Supervision in the Helping Professions by Peter Hawkins

Author:Peter Hawkins
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780335243549
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
Published: 2012-07-02T16:00:00+00:00

Even very difficult situations are always best understood and worked with if they are put within the orbit of a ‘play space’ (see Chapter 7). We could even say that this is particularly true of difficult situations. Winnicott understood this ‘play space’ to be part of what he called ‘transitional phenomena’ (Winnicott 1971), which exists between the internal and external world and allows something new to emerge. Our reactivity, anxiety and generally difficult feelings can all be usefully held within this space so that they can be understood in all their complexity before any course of action is decided upon. Williams (1973) calls this a ‘dilemmatic’ space, so called as a dilemma is pregnant within it. He says: ‘In this dilemmatic space the individual requires both a capacity to contain complexity and a sense of inner authority to respond to the challenge.’

Holding both authority and a sense of ongoing inquiry is an important ability in a supervisor, particularly where difficult dilemmas emerge. Sometimes the ‘action’ that seems to be called from us may be to ‘do’ something, like inform the relevant authorities or contact the person’s doctor. Sometimes the ‘action’, as we discussed in Chapter 6, may be apparently to do nothing but to hold the situation and the client in mind until the next session. It is surprising how often supervisees report that it was as if the client knew of the supervision session and responded to the care and thoughtfulness that was given to them. At other times an apparently more active response might be really necessary and the judgement and experience of the supervisor is needed to know how to make this call. Supervision on supervision is sometimes needed in this situation (see Chapter 10).

In professions that have statutory responsibilities or ones where working with crises is endemic, such as those involved with health and social care, particularly those who work with children, there is sometimes a view that only in psychotherapy or counselling is there the ‘luxury’ of ‘playing’ and ‘staying with’ our dilemmas. We consider it important to recognize that being reflective is always important, even where quick, decisive decisions need to be made. A social work colleague told us that she finds it easier to be reflective with a supervisee if she names the fact that a child protection issue will need a definite response by the end of the supervision session. This frees up the session for reflection on which this decision will be based without the anxiety that the supervisee will be left with the dilemma at the end.

In fact difficult and challenging situations are often complex and need careful thought. Below we have included some kinds of challenging situations with some thoughts about how to approach them.

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