We are absolutely delighted to include a blog post this month from our esteemed colleagues Ronen Stilman, PTSTA and Bev Gibbons, PTSTA who co-teach on Physis Scotland’s Diploma in Counselling Supervision programme. Ronen and Bev share with us their excitement at the start of the new academic year, as they reflect on the past year.
We are very excited to be running the Diploma in Counselling Supervision programme for the second consecutive year. We are very proud of what we have created and we were touched by the wonderful feedback we have received on the course. Supervision, is about the meta perspective; the helicopter view. And starting the new academic year is a great opportunity to look back and reflect. We wanted to share with you some of that…
When we first spoke about the idea of co-teaching the Diploma in Counselling Supervision programme more than two years ago little did we know what we were signing up for. We have known each other for a long time, and whilst we knew that we would have fun teaching together, we hoped that our different style, experience and areas of interest would co-create something special. We both love theory, but we like even more to play with it.
As we got to know our students we began laying the foundations: a diverse set of models of supervision from Transactional Analysis to the Relational, Developmental to the Existential, through experience, reflection, discussion and plenty of practice. We then spent a lot of time playing with Ethics (yes, play and ethics in the same sentence) and deepening those foundations in creative ways.
And then Lockdown happened. And the world as we knew it was not the same.
Suddenly, the lovely space we got accustomed to in Drumsheugh Gardens migrated over a weekend to the virtual cyberspace. The shift was palpable and was a humbling experience at so many levels: personal, in our capacity as psychotherapists, and of course as Supervisors. The following weekend was focused on the parallel process in the most spectacular way; it was one of the most difficult teaching experiences we had, and at the same time one of the most forming experiences we shared as trainers, practitioners, people. Adversity shapes our identity, and this was not different, as we focused on what colours relationships: repairing rupture, power dynamics, difference.
“To process freely that helps the soul to settle
Settle to see the truth,
The truth of the process in those moments,
As the truth changes in different situations;
And to have open minds to different truths.”
–Ghaemrasekh, 2015, in Hargaden 2016:143
That inspired us to review the next module on Group Supervision where we introduced contemporary thinking on group process, compared and contrasted individual with group work, and plenty of opportunity to experience the difference. As we were getting close to the ending of that year, we knew that what took place exceeded what we hoped for: the participates owned their Supervisor space, which was evident in their practice as much as in the quality of their written work. When we said goodbye, we really hoped we could do this again.
Bev & Ronen
*** Last couple of spaces left, please register by the 25/09***
