Workplace supported supervision participation is a win-win-win for the employer, practitioner and consumer community.

This guide aims to provide detailed information on each of the steps that can be undertaken to advocate for supervision in a practitioner’s workplace. Some are universally applicable, other points may have less relevance depending on context. Practitioners are invited to engage with this guide flexibly according to their context and needs.

1. Align engaging in supervision with regulatory and industry standards

• Attending regular supervision is strongly endorsed by Dietitians Australia (DA) & Dietitian Nutritionist Regulatory Council (DNRC). Your employer may benefit from further details about these governing bodies if they are not Dietitians:
  • DA is Australia's leading body for dietetic and nutrition professionals. They advocate for nutritional health of the Australian population and high-quality, evidence-based services.
  • The DNRC is the governance structure at DA responsible for overseeing the profession's regulatory functions. It aims to protect the public by ensuring practitioners are safe and effective in their practice and to uphold our professional standards. 
• The DA (sourced April 2026) website has a member only supervision page which states:
  • ‘Supervision is an essential, ongoing component of professional dietetic practice that supports reflective learning, skill development, and workforce sustainability. It is central to lifelong learning and is recognised globally as vital for advancing the profession and improving client care.’
  • ‘Supervision should commence early in a dietitian’s career and continue regularly throughout professional life. Ongoing, structured engagement ensures sustained learning and professional growth.  Effective supervision in dietetics fosters reflective, safe, and ethical practice. It strengthens professional capability, supports emotional resilience, enhances service quality, and sustains the workforce. Commitment to regular supervision is a hallmark of contemporary, high-quality dietetic practice’
  • Professor Clare Palermo (DNRC Chair) states in the supervision advocacy video on this webpage: ‘As the Chair of the DNRC I encourage all Dietitians to engage in supervision’

Additional regulatory mandates and supportive practice guides:

• Dietitians in Eating Disorder Care

Dietitians wanting to acquire and maintain Credentialled Eating Disorder Clinician (CEDC) status must attend a minimum amount of annual supervision starting at 3 sessions of individual sessions and 3 sessions of group supervision per year. This requirement is mandated by the peak eating disorders body that governs CEDC status Australia New Zealand Academy of Eating Disorders (ANZAED). More information is available on the ANZAED website here.

• Dietitians in Disability Care

The Capacity Building in Disability for Dietitians Project (CBDD) commenced at Dietitians Australia in 2020. The CBDD project (funded by the Department of Social Services in 2020 and then extended in 2025) aims to ‘enhance dietitians’ knowledge, skills and confidence to respond to the needs of people with disability’. The program provides regular group supervision from trained supervisors as part of this capacity development, recognising the impact supervision has on integrating learning into practice and managing risk and complexity. Evaluation of the supervision component of this project completed by participants reported overwhelming support of the use of supervision in the disability space. More information is available here.

2. Refer to the peer reviewed evidence base for supervision in Australian dietetics

Crow T, Kiely L, Harris D, Palermo C. Professional supervision in dietetics: A comprehensive, narrative literature review. Nutrition & Dietetics. 2025;1‐10. doi:10.1111/1747-0080.70023

This publication synthesizes a broad evidence base to define supervision specifically for dietetics and conceptualize it’s key elements for dietetic scope of practice. It strongly informs the supervision endorsement referred to in Section 1. Align with Industry and Regulatory Standards.

Key points from this paper that can support advocating for your workplace to invest in supervision:

• Supervision is essential for maintaining professional standards and should form a regular part of all dietitians' practice and commitment to ongoing learning  
• Supervision is a core component of contemporary dietetic practice, directly supporting high-quality service delivery.
• Recommends engagement in supervision across the entire career trajectory, from early to advanced stages.
• The workplace plays a vital role in enabling effective supervision functions and outcomes. This is supported by a graphic conceptualising the components of effective supervision.

3. Highlight the key benefits of supervision and ROI for your employer

• Refer your employer to dsrai.net to support them accessing quality information about the role supervision plays in promoting effective and sustainable health care practices. Specific resources include:
  • The advocacy video on the DSRAI homepage sends a clear and powerful practice-based message.
  • The Understanding Supervision page has a definition of supervision (published in Crow, Kiely et al) and information on the benefits of supervision
• Speak your employer’s language. Align your request for supervision with the service’s vision and relevant performance expectations. For example, if the service promotes delivery of 'excellence in clinical practice', 'compassionate care for complex needs', or 'trauma-informed care', supervision is a critical enabler of these high-value service standards.
• Raising the ROI (risk of inaction) with an employer can help to galvanise action when done thoughtfully. The goal here is to frame the request around the mutual benefits of supervision to show it is a "must-have-strategic-investment" for the organisation rather than a "nice-to-have-help" for an individual practitioner. ROI can include:
  • Reduced Turnover and Burnout: Supervision is a key factor in staff retention, particularly in human services sectors. In addition to creating avoidable service disruption, the cost of hiring and training replacement health professionals typically far exceeds the cost of supervision. This matter may be particularly relevant in rural/remote service locations.
  • Risk Management: Regular supervision helps prevent clinical and ethical issues in complex work systems by identifying concerns early, before they escalate into complaints or legal problems.
  • Enhanced Service Quality: By reflecting on practice, practitioners continue to grow and develop their professional functioning; providing more efficient, safer, and more effective care to clients.

