Paul Spurr
CSC Founder and Principal

Registered Psychiatric Nurse, Registered General Nurse, Bachelor of Health Science (Management), Community Certificate Psychiatric Care, Credentialed Mental Health Nurse.

Paul is passionate about Clinical Supervision (CS) and has actively promoted CS at all stages of his career as a necessary component of professional practice to sustain and revitalise workers. His determination for CS to be accessible for nurses, midwives, all health professionals, and all those engaged in challenging work, stems from the benefits he and others have gained from quality supervision.

Paul commenced his nursing career in Sydney as a Psychiatric Nurse, and then completed training as a General Nurse. The nursing profession was a good fit for Paul’s caring nature and interest in people, and he has remained a trailblazer in nursing since the 1970s. Paul’s main focus has continued to be mental health nursing, advocacy for quality person-centred care, and staff well-being and development.

Paul’s knowledge, skills, management qualifications and demonstrated leadership qualities were recognised through progression to middle and executive nursing management roles. This allowed Paul to encourage and develop emerging leaders, which he has continued to do throughout his career. Highlights of Paul’s nursing experience include Director of Nursing positions in mental health and general hospitals in Sydney, Australia.

Paul was first introduced to clinical supervision as a component of mental health nursing practice when working in Christchurch, New Zealand in the 1980s. This was also when he met Mike Consedine, a mental health nurse and psychodramatist who was influential in Paul’s personal and professional development (see Acknowledgements). Mike created the Role Development Model for use in CS, and introduced an approach to learning that was creative and experiential. The approach appealed to Paul because of its usefulness to gain a better understanding of patient care, team-work and self-awareness. Extensive supervisor training with Mike was foundational to Paul’s depth of knowledge and skill as a supervisor and training facilitator.

Paul was the CS Coordinator for NSW Justice Health (from 2001-2005), where he pioneered the CS supervisor training program with support and mentoring by Mike Consedine.  The Role Development Model provided the theoretical foundation for the training from 2002 – 2017. Paul was a Senior Nurse Manager with NSW Justice Health and Forensic Mental Health Network (part-time) and continued as the CS Consultant (2005-2016), CS supervisor, and trainer of the program. In 2019, Paul transitioned from work in the public health sector to solely focus on private CS training, consultancy and advocacy (See ‘CSC Clients’).

Paul is passionate about training of CS supervisors via experiential learning and sharing knowledge to maintain the integrity of the Role Development Model. As a result, the development of co-facilitators, and then lead facilitators, has been a priority. Paul has a generous and collaborative approach, which has enabled further development of the program and resources.

Paul has presented on CS at national and international conferences for nurses, midwives and allied health workers. CSC has sponsored CS Awards at the International Mental Health Nursing Conference since 2018 to encourage the sharing of knowledge about CS.

Paul was a founding Management Committee Member of the Australian Clinical Supervision Association (ACSA), a national body established to provide information about CS and work towards an interdisciplinary approach to CS. Paul served ACSA as Vice President (2017-2021), was a co-coordinator of the Sydney Local Member Meeting, and continues to encourage and connect people through CS at every opportunity. He is a long-time member of the Clinical Supervision Special Interest Group, Australian College of Mental Health Nursing. Paul’s advocacy work involves ongoing dialogue with Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers and Executive Managers about how and why CS benefits staff and organisations.

Paul has conducted over 400 Workshops.

Clinical Supervision is a safe space for staff to reflect, learn and be supported outside their management system. I strongly believe that regular clinical supervision helps you remain vibrant, spontaneous, less anxious and more creative.