Group Supervision and the Influence of Culture explores key themes in group analytic supervision, highlighting the value of thinking that encompasses different perspectives.
In this book, experienced group supervisors draw on their professional experiences from working with trauma, cross-cultural supervision, racism and shame. Part 1 explores unconscious processes, Part 2 looks at working with difference and Part 3 covers the training of supervisors of groups. Part 4 focuses on managing endings and learning from research how to maximise the benefits of group supervision. Finally, Part 5 explores ethics from a relational perspective, recognising that supervisory ethical practice is influenced by the culture of the day.
Group Supervision and the Influence of Culture will be essential reading for anyone providing group supervision, particularly therapists, counsellors, therapists, social workers, probation officers and healthcare staff who provide or receive group supervision. It will be an essential reference for trainees in group analytic supervision.
Acknowledgements
About the Authors
Introduction
Part 1. Unconscious Processes in Group Supervision
Chapter 1. Perturbations, Glit ches and Glimpses in Group Supervision
Howard Edmunds
Chapter 2. Towards a Group Analytic Model of Supervision: The Matrix and Reverie in Group Supervision
Patrick Gannon
Chapter 3. Narcissistic Investment as an Anti-Group Phenomenon
Fiona Pope
Chapter 4. Dreams and Supervision
Amelie Noack
Part 2. Working with Difference in Group Supervision
Chapter 5. Cross-Cultural Issues in Supervision
Elisabeth Rohr
Chapter 6. Working with Differences in Mind: An Experience of Group Supervision Training
Marina Gaspodini
Chapter 7. EMDR and Art Psychotherapy Group Supervision
Lee Anna Simmons
Part 3. Training and Group Supervision
Chapter 8. Warp and Weft: A Free-Flowing Discussion-Based Model of Group-Analytic Supervision for Psychotherapy Trainees
Joanna Skowronska
Chapter 9. Cultural Sensitivity and Training for Supervisors of Groups
Margaret Smith
Chapter 10. The Supervision Group as a Liminal Space: Navigating Rites of Passage using the Clinical Hexagon
Maddy Loat
Part 4. Professional Issues in Group Supervision
Chapter 11. Some Thoughts on Planned and Unplanned Endings
Margaret Gallop
Chapter 12. Informing and Vitalising Group Supervision Practice: A Review of Research Evidence
Aisling McMahon
Chapter 13. Using the Group as the Medium of Supervision
Amelie Noack
Part 5. Ethics and Group Supervision
Chapter 14. Is Group Supervision Ethical?
Frances Griffiths
Chapter 15. Group Supervision, Ethics and the Influence of Culture
Margaret Smith
Biography
Margaret Smith is a retired psychodynamic psychotherapist and group analyst working in private practice with a special interest in group supervision. She was an independent member of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), a Member of the Institute of Group Analysis (IGA) and British Association for Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Supervision (BAPPS) until 2023.
'An understanding of the complexity and of the creative and destructive power of the group lies at the heart of group analytic therapy and supervision. Whilst the setting and the boundaries of groupwork tend to remain relatively unchanged, the content and the outcome of practice is often surprising, often unexpected and arguably always new and different, emerging as it does from each new group. This book, the second in a series of three, brings that newness into clear focus. Fifteen writers provide a wealth of experience, knowledge and expertise. The reader is offered a kaleidoscopic view of current thinking and practice which is up to date, of the moment. The fifteen chapters are usefully grouped into four sections: Unconscious Processes, Working with Difference, Training Issues and Professional Issues. The lens through which the work of group supervision is viewed is specific to particular settings or areas of interest; the focus of the writing ranges from vivid vignettes of clinical practice to sophisticated and clearly argued theoretical positions. The multiple perspectives offered provide the reader with a wide-ranging view of analytic group supervision which will surely aid anyone involved in or thinking about being involved the demanding and ultimately highly rewarding task of working as a supervisor of a group.'
Leonie Hilliard, Group Analyst, Training Group Analyst and Director of the Group Analytic Supervision Training at the Institute of Group Analysis, London
'When I read this book, it seemed to me that built in to it’s culture, indeed in its very warp, is the sense of curiosity, mutuality, and reciprocity; for this to be the aim for the supervisor, for those seeking supervision, and for the “group as a whole”. The chapters here, each has their own unique culture, and together they chart ways to openness. They make it safe to say the shameful. The supervision group takes place in the liminal space; where members can stay with moments of not knowing; analysing and accepting negative transference, ruptures and stuck-ness; and addressing the “anti-group”. The book offered me space to think about and perhaps, help solve long held riddles from my own early groups, family, training and own therapy. After reading this book, I believe I’m more confident, and competent, to help create a culture, in my present groups, that embraces other members own unique and diverse cultures; colonialism and ethnicity, holding in mind psychotherapy’s western heritage. Reading this book also encourages me to rise to the challenge, post Covid, of working both in person and online.'
Roger Lloyd, Chair of British Association of Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Supervision (BAPPS)
