Professional Support – A Critical Lever for Retaining Health Professionals
Written by Michelle Bihary and Nichola Harris
This week’s newsletter is a little different. For the first time, I’ve invited my wonderful Program and Engagement Co-ordinator, Nichola Harris, to co-author it with me. Nichola joined my practice just over a year ago and has brought with her a wealth of experience, expertise, and professionalism in allied health leadership.
We decided to write this newsletter together because we’ve shared many conversations and experiences around the role of supervision in supporting and retaining health professionals. It’s a topic that we both care deeply about, and one that deserves a more thoughtful, researched exploration. By combining our perspectives, we hope to bring you a richer and more balanced view of why supervision matters, and how it can make a real difference in practice.
In the current workforce climate, the retention of health professionals is not just a staffing concern - it’s a service delivery imperative.
The evidence is clear: professional support, which includes high-quality supervision, is one of the most influential factors in whether health professionals, especially those early in their careers and working in regional and remote communities, choose to stay or leave.
In a recent study of speech-language pathologists in outer regional, remote and very remote Australia, 73.3% of participants identified the presence or absence of professional support as a decisive factor in retention. Those who felt supported were more likely to stay. Those who felt isolated or unsupported were more likely to leave. One study participant even stated “the actual work and support at my work is the reason for leaving” (Harrison et al., 2025).
Supervision is a process of learning and support, designed to build self-directed learners and increase workforce capacity through skill development and reflective learning.
Yet, in many workplaces, supervision and professional support are treated as optional extras or are merged with line management. This totally misses the mark.
In Australia, multiple state and territory health authorities have made the distinction clear. For example, ACT Health states clinical supervision “is not performance management or line management” and SA Health defines Professional Supervision as “a co-designed, reflective practice process, separate from managerial duties”.
Research shows that while line management focuses on operational accountability, supervision is most effective when centred on reflective practice, skill development, and professional growth that is, in turn, supported by strong supervisory relationships and an organisational culture that values learning (Snowdon et al., 2020).
As well as building clinical and practice wisdom, supervision helps health professionals develop the essential professional and personal skills necessary for service delivery. Systematic evidence further links high-quality supervision to reduced burnout, greater job satisfaction, and improved staff retention - provided the supervision and supervisor are effective (Martin et al., 2021).
The high stakes of poor support
Without meaningful supervision, the evidence is clear - health professionals working in all sectors around Australia face a perfect storm of risks:
Managing large and complex caseloads without the scaffolding to build practice wisdom.
Individuals working above their level of experience without adequate professional support.
Navigating professional isolation, particularly in remote and regional roles (Couch et al., 2021).
Juggling administrative burden, outdated systems, and relentless compliance requirements alongside a busy and challenging caseload.
Coping with challenging client interactions without structured debriefing or skills support.
Experiencing diminished wellbeing due to a lack of psychologically safe spaces to discuss pressures, values conflicts, and emotional strain (Edmondson, 2019; Hall et al., 2023).
Missing the opportunity to develop as lifelong learners when supervision is reduced to task-checking rather than fostering critical reflection, curiosity, and adaptability (Snowdon et al., 2020).
Receiving little or no support to set their own learning goals or reflect meaningfully on their experiences, leaving growth to chance rather than intentional professional development (Martin et al., 2021).
When this occurs in psychologically unsafe or under-resourced workplaces, the result is predictable → high turnover, burnout, and reduced service quality. (Hall et al., 2023).
Low-cost, high-impact strategies
Workplaces don’t need large budgets to improve retention through professional support.
Evidence-based, low-cost strategies include:
Separate supervision from line management and make both available on a regular basis.
Invest in supervision training for supervisors and supervisees.
Prioritise regular, protected time for supervision – including for part-time and remote staff (Harrison et al., 2025).
Use supervision to set and review learning goals that also cover all domains of learning including professional, personal and organisational issues alongside clinical matters.
Foster a psychologically safe culture where it’s normal to ask questions, admit uncertainty, and reflect on practice.
Encourage peer and group supervision to combat professional isolation (Couch et al., 2021).
Embed supervision in orientation for new staff, with clear expectations about its purpose and value.
Why this matters for workforce sustainability
Retention is not just about salaries and workload. Thriving workplaces understand that psychological safety, professional learning, and supportive culture are non-negotiable for high performance. When workplaces invest in high-quality supervision, they not only protect their workforce from burnout and moral injury, they also build the reflective capacity, adaptability, and clinical excellence required to meet future service demands (West et al., 2020).
If we are serious about workforce sustainability in health, professional support can’t be an afterthought in workforce planning. It is a critical lever and one we can and should be acting on now.
Shared responsibility – everyone has a role to play
Ensuring that supervision is embedded as a core part of health practice is not the responsibility of any single group – it’s a collective commitment.
Health professionals can take an active role by initiating conversations with their managers, clearly articulating the value of supervision, and sharing best practice guidance from their peak bodies and/or the supervision frameworks outlined by state health departments. This not only strengthens their own professional growth but also helps embed supervision as an organisational norm.
Leaders, practice owners and managers can make a significant difference by taking the time to understand the evidence, investing in their teams, and treating supervision as a non-negotiable element of workforce wellbeing and retention. Across Australia, there are outstanding examples of workplaces excelling in the way they support and supervise their teams and these stories deserve to be amplified. Yet, we also continue to hear of environments where supervision is deprioritised or reduced to operational checklists, with predictable impacts on morale, capability, and retention.
Peak bodies play a pivotal role by continuing to update their supervision frameworks, offering practical guidance, resources, and education to both supervisors and supervisees. For example, OTA’s recently updated Professional Supervision Framework provides a clear roadmap for embedding reflective, learning-focused supervision into everyday practice.
Australian Government leadership is vital. For example, the soon-to-be-released National Allied Health Workforce Strategy presents a key opportunity to prioritise supervision as a critical workforce retention tool and send a clear signal that this is not optional but essential for workforce sustainability.
When every level of the health ecosystem, from individual practitioners to national policy, are aligned, supervision can shift from being inconsistent and undervalued to becoming a cornerstone of professional practice. The reward is a stronger, more resilient workforce ready to meet the complex and changing needs of the communities we serve.
Supervision is more than a space to talk through challenges. It’s a space to grow.