved in the protection and care of children coming from public and private institutions, such as: CPW in Municipalities, Case Workers in service delivery centers, professionals working for child-centered organizations, psycho-social unit workers in schools etc. As of today, 74 professionals have enrolled in these sessions, 15 of whom have reached (or gone beyond) the 10 session quota.
Participants who completed at least 10 sessions were automatically eligible to enroll in a Training of Trainers (ToT), enabling them to facilitate supervision sessions with other junior professionals. Led by Prof. Assoc. Izela Tahsini, a well-established expert in supervision, 15 professionals came together for the ToT, which took place from 8–10 March, 2022.
The training followed the blended methodology pattern; on the first day, virtual and online meetings were held, while face-to-face events followed on the next two days at the Mondial Hotel in Tirana. The virtual sessions were carried out through the ChildHub academy online course, “Practicing supervision in child protection and care agencies”, while later parts of the program applied real-life situations, role play, discussion of different scenarios etc.
In the post-course evaluation, all participants stated that they considered this training very important in consolidating their knowledge regarding supervision, and increased their willingness to support peer-to-peer experiences with other young professionals.
ChildHub has appreciated the participants' serious commitment and involvement throughout their study and training, and hopes to continue this enriching experience in the coming months.