Therapeutic Consultation

I’d like to try and demystify the type of consultation process I often facilitate with supervisees and also to introduce a new consultation group which I’ve been envisioning and working towards for a while.

We begin with a therapist bringing a clinical issue relating to one of the people they are working with.  I then engage with the therapist to identify and engage with the parts which are activated in them in relation to the clinical work. 

If in a group, members’ roles at this stage are to be attentive to their own parts as they arise.  Parts can emerge as emotions, sensations, images, memories.  The aim is to notice and be with these, rather than to analyse, wonder why or what relevance they might have.

During the next stage I invite each group member into a process of engaging with their parts which emerged during the discussion. 

Next, I facilitate sharing and meaning making between group members.  The therapist who presented their work initially is invited to share any insights gained and the group will reflect together on the process.

The benefits of this type of approach are profound and often impact clinical work at a level which cognitive processing alone does not access.  There is undoubtedly a therapeutic dimension to the process which impacts participants on personal and professional levels, beyond the initial client who is presented.

While some space is available to offer and receive guidance and cognitive reflection this is not the purpose of the group.  It is also not suitable as a purely observational space or if you would prefer not to access your own non-cognitive material.

My supervision group experiences

I first encountered a version of this type of process in a supervision group facilitated by a Gestalt psychotherapist around 20 years ago.   In this group the clinical presentation was role-play based and the follow up process combined some common elements of Gestalt theory such as field theory and phenomenology.  I later participated in an experiential Gestalt group and then completed my core supervision training over an 18 month period within a small experiential group, facilitated by the late Sean Gaffney.

David Altfield’s article about experiential group supervision (reference below) seems to resonate and support my conceptual understanding of my experiences as a counsellor and a trainee supervisor within those experiential groups. 

Parts framework

The idea of "parts" first resonated for me as a Masters student 25 years ago when I became fascinated with John Rowan’s writing about subpersonalities.  From there I would increasingly dip in and out of Jungian writings and I began to see a “parts” theory there but without having simple words for it.  This led me to train in Jungian Sandplay and to become a registered sandplay therapist with AST.  By that stage I had experienced many types of therapy as a client and the sandplay was undoubtedly the model which allowed me to access the deepest levels of healing.

Training in IFS followed (official IFS Institute levels 1&2) and this gave me more language and clarity around “modern day” parts work.  Within my psychotherapy practice I combine IFS, sandplay, mark making (with colour) and other creative means. 

Interpersonal neuroscience

5 years ago I came across Bonnie Badenoch's work and I then completed two year long monthly intensive courses with her.  Bonnie is a highly esteemed psychotherapist, author and teacher who has spent decades integrating the discoveries of neuroscience into the art of therapy.  She focuses on therapeutic presence combined with inner community work to facilitate people to reshape their neural landscapes and heal early attachment wounds which often do not respond to traditional therapy.

The second year of my training with Bonnie focused specifically on consultation group process and consolidated much of my learning thus far.  There is a link to a video which was incorporated into my training programme in the references below.  I am not setting myself up to be a replica of Bonnie (as if!) however I wanted to share this as an aid to the type of process I am proposing. 

Invitation

This group will likely come together gradually over time.  There will be many who it doesn’t fit for.  And I hope there will be some for whom it really does.  Please do feel free to contact me to book a time for an initial conversation if you might be interested.  Thank you for reading and for your interest. Further info

https://www.gestaltbelfast.org/project/certificate-in-gestalt-supervision (Gestalt Centre Belfast)

https://sandplayassociation.com/ (Association of Sandplay Therapists)

https://ifs-institute.com/ (Internal Family Systems Institute)

https://www.nurturingtheheart.com/ (Bonnie's website)

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207284.1999.11491583  

Altfeld, D. A. (1999). An Experiential Group Model for Psychotherapy Supervision. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 49(2), 237–254. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207284.1999.11491583

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkfi6Ncbqwo&list=PL1z1XSUGV-1EF67bNeHNEEf0RL8EHWsgF&index=10 Example of a panel / group consultation process (Bonnie Badenoch)