Online Social Work Supervision Australia

Good supervision is not administrative. It is the space where complex work gets thought about carefully, where the weight of practice gets named rather than carried silently, and where your professional judgment gets sharpened through honest reflection. Most social workers know the difference between supervision that is simply completed and supervision that is actually useful. If you are reading this page, you are probably looking for the second kind.

Online social work supervision at LEXs offers exactly that. AASW-aligned, reflective, and trauma-informed, delivered via secure telehealth to social workers across Australia. Individual and group sessions available.

Who This Supervision Is For

This supervision is suited to social workers who want more than a tick-box arrangement. It is designed for:

Social workers in private practice and sole trading
Clinicians working toward Accredited Mental Health Social Worker (AMHSW) accreditation or maintaining it
Social workers in community mental health, AOD, family violence, child protection, and allied fields
Social workers in senior management or leadership roles seeking supervision peers outside their line management
Social workers in government, peak bodies, and policy settings
Graduate social workers transitioning from university into practice
Social workers from CaLD and multicultural backgrounds wanting supervision that understands their specific contexts

You do not need to be an AASW member to access supervision here. Non-member social workers and allied professionals (counsellors, community workers, peer practitioners with social work adjacency) are welcome; AASW membership status can be discussed at intake.

If your practice is grounded primarily in lived and living experience and you are working in a senior leadership, advisory, consultancy, governance, or research role, the Online Lived Experience Leadership Supervision service is shaped specifically for that work.

What Online Social Work Supervision at LEXs Involves

Sessions are 60 minutes, delivered on a secure, encrypted telehealth platform. The approach integrates Morrison's reflective and restorative supervision model, Wonnacott's framework for supervising complex practice, and Hawkins and Shohet's Seven-Eyed Model, with trauma-informed practice and cultural humility. Supervision is collaborative rather than hierarchical; you bring the material, the work begins there.

The content of any given session might include:

Reflecting on complex casework, ethical tensions, or risk assessments
Processing vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, and the cumulative weight of sustained frontline work
Working through ruptures or difficulty in therapeutic alliances
Thinking about boundaries, dual relationships, and professional identity
Preparing for AMHSW accreditation, audits, or role transitions
Navigating organisational dynamics, leadership challenges, and professional isolation
Working with the intersections of your own identity and the clients you see
Celebrating growth, naming strengths, and planning professional development

Supervision here does not shy away from difficult material. It also does not pathologise practitioners for having human responses to difficult work.

AASW Alignment and CPD

Online social work supervision with LEXs is aligned with the AASW Supervision Standards and meets AASW requirements for professional supervision. For social workers working toward or maintaining AMHSW accreditation, sessions can be structured to meet the specific supervision requirements of that credential.

Supervision also counts toward your annual CPD. Written records of supervision hours can be provided on request to support your CPD documentation, accreditation applications, or employer requirements.

For more detail on AASW supervision requirements, see the AASW Supervision page.

Supervision for Social Workers in Multicultural and CaLD Practice

Social workers from CaLD backgrounds, and social workers working primarily with CaLD communities, often carry layers that mainstream supervision does not always know how to hold. The experience of being the cultural broker in your team. The fatigue of translating across cultural frames for colleagues who should be sharing that labour. The specific weight of working with communities your own family comes from. The way racism, whether overt or subtle, interacts with practice. The question of how much of yourself you bring into the work, and how much you protect.

LEXs offers supervision where these conversations are part of the work rather than sidebar topics. I am a CaLD-background social worker with lived experience of migration, bilingual practice, and leadership in multicultural mental health and suicide prevention; this is one of my areas of specific focus.

If you have been in supervision arrangements where your cultural experience had to be explained or defended, this is a different kind of space.

Supervision for Social Workers in Senior Management and Leadership

Social workers in senior management face a particular kind of professional isolation. The usual supervision arrangements often collapse; you are too senior to take things to your line manager, too embedded in the organisation to speak freely with peers, and the things you most need to think through are often the things you cannot discuss openly at work.

External supervision becomes essential in that context. I bring senior leadership, service governance, and systems oversight experience across mental health services, and understand the specific pressures of the role from the inside. Supervision at this level tends to cover strategic decision-making, staff management and workforce issues, board and governance dynamics, working with funders and commissioners, and the personal sustainability of senior leadership work.

