Supervision of Dance Movement Psychotherapy

A Practitioner's Handbook

Helen Payne, Helen Payne

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781134124497
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Dance

Supervision of Dance Movement Psychotherapy is the first book of its kind to explore the supervisory process in the psychotherapeutic practice of movement and dance. Helen Payne brings together international contributors to discuss how the language of the body plays an important part in the supervisory experience for psychotherapists and counsellors.

Contributors consider a variety of models and examine the role of supervision in a range of professional and cultural settings, forming a theoretical base to current practice in dance movement psychotherapy. Chapters include:

• an overview of supervision in dance movement therapy
• working psychotherapeutically with the embodied self
• transcultural issues
• the use of authentic movement in supervision
• a novice practitioner's experiences.

Outlining key concepts from both theory and practice, this book contributes towards a deeper understanding of the mentor-trainee relationship and the curative power of movement and dance. Supervisors and supervisees in dance movement psychotherapy as well as the arts therapies, counselling, and psychotherapy will find it invaluable.

Chapter 1
Supervision in dance movement psychotherapy

An overview

Helen Payne

Introduction

Welcome to this book, the first to document the art and science of professional (rather than management) supervision in the field of dance and movement psychotherapy (DMP). As one of the five volumes on arts psychotherapies supervision it will make a permanent impact as fundamental reading for supervisors and supervisees across the psychotherapies. This book contributes toward a deeper understanding of the mentor–trainee relationship and the curative power of movement and dance.

The terms DMT and DMP are used interchangeably. The discipline is known worldwide by various other terms, specifically: dance-movement therapy; movement therapy; movement psychotherapy; dance therapy; dance movement therapy and dance/movement therapy. However, to reflect the new title of DMP recently adopted by the UK professional association (ADMT.UK), it has been decided that this will be the term used in the title to this book, the introductory chapter and in the other authors’ chapters who responded that this was acceptable to them. As the book includes international contributions, the other terms in common use have been left as written by those authors.

The contributors have been selected from an international community of senior clinical practitioners. We welcome them to this volume from different parts of the globe: Australia; Germany; Israel; Italy; Portugal; Spain; the UK; the USA; and they have been diligent in bringing to readers their own models of supervision in DMP. Some approaches have been systematically researched; others are based on many years of supervisory experience, from private practice to training. Uniquely, we have one chapter from a novice practitioner describing her fears, hopes and experiences during her training as an apprentice with a DMP trainer in a clinical setting. I have been impressed by the thoroughness of the descriptive analysis of the ways in which these authors speak about supervision.

This chapter presents: (1) definition and goals of supervision; (2) an analysis of the nature of supervision from the chapters and beyond to guide the reader through the book, highlighting specifically relevant themes; (3) a summary of the benefits for the readership from this ground-breaking book; (4) a delineation of the aims of the book; and (5) a synopsis of each of the chapters as they appear sequentially.

An outline of definitions, goals and the nature of supervision in DMP is now presented. This serves as an introduction to this volume for dance movement psychotherapists, body psychotherapists and arts therapists as well as verbal psychotherapists/counsellors who may also be interested in the nature of the embodied self.

Definition and goals of supervision

What is supervision?

Research (Gelso and Carter, 1985; Robinson et al., 1990; Horvath and Symonds, 1991; Clarkson, 1996, 2003; Martin and Garski, 2000; Paley and Lawton, 2001) has demonstrated that it is not the approach but the therapeutic relationship variables (working alliance) and client motivation in psychotherapy/counselling which determine outcome. Therefore the nature of supervision in any form of psychotherapy needs to reflect this finding and is equally complex. Supervision, whatever form it takes, is intended to be in the service of the client by providing the supervisee with a safe container for the honest communication of clinical practice.

Clinical professional supervision (‘super vision’) contributes to both supervisee and supervisor seeing the bigger picture. It is a process of facilitation of the supervisee’s capacity to work responsibly, empathically and beneficially with the client who is the focus of a shared concern. It is normally undertaken both during and following training (career-long) whereby an experienced dance movement psychotherapist collaborates with a less equally experienced dance movement psychotherapist to assist her/him in: (1) refining their practice, (2) understanding more of their personal and unique elements which form part of that practice, (3) dealing with anxieties inherent in the practice, and (4) facilitating them to use the supervisory process to achieve a greater clinical understanding.

It has relationship, didactic, supportive, challenging and explorative functions. From a psychodynamic perspective supervision may be seen as a relationship between the supervisor and a therapeutic alliance (the ‘client’) in a triadic design. Whatever the theoretical orientation it is a confidential working relationship between two or more people in which resources of both (or all if a group) are shared and directed towards giving fresh and diverse perspectives on the practice and work concerns brought to regular sessions by one of them.

