Unit rationale, description and aim
Leadership and supervision play a central role in strengthening the mental health workforce and supporting high‑quality, ethical practice. As mental health work is undertaken across diverse settings and roles—including clinical, community, peer, non-government, education, and policy contexts—leaders need to support others to navigate complexity, sustain wellbeing, and contribute to effective outcomes for consumers, families and carers. Contemporary leaders require personal leadership qualities and the ability to enable others to achieve their potential through role modelling, support and empowerment.
In this unit, students engage with contemporary, theory‑informed approaches to leadership and examine how leaders contribute to service improvement and change by leading self and others. Students consider how professional, organisational, cultural and system contexts shape leadership and supervision, with attention to supporting and developing the mental health workforce, including early‑career professionals. Students also develop applied supervision knowledge and skills, including selecting and using supervision models, establishing clear agreements and goals, providing feedback and performance conversations, documentation requirements, and navigating ethical and legal issues.
The aim of this unit is to develop advanced knowledge and capability in leadership and supervision for mental health practice, with a focus on leading people and services to support high‑quality practice across diverse settings.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Critically explain how leadership theories, framew...
Learning Outcome 01
Evaluate approaches to supervision, mentoring and ...
Learning Outcome 02
Apply supervision principles and processes to supp...
Learning Outcome 03
Design evidence-informed leadership and supervisio...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics will include:
Leadership theories and frameworks
- Leadership theories, frameworks and styles
- Leadership of self and others, role modelling, support and empowerment
- Ethical leadership, accountability and professional responsibilities
Communication and relational practice
- Communication skills for leadership and supervision
- Trust, psychological safety and respectful workplace relationships
- Partnership with consumers, families and carers
- Culturally safe leadership and supervision in mental health practice, including working alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities
- Inclusive leadership
Change, innovation and service improvement
- Change and innovation theories and models, enablers and barriers
- Practice improvement planning, implementation and evaluation
- Communication and negotiation within and across teams, services and sectors
Supervision: purpose and models
- Definitions, functions and boundaries of supervision across settings
- Supervision models and structures (individual, group and peer, internal and external)
- Supervision agreements (contracting), roles and expectations
Supervision skills and workforce development
- Goal setting, learning plans and capability development
- Feedback, difficult conversations and performance support
- Mentoring and peer consultation
- Supervision of consumer and carer lived experience practitioners
- Support for early‑career practitioners
Supervision complexities and governance
- Power, boundaries and role clarity
- Ethical and legal considerations, privacy and documentation
- Concerns identification, escalation pathways and critical incident response
Assessment strategy and rationale
To pass this unit, students must attempt and submit both assessment tasks, demonstrate achievement of every unit learning outcome, and obtain a minimum mark of 50%.
The assessment strategy uses two scaffolded tasks that progressively develop and assess knowledge and skills in leadership and supervision. Assessment 1 (Scenario analysis) develops and assesses students’ ability to critically explain leadership theories and frameworks relevant to mental health practice (LO1) and to analyse and evaluate approaches to supervision, mentoring and peer consultation that support workforce development and engagement (LO2, LO3, LO4). Assessment 2 (Strategy proposal) requires students to apply supervision principles and processes to support learning, accountability and professional growth (LO1, LO2, LO3) and to design evidence-informed leadership and supervision strategies that address contemporary challenges, manage supervision complexities, and support service improvement through collaboration (LO4).
Overview of assessments
Assessment 1: Scenario analysis Students a...
Assessment 1: Scenario analysis
Students analyse a leadership and supervision scenario to identify key issues and propose evidence‑informed actions.
50%
Assessment 2: Strategy proposal Students d...
Assessment 2: Strategy proposal
Students develop a written strategy proposal to strengthen leadership and supervision in a chosen practice setting.
50%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
Learning and teaching strategies utilised in this unit will support students in meeting the aim and achieving the learning outcomes relevant to this unit, as well as to the broader course learning outcomes. This unit uses an active learning approach to support students in the exploration of knowledge essential to leadership and supervision in mental health practice. Delivered as fully online, asynchronous learning allows students to learn at their own pace within the parameters of the teaching term. Weekly modules are structured around an inquiry cycle (engage, explore, apply and reflect) that guides students from key concepts and evidence to analysis of authentic scenarios. Learning is further supported through facilitated asynchronous discussion forums, weekly online drop-in sessions, and an online assessment session for each assessment task with the unit's online facilitator. The discussion forums provide students with activities that encourage students to critically discuss concepts, share practice-based examples (including from their own professional contexts), and provide constructive peer feedback. These activities are designed to build a learning community and deepen critical reflection in a supported online environment. Students receive regular and timely feedback on their learning, which includes information on their progress.