Introduction to reflective practice
SAFEGUARDING RESPONSE
In safeguarding, reflective practice and supervision help you
notice concerns early, make sense of what you are seeing,
decide what action is needed, and learn from experience.
These practices also help you recognise how the work is affecting you,
so you can look after your own wellbeing and respond thoughtfully, safely, and effectively.
Reflective practice and supervision are closely linked.
The EasyRead translation provided below is for both the Reflective Practice web page and Supervision web page, combined.
Why these practices are essential in Family Violence and Sexual Violence (FVSV)
Disabled people and tāngata whaikaha Māori can face higher risks of violence, abuse, and neglect, and can experience barriers to being heard or getting help.
Reflective practice and supervision help you identify and respond appropriately to situations of concern, including institutional abuse and risks – where harm can be normalised in routines, or in organisational culture.
This web page is an introductory, entry-level resource. It does not convey the full extent of reflective practice or supervision, but explains its purpose and value, and ‘next steps’.
Reflective practice and supervision provide key opportunities and benefits:
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noticing abuse (including barriers to being heard)
making sense of complexity (e.g. being aware of organisational harm and cultures of normalisation; being aware of the intersection and impact of different types of abuse)
making safe decisions
learning from experience and strengthening future responses.
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improved safety and wellbeing
opportunities to address inequity (such as marginalised groups being disproportionately affected and facing more barriers)
strengthening person-centred responses (enabling people to feel heard, overcoming barriers to access and inclusion).
providing culturally safe and responsive practice
supporting ethical and accountable practice.
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managing emotional impact
supporting sound workforce practices and culture
sustaining workers and reducing burnout.
In Aotearoa New Zealand, reflective practice and supervision should be grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi. This means working in ways that recognise partnership with Māori, actively address inequities, and support culturally safe practice. These principles guide how we apply decision-making, and achieve safety and accountability in safeguarding.
Who would benefit from reflective practice and supervision?
Reflective practice and supervision are important for all people working in disability support and related roles, when they are involved in safeguarding / whakahaumarutia situations. This could include:
Disability support staff, allied health, NASC/IF host/EGL-related staff, and managers/leads.
Specialist safeguarding responders.
What is reflective practice
Reflective practice is an ongoing process of thinking about situations, experiences, relationships, and decisions - and how these are influencing what you notice and what you do.
It involves being deliberately aware of the subtext in situations - including factors such as bias, power, culture, and risk - and how these affect needs, relationships, and decisions.
It creates space to pause and think more clearly about the whole situation (i.e. to think holistically), including noticing your own reactions and intuitions, and reflecting on what they might mean.
It supports better outcomes by strengthening personal practice, improving safe and ethical decision-making, and upholding the rights, safety, and wellbeing of people and whānau.
It also helps FVSV kaimahi (staff) recognise how the work is affecting them, so they can protect their wellbeing and maintain safe, thoughtful, and effective practice.
Reflective practice should become a regular part of how you work.
This means taking time, whether individually or in supervision, to reflect on what is happening, why it’s happening, and the impact of your actions and decisions.
Reflective practice is an ongoing, day-to-day activity. It should happen regularly and across the safeguarding process, not only after something has gone wrong.
Simple tools and techniques are available to support this (see below).
Reflective practice means noticing what is happening, thinking about risk, rights, communication and your response, and using this reflection to guide safe action.
This video describes reflective practice and outlines its value.
It was produced by the Clinical Excellence Commission (New South Wales, Australia) in 2024.
Reflective practice is a core component of safe practice across all levels of Te Aorerekura’s Entry to Expert (E2E) Capability Framework.
When you’re working to detect, prevent and stop family violence and sexual violence (FVSV), ‘reflective practice’ is essential. It’s expected across all capability levels.
At Entry level, supervision is an effective way for kaimahi (staff) to be supported in learning this practice and doing it well.
At all levels in an organisation, supervision is a core tool in enabling individual and organisational capability development.
When needed, you can bring reflections into supervision to explore them more deeply and strengthen your practice.
Reflective practice is the habit of stepping back to think about your work.
Supervision gives you a structured place to do that with support.
Questions that support reflective practice or to prepare for supervision
For your action:
To help you prepare for and establish an effective reflective practice:
become familiar with your safeguarding environment
start to practice ‘noticing and reflecting’
access a supervisor.
The prompts below will help you get started.
Note: You’ll see several ‘for your action’ sections throughout the website. These prompt reflective practice and support competency development across a range of topics.
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Read these pages on VisAble’s website to become familiar with:
Definitions of violence, abuse and neglect
Over-representation of disabled people in abuse statistics
Risk factors often experienced by disabled people
Barriers to services for disabled people and how these can be overcome
You might like to schedule a refresh on one topic each week, while you’re still learning.
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Understand your role in ethical decision-making and reflect on the various dilemmas you might need to resolve.
Refresh on professional boundaries for your role, and how to maintain these.
You might like to schedule a refresh on one topic each week, while you’re still learning.
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Refresh on how to recognise and respond to risk and how to make the right referral.
Work with your people leader or manager to understand your organisational policies and procedures for reporting and recording issues and concerns, escalating these, and what action to take in an emergency, and if someone is at immediate risk of harm.
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Schedule time into your working week, to practice reflection.
Find a quiet place to complete this without interruption.
Download key questions (and use other tools) to guide your reflection.
Listen to what your intuition tells you.
Talk with your manager about accessing a supervisor, especially if the situation is complex or if you feel out of your depth.
Further information
Check out Te Whatu Ora’s model for Reflective Learning in Supervision – a one-page overview, which provides a structure for supervision sessions and a process for reflective learning in those sessions.
VisAble offers interactive training to help you develop a deeper understanding of reflective practice and supervision.
The training enables you to apply reflective practice at your place, to help improve safeguarding outcomes, and to understand the benefits of supervision and the types of supervision available.
Find out more about our training and resources
Or contact us at info@visable.co.nz