The significance of reflective supervision for infant mental health work

Parent–infant work is inherently relational and occurs in the intersubjective space between parent, infant, and worker. This space can be charged with primitive, unmet needs of both parent and infant, and this in turn can trigger these same states in the worker. The challenge for workers is to remain open to being affected by and responsive to these feeling states when their own early and possibly preconscious responses and coping strategies are being stirred. If these remain out of awareness, they can manifest as avoidance and denial, and this can be reflected in the system and result in limited service delivery. This article emphasizes the significance of reflective supervision for parent–infant work and suggests that it needs to be an integral part of the system of service delivery. I am grateful to the infant mental health workers who allowed me to use examples of their work in this article, and thank Dr Jon Jureidini for his encouragement and support.