4. Differentiate supervision from other forms of workplace support and oversight

Differentiating supervision from line management

A manager may consider their routine management meetings with staff to constitute supervision. It can be useful to provide your manager with information that differentiates management from supervision, highlighting that both have beneficial roles in supporting functioning at work.

• Administrative vs. Clinical/Reflective: Explain that managerial roles principally guide and oversee "what" you do (your ‘outputs’ e.g. service KPIs, project work, report writing etc) whereas professional supervision focuses on "how" you deliver your ‘outputs’ and the impact of performing in your role (capabilities, professional growth, wellbeing and reflection).
• The "Safe Space" Rationale: Professional supervision requires a high level of trust and confidentiality, enabling practitioners to discuss potential errors, uncertainties, and concerns without apprehension that these explorations will influence performance appraisal processes. This essential purpose of supervision (encompassing the functions of learning, restoration and accountability) can be very difficult to achieve within a direct line management relationship.
•  

Differentiating external supervision from internal supervision

If a practitioner receives internal supervision provided by the workplace, the manager may consider this to be sufficient for all employees’ supervision needs. It can be useful to provide your manager with information that differentiates internal supervision from external supervision.

• Scope and expertise. A practitioner’s internal supervisor may not have the necessary expertise (clinical and/or supervisory) to meet their learning and/or development needs. This may be particularly so in the case of advanced career practitioners seeking highly reflective supervision or practitioners wanting to upskill in a clinical area novel to the service they are employed by.
• The "Safe Space" Rationale: similar to the safe space rationale provided above. It is not uncommon internal supervision to be provided by a colleague with whom the supervisee has a dual relationship. This can make full disclosure of concerns and personal issues relating to work difficult.
•  

Differentiate supervision from mentoring

A manager may direct and employee to seek mentoring for free by accessing the Mentor List at Dietitians Australia, as an alternative to supervision. Supervision and mentoring can both provide valuable opportunities for learning and growth. However, they also differ in a number of ways. The main ways that supervision and mentoring differ are:

• Supervision is more formal than mentoring and operates within clear boundaries contained in a written agreement between supervisor and supervisee. This formality support the integrity of the learning process in supervision.
• Professional supervisors observe a responsibility to maintain professional standards of conduct and clinical skill of the supervisee within the scope of supervision practice. A mentor does not necessarily have this responsibility.
• Supervision is dedicated to incorporating reflection as a principal learning modality. The emphasis on reflective practice enables supervision to facilitate a depth of learning not typically experienced in mentoring.
• Delivering supervision effectively is a skill distinct from clinical expertise and requires formal training. Becoming a trained supervisor requires a minimum level of post graduate experience. Mentoring is offered voluntarily and there are no pre-requisites to becoming a mentor.
• Supervision is an activity to be engaged in throughout the career span of the Dietitian and engagement with a supervisor can span many years. Mentoring is typically more short term.

5. Leverage your track record

Show case specific instances where previous investments in you, by your workplace, led to tangible service gains. This could include attending a training that increased capacity to deliver services to specific areas.

6. Propose a clear, solution-focused way forward for your employer

Support your employer by providing a solution focused proposal using clear concise language. Consider including the following points in your proposal regarding the supervision you are seeking:

• Name and website of your preferred supervisor. Detail their experience, training and why you have selected them as your ideal supervisor. You can select your preferred supervisor by visiting the DSRAI data base of trained supervisor’s here: https://dsrai.net/private-supervision-services/
• Frequency of supervision sessions (minimum monthly)
• Format of supervision. Will you attend individual supervision or group or both? Group supervision has the added benefit of being more affordable. You can access the current group options on the DSRAI group supervision page here: https://dsrai.net/group-supervision-services/
• Investment. This will vary across services. You could request a schedule of fees from your preferred supervisor and provide this to your employer. Expect to pay between $80-$150 (incl GST) per group supervision session and $150 - $300 (incl GST) for individual sessions
• Propose a payment method. Are you happy to pay your supervisor and be reimbursed by your workplace or do you want your employer to pay your supervisor directly?
• Propose a compromise. Can you split the fee with your employer or would you accept them allowing you to attend private supervision that you finance, during (paid) work hours?

7. Support yourself with the big picture

• Be flexible, prepared and patient. Advocating for change can take time.
• Document everything: keep a real-time record of communications related to your requests to maintain accountability and keep the process on track
• If relevant, establish internal alliances: connect with colleagues across departments or teams who can amplify your voice and speak directly to the benefits of supervision. This may be relevant if there are mental health professionals on your team.

8. Share your advocacy story with us!

If you have found this resource useful to support your supervision advocacy, we would love to hear from you. [email protected]