Are you sitting too comfortably? Using the praxis of positioning to move between the activities of therapy-supervision and the identities of therapist-supervisor

Abstract

Practitioners extending their repertoire to include supervising the practice of others may see it as an additional professional activity which may be accommodated within their current identities. For some, it may also become a turning point that requires/promotes a second order development across personal and professional identities. Positioning theory (Harre and Langhove 1999) offers a framework which practitioners can use in making the intellectual and linguistic distinctions between different activities/identities, including the supervisory relationship. This paper further explores how a reflexive awareness of physical position, and an ability/willingness to move and re-position can facilitate the elaboration of both the activity of supervision and the identity of supervisor at the levels of approach, method and technique (Burnham 1992, 1993)

Keywords

Supervision of Therapists Training of Supervisors Positioning Theory Supervision of Supervision

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