Supervision may also be defined broadly as the education and training of the dance movement psychotherapist through the sharing of client material with the supervisor (and other supervisees). The DMP supervision process may teach fundamental (at initial training stage) and advanced levels of professional ethical practice in the understanding and techniques of embodied psychotherapy. It may involve the supervisee in ethical decision-making concerning practice and engage her/him in numerous professional issues. In undertaking supervision it is hoped the supervisee will develop a healthy investment in practising insightful, ethical psychotherapy and evolve a benign, well-functioning internal supervisor (Casement, 1985, 1990). This model has been explored in relation to authentic movement and supervision (Payne, 2001b).

This development of a capacity for self-supervision while in practice is crucial if the practitioner is to become a more competent and confident psychotherapist. The novice practitioner on placement, during training, usually learns by example, such as during their own dance movement therapy process for personal therapy, in an experiential DMP group on the programme or during clinical in-session supervision. The latter is a type of apprenticeship role, where the supervisee is neither client nor taking full responsibility for the group process. Debriefings following the sessions take place with the group facilitator, who is normally an experienced and registered dance movement psychotherapist. This process has been described in depth in earlier writings (Payne and Wright, 1994).

In essence I see supervision as key to continuing professional development (CPD) for qualified practitioners leading towards improving quality and promoting effective ethical practice. In my view, it is incumbent upon a clinician, once graduated from training, to arrange regular supervision.

In psychodynamic theory unconscious processes are crucial to therapeutic outcome. Supervision in this model is an enabling space to reflect on these processes and any interpretations of them offered in the service of the client. The idea of ‘parallel process’ (Mothersole, 1999) as an integral-relational organising principle for psychotherapy can assist clinicians in thinking about session content and the therapeutic alliance. Supervision gives the opportunity for the process and relationship to be explored by becoming aware of the mirroring of these processes which can take place between supervisor and supervisee.

The concepts of the body-self, the interpersonal self and the intrapsychic self are articulated by Wendy Wyman-McGinty (Chapter 7, this volume) as a way of assessing the individual in relationship to his/her body, to others, and to inner states of mind. Within these underlying concepts definitions emerging in this volume include supervision as:

• a multi-phased process between words and movement;
• a form of movement expression as the primary organisation of experience in the pre-verbal stage of human development;
• related to neurological and psychological growth, acknowledging the cultural context in which these processes take place;
• acknowledging the setting as a facilitating and holding environment modulated by the client’s needs, characteristics and potential;
• making conscious movement as a modality of analysis in order to grasp the complexity of interaction (body, movement, psyche, word) between patient/client and therapist in the setting;
• making conscious use of the body as a receptive instrument for kinaesthetic empathy and imagination, for somatic countertransference;
• an opening for supervisees to perceive themselves, the other, and the unknown and to enter into a ‘potential space’ of transitional phenomena;
• providing supervisees with a place to sustain the ability to relate to dissociated split-off parts and repressed or inhibited ones, the ‘shadow’.

To sum up, the contributors to this book appear to engage with the setting, professional growth, relationship, the ‘shadow’ and movement in providing professional DMP supervision.

What is the evidence that supervision is effective?

Although it is increasingly being seen as one of the foundations of effective clinical practice in all the psychotherapies (including DMP), very little research has been conducted on capturing the complexities of process and outcomes in supervision. One unpublished study in the UK in DMP supervision (Clarke 1999, 2001) made recommendations to the professional association on supervision as a result of participant observation; interviews with supervisors and analysis of supervisee reflections on supervision sessions. To date there appears to be very limited evidence that clients benefit from therapist supervision, although there is some opinion and research to show that the therapist/counsellor profits.

Of relevance when considering DMP supervision, the evidence of research in supervision from counselling and psychotherapy can be informative. Research in this related field has mainly been to assess the impact of supervision on therapy and counsellor trainees in the USA such as the study reported by Skovholt and Ronnestad (1992) and Ronnestad and Skovholt (1993). This evidence suggests that supervision has a positive impact on the self-awareness, self-efficacy and skill development of the supervisee. Preliminary findings from other evidence suggest that supervision has an influence on theoretical orientation, and that the timing and frequency of supervision can impact on the content and process of supervision. Since the provision of research knowledge from this sister discipline may be useful, a more detailed overview is provided below.

Research is developing in this field as illustrated by the following studies. For example, Grant and Schofeld (2007) conducted a survey to delineate factors associated with the frequency of ongoing supervision among psychotherapists and counsellors; Walker et al. (2007) explored gender-related events from female trainee perspectives which were found to be related to trainee self-disclose and the supervisory alliance; and Crocket (2007) presents a discourse analysis on the professional culture of supervision from a supervisory conversation which ‘pays attention to the politics of its own production and thus to the culture of supervision that it produces’ (ibid.: 19).

