Supervision has been shown to improve mental health and resilience among MHPSS workers, but despite the established benefits, supportive supervision within MHPSS programming often remains an unmet need. To bridge this gap, the Psychosocial Reference Centre for the International Federation of the Red Cross Red Crescent and Trinity Centre for Global Health have developed the Integrated Model for Supervision (IMS). The IMS is a handbook and training guide for supportive supervision which was developed over multiple stages of stakeholder consultation, including a desk review, systematic scoping review, key informant interviews, stakeholder workshops and steering group consultations, and a Delphi study.

Version 1 of the IMS was piloted in 2020 within four organizations based in Afghanistan, Nigeria, Jordan, and Ukraine. The research team measured the impact of the IMS training on participants levels of burnout, secondary traumatic stress, knowledge about supervision, and confidence regarding supervision practices. Key informant interviews were carried out to assess the acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of the IMS for use within humanitarian contexts. Preliminary data collected suggests that training in the IMS is associated with improvements in knowledge of MHPSS and perceived supervision practices, as well as reductions in secondary traumatic stress and burnout. Results also suggest increased organisational support for supervision practices within the organisations trained on the use of the IMS, as evidenced by increases in protected time for supervision, the use of supervision contracts, and increases in monitoring and evaluation of supervision practices.

The IMS is tested in two new sites in 2023, and our Adaptation Guide and Monitoring and Evaluation Guide are also being piloted and tested with new participants, as additional resources to aid with the implementation of the IMS in their organisations.