Fees and Booking

Single sessions and prepaid packages are available. Packages are designed to make AASW compliance straightforward without locking you into a structure that does not suit your practice; single sessions remain available without commitment, and the package is an option, not a requirement.

Single sessions

Social Work Supervision (60 minutes): $220
Out-of-Hours Supervision (60 minutes, evenings and weekends): $270
Group Supervision (90 minutes, minimum 2): $125 per participant

Group supervision is offered to teams and peer clusters who bring a pre-formed group. Single 90-minute sessions and sustained term block arrangements are both available. If you are a sole practitioner looking for group supervision but do not have a group of your own, individual supervision is available; group supervision becomes available when you can bring a peer cluster to it.

To enquire, contact me directly.

Prepaid packages

Annual Supervision Package: 10 sessions × 60 minutes, prepaid, $2,090. Equivalent to $209 per session. Sessions can be booked at standard or out-of-hours times at no additional charge (standalone out-of-hours sessions are $270). You book your AASW supervision requirement in one decision, the year is sorted, and the work itself becomes the only thing left to think about; this is a 'sit and forget' package by intent.

Half-Year Supervision Package: 5 sessions × 60 minutes, prepaid, $1,045. Equivalent to $209 per session. Sessions can be booked at standard or out-of-hours times at no additional charge (standalone out-of-hours sessions are $270). For social workers who want some commitment but not the full year, or for graduate social workers building supervision into their first six months of practice.

Package terms

Prepaid in full at the time of booking.
Non-refundable.
Annual Package valid 12 months from first session; Half-Year Package valid 6 months from first session.
Sessions not used within the validity window are forfeited.
Individual packages: sessions are transferable to other LEXs supervision or consultation services at the supervisor's discretion if your circumstances change materially.
Written documentation of supervision hours provided on request, formatted to support your AASW CPD records and accreditation documentation.

What Social Workers Say

"Michael holds a unique space; one where I feel safe as both a practitioner and a human. As a social worker from a migrant background, I've never felt so seen in supervision" Community Health Social Worker, NSW

"Supervision with LEXs helped me rebuild my confidence after burnout. It's the first space where I could speak openly about vicarious trauma and not be met with blank stares or advice to 'take a bath'" Family Violence Practitioner, VIC

"As a sole trader in private practice, having this space has been critical. It's reflective, practical, and deeply grounding" Accredited Mental Health Social Worker, QLD

Frequently Asked Questions

Does supervision with LEXs meet AASW requirements?

Yes. Sessions are aligned with the AASW Supervision Standards and count toward AASW CPD requirements. For social workers working toward or maintaining AMHSW accreditation, sessions can be structured to meet the specific supervision requirements of that credential.

How many supervision hours do I need each year as an Accredited Social Worker?

The AASW requires a minimum of ten hours of professional supervision per financial year for ongoing practice standards, with additional requirements for AMHSW credential holders. Full details are on the AASW website. I can provide written records of sessions to support your CPD and accreditation documentation.

Can I access supervision for AMHSW accreditation?

Yes. Sessions can be structured to meet AMHSW supervision requirements, and I can provide documentation to support your application or ongoing credential maintenance.

Do you supervise social workers from non-clinical backgrounds?

Yes. Supervision is relevant to social workers across policy, community development, research, and leadership roles, not only clinical practice.

Do you offer group supervision?

Yes. Group supervision is offered to teams and peer clusters who bring a pre-formed group of 2 to 5 participants; I do not assemble groups or match practitioners into them. The group's nominated payer (typically the buying organisation or one team member acting on behalf of the group) handles the booking and prepays the session. Single 90-minute sessions and sustained term block arrangements are both available. Contact me to discuss group composition, scheduling, and starting dates.

Can I claim supervision as a tax-deductible professional expense?

For self-employed social workers and sole traders, professional supervision is generally tax-deductible as a work-related expense. This is best confirmed with your accountant or the ATO for your specific situation.

How to Begin

Single sessions and prepaid packages are available. Single sessions are suited to occasional supervision; prepaid packages (Annual or Half-Year) are designed for social workers who want to book their AASW supervision requirement in one decision.