Jacobsen (2007) provides a limited qualitative single case study, in which supervision sessions were randomly selected, to explore the parallel process. An independent analyst verifies the author’s conclusions of the ways this process manifests, highlighting the potential for supervisors to develop insight into the therapeutic alliance and foster appropriate interventions. In another qualitative study with supervisees working with traumatised clients (Smith et al., 2007) it was found that ‘difficult situations’ could be categorised into therapist reactions which in turn could be linked to therapist style. It is recommended that supervision enhance constructive coping in accordance with therapist style.

With reference to group supervision, DeStefano et al. (2007) in a small pilot study looked at trainees’ experience of clinical impasses and the impact of the group on their resolution. Trainees, who experienced the impasse as a failure, sought and received support from group supervision as well as increased self-awareness. Dissatisfaction with the group was also reported, resulting in a recommendation that the developmental needs of the trainee warranting differing supervisory styles be considered. The findings make it clear that a group supervisor for trainees needs to be both a competent clinician and an experienced group facilitator; otherwise the group experience for the trainee may be a destructive one.

Routine outcome monitoring helps actualise the goals of counselling supervision and is reported in Worthen and Lambert (2007). Tracking client treatment response and comparing this with expected outcomes alerts counsellors and supervisors, it is argued, and adds value to supportive supervision consultations. Progress feedback and problem-solving strategies from supervisors was provided immediately for off track cases, resulting in richer and more focused supervision activity. Clients showing negative change had significantly better outcomes.

In a systematic review of the literature on the impact of counselling supervision on the therapist, their practice and their clients (Wheeler, 2003; Wheeler and Richards, 2007) findings from 18 studies included self-awareness enhancement; skills development; self-efficacy; timing and frequency of supervision; theoretical orientation; support and outcome for the client. The authors were critical of the methodology and process of most of the studies with only two reaching their criteria of ‘very good’. The analysis of studies reviewed offers insight into what might be most helpful for the supervisee in the short term. Since trainees appear to have been the participants in the main, other influences on the outcomes may have played a part. Supervision may form an integrating medium for the trainee, whereby theory and practice come together.

Despite these encouraging beginnings, due to the dearth of studies across all the psychotherapies (i.e. arts therapies and counselling/psychotherapy), there is an overwhelming and overdue need to research the impact of supervision on qualified and experienced practitioners over a longer term as well as on client outcome.

Others have contributed to the development of an understanding of supervision through their writings, for example, Langs (1994) and Jacobs (1996) in psychoanalytic psychotherapy; Hawkins and Shohet (1989) in humanistic psychotherapy; Kranz (1994) from play therapy; Dryden (1995) from the behavioural school; and Wilkins (1995) from psychodrama.

Counselling authors such as Inskip and Proctor (1993, 1995); Proctor (1994, 2000); Mearns (1995); Juhnke (1996); Orlans and Edwards (1997); Carroll and Holloway (1998, 2001); Webb and Wheeler (1998); Holloway and Carroll (1999); and Wheeler and King (2001) have described their views on the supervisory process. In addition, there is a personal experience of counselling supervision documented by Winter (1994).

Goals of supervision

There may be a number of goals the supervisor intends to fulfil when entering into a supervisory relationship. Goals will, of course, depend on the psychotherapeutic orientation (humanistic, psychodynamic, systemic, behavioural or integrative) of the supervisor. These are some of the goals, in no particular order, which the reader may wish to consider:

1. To enable the supervisee to feel safe, in a confidential environment of exploration and professional/personal development and in the overall service of the client.
2. To facilitate the supervisee to develop an open-minded attitude to dealing with the inevitable anxieties, fear of failure and conflict arising when constantly monitoring material from client work ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• List of figures
• Notes on contributors
• Preface to the series and this book
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Supervision in dance movement psychotherapy: an overview
• 2 Spontaneous symbolism in clinical supervision: moving beyond logic
• 3 The supervision process in training
• 4 Supervision in dance movement therapy: a proposed model for trainees
• 5 Forgotten moments in supervision: the challenge for their recuperation
• 6 From here and elsewhere: transcultural issues in supervision
• 7 The contribution of authentic movement in supervising dance movement therapists
• 8 We could dance at the opera house: a novice practitioner’s experience of in-session supervision in training
• 9 The Balint group model applied to dance/ movement therapy supervision
• 10 Interactive reflections: moving between modes of expression as a model for supervision
• 11 Three makes one: a journey of growth through supervision
• Appendix