A conceptual model for clinical supervision in nursing and health visiting based upon Winnicott’s (1960) theory of the parent–infant relationship

This paper consists of a review of mostly nursing literature with the purpose of developing a conceptual framework for understanding the process of clinical supervision and the nature of the supervisory relationship utilizing a psychodynamic perspective. The paper explores the experiences of nurses and health visitors during clinical supervision in order to illustrate how the dynamics of clinical supervision can be understood and enriched by using the concepts 'Holding, handling and object presenting' (Winnicott 1960) as a conceptual schema.