The Performance of Pratice
How do we remain responsive, imaginative and open to the other as therapists? Novelty and uncertainty are part of the therapist's experience and the challenge put before us in this volume is how to engage in this process in ways that help therapists and practitioners to take a step forward with our clients. In doing so the metaphor of therapy as a performance promotes thinking about the way we move and communicate through every sense - not just through words, it is also used as a means of addressing the quality of our work - how we perform to the best of our ability. I set out to shine more light on these necessary explorations of performance and personal "style" in order to provoke fresh ideas, actions / methods into the repertoire of systemic therapy. It is a book born from challenges and questions raised by colleagues in workshops and seminars about how to keep theories and thinking fresh; how to develop a wider range of useful methods and how to enhance one's own individual "style".
An exploration of the therapist's experience, feelings, struggles and celebrations characterise the case examples and illustrations of practice. The therapist's "inner talks" are given voice in the exploration of practice and in doing so the language of systemic therapy is given more scope for development. Therapy is a process of humanisation that recognises the creative potential in each of us. This is, at one level, an "Everyman" experience, no matter what your theoretical persuasion. Written from my experience as a Systemic Psychotherapist I explore the constraints of theory when ideas become fixed like religious beliefs; when methodologies are followed like empty rituals and when "use of self" lacks creative exploration. These are the provocations I set out to explore and own up to in my own practice in order to breathe some fresh life into my repertoire and to invite you to do the same.
There are three interdependent areas of exploration in The Performance of Practice:
* Enhancing the repertoire of theory, in which I re-examine the preferred theories and loyalties we hold as therapists and particularly the stultifying effect of following certain received ideas and methods when critical appraisal deserts us. Theories, core values and our relationship to preferred concepts are explored, and favourite biases and comfortable methods re-evaluated.
* Enhancing the repertoire of practice, which focuses on the range of modes and techniques that I have found useful and effective in engaging the child and family members` curiosity and creativity. This section emphasises the dramaturgical aspects of practice within a systemic orientation. The term Systemic Focused Drama is introduced to define the fresh range of possibilities open to the therapist when performance is considered through this lens. The introduction of the therapist as Transitional Performer provides opportunities to re-think the range of "positions" that can be created between family and therapist for new directions in therapy. The illustrated range of Transitional Performances of the therapist is explored and exemplified. The reader is encouraged throughout the book to re-examine and consider the rehearsal of new methods. This is the fuel that lights the fire and the book invites readers to find their own way with these three dimensions of performance.
* Enhancing the use of Self in therapy. For some time the self of the therapist and the therapist's inner talks have increasingly occupied attention in the family therapy field. Here the reader is invited to consider the systemic therapist's reflections to each unique encounter with clients. I offer six dimensions for reflection-in-action that are intended to add greater colour and breadth to the language of systemic therapy, specifically about the therapist's endeavour to connect emotionally with the client. This is an informed improvisation.
The ways in which systemic therapy have developed over the last 40 years or so has led to different emphases in dominant metaphors; cybernetics, systems theory, modernist and post modernist influences, constructivism and social constructionism, therapy as a narrative and collaborative language based process. In this volume I bring my perspective on the evolution of ideas and practices to extend the performative, active, improvisational and dramatic aspects that have been part of family therapy, but somewhat overlooked in recent years, with an emphasis on the spoken word and the " talking cure" .
These three dimensions call out to us to step into our particular 'discomfort zone' where uncertainty holds hands with novelty in order to enrich our experience with our clients. If we continue to endeavour to find meaning in what we do and still accept the uncertainty of not-knowing, we can find the courage to keep going. I invite you to find your own way of performing the job of therapist to the best of your ability. I invite you to do this by joining me on this journey. It is an invitation to a dialogue.
The systemic therapy field has matured into a bona fide profession and is to be applauded for its growth and achievement. It is also a restless one and this restlessness helps us find new ways and better ways to do this job which are also worthy of applause. This volume aims to provoke the therapist's creativity and aliveness. It urges us not to rest in ideas and methods of an overly comfortable " use of self ". If our clients sense a tiredness of spirit in us, we can rest assured they will find it very difficult to light their own creativity in our company.
An exploration of the therapist's experience, feelings, struggles and celebrations characterise the case examples and illustrations of practice. The therapist's "inner talks" are given voice in the exploration of practice and in doing so the language of systemic therapy is given more scope for development. Therapy is a process of humanisation that recognises the creative potential in each of us. This is, at one level, an "Everyman" experience, no matter what your theoretical persuasion. Written from my experience as a Systemic Psychotherapist I explore the constraints of theory when ideas become fixed like religious beliefs; when methodologies are followed like empty rituals and when "use of self" lacks creative exploration. These are the provocations I set out to explore and own up to in my own practice in order to breathe some fresh life into my repertoire and to invite you to do the same.
There are three interdependent areas of exploration in The Performance of Practice:
* Enhancing the repertoire of theory, in which I re-examine the preferred theories and loyalties we hold as therapists and particularly the stultifying effect of following certain received ideas and methods when critical appraisal deserts us. Theories, core values and our relationship to preferred concepts are explored, and favourite biases and comfortable methods re-evaluated.
* Enhancing the repertoire of practice, which focuses on the range of modes and techniques that I have found useful and effective in engaging the child and family members` curiosity and creativity. This section emphasises the dramaturgical aspects of practice within a systemic orientation. The term Systemic Focused Drama is introduced to define the fresh range of possibilities open to the therapist when performance is considered through this lens. The introduction of the therapist as Transitional Performer provides opportunities to re-think the range of "positions" that can be created between family and therapist for new directions in therapy. The illustrated range of Transitional Performances of the therapist is explored and exemplified. The reader is encouraged throughout the book to re-examine and consider the rehearsal of new methods. This is the fuel that lights the fire and the book invites readers to find their own way with these three dimensions of performance.
* Enhancing the use of Self in therapy. For some time the self of the therapist and the therapist's inner talks have increasingly occupied attention in the family therapy field. Here the reader is invited to consider the systemic therapist's reflections to each unique encounter with clients. I offer six dimensions for reflection-in-action that are intended to add greater colour and breadth to the language of systemic therapy, specifically about the therapist's endeavour to connect emotionally with the client. This is an informed improvisation.
The ways in which systemic therapy have developed over the last 40 years or so has led to different emphases in dominant metaphors; cybernetics, systems theory, modernist and post modernist influences, constructivism and social constructionism, therapy as a narrative and collaborative language based process. In this volume I bring my perspective on the evolution of ideas and practices to extend the performative, active, improvisational and dramatic aspects that have been part of family therapy, but somewhat overlooked in recent years, with an emphasis on the spoken word and the " talking cure" .
These three dimensions call out to us to step into our particular 'discomfort zone' where uncertainty holds hands with novelty in order to enrich our experience with our clients. If we continue to endeavour to find meaning in what we do and still accept the uncertainty of not-knowing, we can find the courage to keep going. I invite you to find your own way of performing the job of therapist to the best of your ability. I invite you to do this by joining me on this journey. It is an invitation to a dialogue.
The systemic therapy field has matured into a bona fide profession and is to be applauded for its growth and achievement. It is also a restless one and this restlessness helps us find new ways and better ways to do this job which are also worthy of applause. This volume aims to provoke the therapist's creativity and aliveness. It urges us not to rest in ideas and methods of an overly comfortable " use of self ". If our clients sense a tiredness of spirit in us, we can rest assured they will find it very difficult to light their own creativity in our company.