If Psychotherapy can be a rich tapestry of creativity, collaboration, curiosity and warm connectedness, why shouldn’t Supervision mirror and model this?

In this blog, I’m going to let you in on a few ways I bring creative elements into the Supervisory space to help my Supervisees process and understand countertransference, therapeutic dynamics, “stuckness” and even vicarious trauma.

  As a therapist who uses Internal Family Systems as one of my therapeutic modalities, I like to weave parts work into supervision.  I find it particularly helpful in bringing to life the relational aspect of the issues brought by my supervisee.  It can be key to helping us understand when we’re bringing our own agenda into the therapeutic space or when we’re experiencing our client in a way which doesn’t quite fit with the here and now. We see creativity as one of the one of the 8 qualities of Self.

Fire Drill mediation

 One way I might help a supervisee to understand countertransference is with a “fire drill” meditation.  This meditation can be a great way of activating, within the supervisory space, the part of us which is triggered by our client, so that we can then get curious about it and help it to make space, allowing for calmness, curiosity and connectivity.  First, we revisit the moment in the session when my supervisee felt this way; imagining we’re sitting in front of the client. Next, we focus on whatever thoughts, feelings, sensations, images and body postures emerge.  Then, by separating, or “unblending” from the part of us having this reaction, we can get to know it better with compassionate curiosity, understanding why this part of us is responding this way, or if our client reminds us of anyone close to us. We can build trust that this part of us doesn’t need to show up in the session.  By brining conscious understanding and awareness to this, we can then be with our clients without agenda, reducing the risk of a dynamic developing between a part of us; for example, wanting to rescue, and, a part of our client which is looking to be rescued by us.  Of course, the part of us which wanted to rescue our client can then be explored further in personal therapy if needs be. 

Using IFS

Another way of using IFS to explore supervisee relational dynamics is by using picture cards, such as inner active cards.  Inner active cards come in a pack of 72, each image on them depicting a common part; a caretaker, a soldier in combat, a hiding child. I find it can be a great way to visualise and externalise the therapeutic relationship; further exploring parts of the client which come into the space and parts of us which are likely to respond, or, vice versa. It can be particularly helpful when a supervisee is working with self harm or suicidal ideation.  Therapist and client dynamics in the therapy space can often be subtle re-enactments of relationships in the client’s life. When we work with the parts of us which become activated, fearful or avoidant of certain client presentations, we can be present with our clients more fully.  

Animal sketching can be another creative way of exploring relational dynamics between client and therapist. Folding a piece of paper in half, we draw an animal which represents our client on one half, then sketch out an animal which represents us on the other half.  The insight into how we see our clients which comes from this can be really enlightening. It can also be used to explore the supervisory relationship itself, too.

Working with stuckness 

Often, when we find our clients are “stuck” in therapy, it isn’t all about their stuck process; it’s about ours, too. We can quite easily find ourselves in a tug of war with our clients’; our parts on one end of the rope and their parts on the other. An example of this could be when our client’s avoidant parts show up, which can change topics of focus, use humour or respond with “I don’t know” to every curiosity we have.   A part of us might then respond which tries to coerce, convince, problem solve, advise or, in some cases, align with the client’s avoidant parts, fearing what’s underneath it all or being pulled into discussions about people in the client’s life.  When we know better the parts of us which can be pulled into these dynamics, we develop the ability to slow down.  We put down our end of the rope and sit with the parts at the other end, which often don’t feel as activated anymore. 

  Vicarious, or “secondary” trauma results from hearing about and visualising the experiences described to us by our clients. It can include imagining ourselves or a loved one in our client’s story, creating images in our minds eye of abuse or traumatic experiences.  Often, using a sandtray can be helpful to explore the therapist’s experiencing of witnessing this material in the session, due to the natural containment which a sandtray provides and the safety of externalising and symbolising the experience. I have found that secondary trauma happens within the context of the therapists past experiences; most of that which grabs our attention as therapists can link back to our own previous experiences.  Sand trays can be created using miniature animals or figures representing the images, feelings, sensations, concepts and beliefs which the therapist is left with. 

 A fundamental belief I hold is that creativity is a facet of humanity; it’s there within everyone.  There is a misconception that being creative is about being able to draw, paint, model or write music expertly. It really isn’t.  Creativity is more about expression of self, vulnerability and communicating to another person at a deeper level than words.  This is why I welcome it into my supervisory space.

-  Mal Jones

https://maljonescounselling.com/

Book Supervision with Mal here