In supervision I use many interacting experiences and mainly two theories. They come from a systemic perspective, further developed by inspirers like Anderson and Goolishian, at Huston Galveston Institute, and Tom Andersen, Norway. Yet another foundation in my experience is the Analytical Psychology of C G Jung .
What I want to convey in supervision involves basic approaches in relation to the Other. I can have the idea of “not-knowing” as a way of addressing the unconscious. I strive to provide a space for dialogue and a process of being able to be in relationship and conversation with each other. From this, new meaning is generated through words and stories, and thus new perspectives for learning and experience will be created. This applies both in relation to colleagues in the working group and in relation to patients and in their families and contexts.
Here are a few areas of question, that may be helpful as a sorting tool or a kind of “tool kit” to have in situations where you need to reflect on your work. What are we doing when we do it and how does it work? I have them as the basic structure of my approach and hope they can be opening new perspectives of reflective processes in supervision and in clinical work. They are meant as suggestions to the perspective to capture the underlying network of language and dialogues that binds people together rather than that they should be seen as structuring issues in an operational method. There are two main movements that guidelines would focus on: the differentiating, separating movement; and the synthesizing, coagulating movement against the ‘third’ area, i. e. where one plus one equals three. Where “not-knowing” moving towards a transcendence of knowledge against the third “image” we create together.
To make room for our own and our patients’ polyphony of voices (internal and external) is important in my approach and it needs to be done with respect for privacy and emerge from interaction and collaboration of different reality perspectives.
If you want to know more about my approach to tutoring, there is a Handledningdokument from 2014, which describes the guidelines that I use to guide conversations (only in Swedish for time being…).
