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This is a collection of papers about the experience of supervising rather more than that of being supervised. It is by a relatively heterogeneous group of Jungian analysts, who, with the exception of an analyst from the Independent Group of Jungian Analysts, are all drawn from the Society of Analytical Psychology, but from different ‘wings’ of that organization. What is interesting is that despite this heterogeneity, the contributions achieve a remarkable consensus with respect to the main themes that they tackle, and this at a very creditable overall standard. Such differences as do pertain between the various authors are not glossed over, but are rather integrated in the introductory and concluding chapters that are offered by the editors. As the editors explain, the enterprise of the book grew out of a twelve-week supervision event, ‘Thinking about Supervision’, whose contributors were invited to develop their lectures into the chapters that make up the book.
As the authors set out in their initial chapter, the consensus that emerges is with regard to what they see as the primary tasks of analytic supervision. That is to say, firstly, to support the work of analysis as well as to foster the analytic attitude. This includes an attitude to individuation and to development as life long undertakings. Secondly, it is to attend to the dynamics of the work and to the role of the organization as well as to any specific issues that may arise. A case in point might for instance be child-protection issues. Thirdly, it is to ensure that the practitioner is working competently and ethically, and this will involve, in the case of trainees, on going assessment. Fourthly, it is aimed at maintaining the reputation of the profession by attending to standards and clinical governance. In their final chapter, the authors assert that supervision cannot be seen as an activity that is separate from analysis, but only as something that is part of it, either as an encounter between two peo