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This book has been written by five people who designed and taught on the supervision course (counselling and psychotherapy) at Westminster Pastoral Foundation (WPF), most of them contributing several chapters. Although the writers approach the subject material from slightly different angles, they agree that it is through accessing unconscious processes and countertransference in supervision that the work between client and therapist is developed. The book offers a useful introduction and a rich source of learning for any psychodynamic psychotherapist who is already supervising or would like to learn about supervision.
The book is well ordered and is set out in four parts. Edward Martin starts off the first part on the supervisory relationship. He gives a brief history of how supervision has developed and how the different trends in the history of supervision affect the work today. He stresses the importance of responding to the unconscious communication between supervisee and supervisor, while keeping in mind the triangular dynamics between all three parties. I like the way he makes a case for the desirability, even the necessity, of supervision by telling us how lost Jung felt when caught in a strong transference relationship and found that at such times experience counts for little. Mary Banks puts emphasis on the healing aspect of psychotherapy. She compares psychotherapists with shamans, both sharing a motivation to heal. I had some difficulty with her indiscriminate use of the words healer and psychotherapist. Though her material offers interesting reading she describes mostly how a therapist comes into being, making the chapter's title ‘Transition from Therapist to Supervisor’ somewhat incorrect. Gertrud Mander's paper on the supervisor's need to find a balance between control and collusion is clear and purposeful and extremely helpful to new supervisors. She exhibits vast experience and her enthusiasm for good supervisory practice is contagious.
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