Mirrors and Reflections

In this volume, as the title indicates, the focus is on understanding and elaborating what might be said to be going on in supervision as well as further exploring what could be said to be distinctive about systemic supervision. Looking at processes within systemic supervision involves engaging with the different contexts within which the supervision takes place and engaging with a range of theories, some developed or applied within therapeutic contexts and others drawn from theories of learning. Various theoretical frameworks have emerged and been described as underpinnings for systemic supervision. Social constructionist and narrative ideas have been vital in the creation of supervisory practices that promote open dialogues, multiple perspectives and the interrogation of traditional assumptions about expertise and hierarchy. This has inevitably led to a discussion of tensions and contradictions: unease about implicit practices of power, the problematics of assessment and evaluation and issues concerning the allocation of clinical responsibility. Positioning theory, dialogic theories and ideas from the field of adult education have also contributed helpful theoretical concepts for use by systemic supervisors. This book takes many of these ideas further as they are grappled with, critiqued and operationalized in different settings--within agencies and training institutes.

Charlotte Burck is a consultant systemic psychotherapist, trainer and researcher in the Child and Family Department of the Tavistock Clinic, London. Her other books include Gender and Family Therapy (with Gwyn Daniel) and Multilingual Living. Gwyn Daniel is a systemic psychotherapist and trainer at the Tavistock Clinic who has experience of working in both children's services and in adult mental health. She has run workshops on this topic in London, Oxford, Belfast and Sydney. She is co-author of Gender and Family Therapy (with Charlotte Burck).