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July 31, 2008
Supervision in an age of trauma
I've just had a wonderfully stimulating weekend at the annual conference of BASPR (British Association for Supervision Practice and Research), immersed in supervision. The theme of this year's conference was "Supervision in an Age of Trauma". Recurring themes included working in war zones, and with victims of terrorism, refugees, asylum seekers and victims of abuse.
While some of the workshops seemed a long way from some of my clients in the executive coaching boardroom, at the same time, there was a lot that could be applied in the organisational arena. We may not know what previous experiences our clients have lived through, and in fact many of our ostensibly "well" clients may themselves have some history of personal trauma, which does not enter the coaching contract at a conscious level.
Professor Kim Etherington from Bristol explored the notion of "vicarious traumatisation", when therapists may take on elements (and even somatic symptoms) of their traumatised clients. Then she looked at how, as therapists, we may find ways to empathically resist the highly charged emotional experiences of working with trauma victims as a way of managing our own process. This is a valuable awareness for us to hold, both as coaches and when supervising coaches.
Mooli Lahad from Israel and the International Community Stress Prevention Center explored the phenomenon of compassion fatigue and how this differs from vicarious traumatisation. In my experience of working with business executives and executive coaches, I don't often meet clients who have experienced significant trauma, and if they have, the coaching arena is not necessarily where they share it. At the same time, I need to be mindful of the cumulative impact of constantly empathising with my clients.
The conundrum for the "helper" in the extreme trauma arena is one of "there is nothing I can do for this person", counterbalanced by the myth of the saviour, which suggests that "I am the only one who can help this person". Here Mooli Lahad highlighted the power and value of supervision as the place for practitioners to share, offload and rebalance. It was evident from the practical exercise – and completing a compassion fatigue test – that all of us need to take care to ensure we don't reach burnout in our attempts to support our clients. Supervision is an invaluable place to help manage this.
I came away with renewed understanding of the power of sharing our experience with another person. I was also reminded of the value of this practice called "supervision", which in the world of coaching is still being debated, to find an approach that is appropriate to the context, which at some level is very different from the task of supervision in the helping professions.
This is an annual event in the last weekend of July and is held at St Mary's College, Twickenham. Next year's dates are 25 and 26 July 2009, when the theme will be: "Effective Supervisors: what they are and what they do".
Posted by Alison at July 31, 2008 09:38 AM
