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A Q & A with RIOS™ 3 author and instructor Kristin Irrer
CEED offers a unique series of online, instructor-led courses on reflective supervision. These courses prepare participants to provide reflective supervision or to make the most of the experience as supervisees. All of the courses use the Reflective Interaction Observation Scale (RIOS™), developed at CEED, as the foundation for the course content. RIOS™ 3: Extending the Reflective Supervisor’s Growth and Capacity through the Reflective Interaction Observation Scale (RIOS) Framework is the newest in the series. It is geared specifically towards reflective supervisors and consultants. Kristin Irrer, MS, IMH-E®, teaches the course. In this Q & A, she explains how RIOS 3 extends the type of training that is available for reflective supervisors and consultants.
You are the primary author of the RIOS 3 course. What need did you see in the field for a course like this?
KI: The course developed out of a need voiced by students who had completed RIOS 1 and RIOS 2. People were seeking a space to continue the conversation and learning at a deeper level. It became apparent that some people who are providing reflective supervision need more support, and this course creates a safe space to continue to think with others about their experiences and increase awareness of the skills that are essential to providing reflective supervision. It’s considered best practice for people who are providing reflective supervision to receive it, too, and that is part of what this course provides.
Providers felt they needed a little more time and space to process their role and relationships and apply the RIOS to their work. So, RIOS 3 evolved as a way to support reflective supervisors, particularly when they are just starting out. It provides a space and a community where providers can think deeply about their reflective work. It will also challenge seasoned providers with new ideas and perspectives they can apply. The value is held in the space and time to slow down around the work.
How does RIOS 3 build on the previous courses?
In RIOS 1, we focus on introducing infant mental health-informed reflective supervision and the RIOS framework. In RIOS 2, we center on directly applying these concepts in your work, whether you are a supervisor or supervisee. RIOS 3 extends the learning by applying an equity lens to these ideas. The reflective supervision field has recognized the need to think more deeply about race, culture, equity, and social justice within our work as reflective supervisors.
In RIOS 3, we talk a lot about equity, including power and privilege and how this shows up in our co-created work—our reflective alliances. The reflective alliance is a term from the RIOS. It refers to the relationship built between the supervisor and the supervisee (or supervisees). In the RIOS 3 course, we explore ideas of race, racism, systematic inequities, culturally responsive care, and understanding our own biases. We also discuss the importance of holding space for discomfort when it shows up for others. These subjects do come up in RIOS 2, but that is only a six-week course. Because RIOS 3 is a six-month course, we have enough time and space to take a deep dive into more complex concepts.
Photo courtesy of Kristin Irrer
Personally, I’m still learning. I’ve had to challenge my own assumptions and remind myself that every family’s story is shaped by their own cultural lens and mine doesn’t always apply. If I’m not paying attention, I can easily fall into interpreting their experiences through my own perspective. When I think about the Collaborative Task questions in “Understanding the Family Story,” I try to slow down and really listen. I ask myself: Am I bringing curiosity or assumptions into this conversation? How do race and culture shape the way this family experiences the world and how I understand their story? I’m working on staying open, even when it’s uncomfortable.
Talk about the format of RIOS 3.
This course consists of six, one-month-long modules. The modules are built around themes, such as authenticity, curiosity, and shared meaning. Course materials include readings, videos, and other content. We ask participants to reflect on what they’re learning with occasional video reflection or journaling assignments. Because our participants are providing reflective supervision, the course content and activities are designed to support the work they’re doing and will be applicable to their direct practice. A highlight of each month is our two-hour live chat. While we’re together on Zoom, we discuss what we’ve read and watched, and we weave in participants’ professional experiences.
What do you think is the biggest benefit that participants get from RIOS 3?
Most participants in our first section shared that the greatest value of the course was in being together with others—that they didn’t feel so alone doing this work. Our meetings became a safe space to process the work that they were doing as they applied the RIOS frame. Each of the participants brought a different skillset or background, whether that was nursing or child development or clinical work. Coming together to talk about our practice with an equity lens added a richness and a complexity to their work of reflective supervision. Having that community also helped people develop and articulate their own style as providers.
Additionally, RIOS 3 counts towards the training requirements for Endorsement as a Reflective Supervisor by the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health. The Alliance partnered with us to review the content. We made sure it’s aligned with their competency guidelines.
CEED’s reflective supervision courses all use the RIOS framework. What is the role of the RIOS in reflective supervision?
The RIOS centers around infant mental health theory and practice. There are other types of reflective supervision, but reflective supervision that is informed by infant mental health holds us to relationships as the centerpoint where intervention happens. There is a flexibility to the RIOS that lets you use it in the ways that make the most sense to you. We sometimes say the RIOS allows all stories to be present—not just the supervisor’s, the practitioner’s, or the parent’s story. It makes room for everybody’s story, no matter how complex. And it places the child at the center.