Values and Supervision

Abstract

I am the manager of Sharing Voices (Bradford) (SVB), which is a community development organisation working within local communities to meet the needs of those with mental health issues. Sharing Voices operates within a framework that acknowledges, respects and promotes community expertise, and the cultural and religious heritage of its members. It makes extensive use of art as a means to aid recovery. The work of SVB is based on the premise that people living with distress are experts by experience and that people need to be supported on their road to recovery with their self-defined solutions. Within this dynamic situation arise critical self-reflective practice models of engagement which recognise the value of all those involved in the process of recovery. This involves open and frank sharing of ideas, beliefs and practice between members of staff so that richness and diversity can be celebrated and areas of difference can be acknowledged. This process within our organisation exists is truly organic, as we communicate and the message that all people are valued. Embedding principles of diversity and equality in organisational structures and interactions between people, whether they are paid staff, volunteers, committee members or local people, is a task that needs constant attention. Therefore the interactive, interpersonal supervision and management processes become critical to ensuring that SVB remains rooted in and committed to diversity as a core platform upon which community development mental health work is based.