IN SUPERVISION
Do you recognize the therapist–supervisor dyad in the Matrix of Relative Privilege? What are your privileges? What are your disadvantages?
What are your experiences of and commitments to addressing human rights issues in your professional and personal lives? Do either of you have a “favorite” power dimension? Did you know that about each other?
If you are from different generations: What kinds of issues and battles were important in the history of the older one? What battles are of current importance now?
Do you frequently discuss philosophy or ethics in supervision? Do either of you have a favorite philosopher? What ethics do you agree on?
At what points are you alike? Which kinds of patients are at risk to involve mutual blindness on behalf of both of you?
What kinds of patients will you each of you find most difficult? Address all four squares in the matrix. Why? What is the supervisor’s experience of treating patients in each square?
Are the meanings of gender, race, sexuality, etc., regularly addressed when talking about cases? Do you regularly address relative privilege when talking about transference, countertransference, frame, and resistance? Would it be valuable to address that more frequently?
How do you address institutional enactments in supervision?
How do you find political interpretations? Are you alike or is one of you more radical? Is it possible to speak about that honestly?
From A Grammar of Power in Psychotherapy: Exploring the Dynamics of Privilege, by M. Fors. Copyright © 2018 by the American Psychological Association.