Caregiver Support

Support for Caregivers​

There is a standard practice, in the helping professions, where a practitioner, who assists troubled or traumatised individuals, periodically reflects on their experience with a senior experienced practitioner who is outside of their immediate chain of command.

In licensed professions or certified roles, such as mental health counselling and chaplaincy, that 1-on-1 process is often formally referred to as clinical supervision. According to the American Psychological Association‘s policy guidelines:

Supervision is a distinct professional practice employing a collaborative relationship that has both facilitative and evaluative components, that extends over time, which has the goals of enhancing the professional competence and science-informed practice of the supervisee, monitoring the quality of services provided, protecting the public, and providing a gatekeeping function for entry into the profession. Henceforth, supervision refers to clinical supervision and subsumes supervision conducted by all health service psychologists across the specialties of clinical, counseling, and school psychology.

The implication of clinical supervision is much different than the common usage of the word supervision. In most situations, a supervisor is one who is very much the chain of command focal point and has has a direct line operational responsibilities for:

  • Overseeing and managing a team or individual
  • Communicating objectives and defining tasks to be performed
  • Creating and managing team schedules and assignments
  • Overseeing the day-to-day performance of employees (and volunteers)
  • Communicating objectives, defining tasks, and monitoring individual and team results
  • Evaluating performance, providing feedback, and reporting to higher management

As a result, for those who are not mental health experts, it may be more helpful to understand our Caregiver Support in terms of more familiar words like mentor, coach, advisor, consultant, or counsellor.  

CCCS Caregiver Support is:

  • Targeted – It provides on-going transformational learning for caregivers with emphasis on both: 1) reflective consideration of the caregiver’s personal helping experiences, and 2) evidence based leading practices.
  • Confidential – It is a safe place to discuss your work as a helper and personal impact it has on you and you satisfaction with your work. We do not report our conversations back to your supervisor or anyone else in your organisation. We conform to the GDPR standards for privacy and confidentiality and we conform to the statuary and regulatory requirements for manditory disclosure such as SafeGuarding
  • Professional – It is your opportunity to interact with experienced chaplains with specific training in the problems associated with being a helper.

Schedule a 1-on-1 Caregiver Support Session

If you or your organisation is a subscriber to the TaskHuman wellness coaching service, click this button:

Self-Care for Caregivers

CCCS now provides a subscription-based wellness platform for caregivers and helpers. This is an on-demand on-line service that includes training and other support services. You can check out our wellness service for caregivers at:

www.Subscriber.CorkCommunityChaplains.IE