IJSP Number 3, 2021

32 3. A MIMETIC PLAY APPROACH TOSUPERVISION Laeuchli & Rothchild-Laeuchli [11] wrote about the mimetic method as a healing approach for groups using mythology, meditation, role play, and discussion to help participants mine unconscious personal and social issues. By combining these four elements they found that participants would often have a profoundly therapeutic or growth enhancing experience. In an attempt to demonstrate the usefulness of this method with psychotherapy trainees, the current author [12] gave examples of using it in the clinical supervisory situation. Mimesis can be a very potent way of uncovering and working on a range of issues that are crucial to the preparation of clinicians. Moreover, the concepts introduced above from play therapy, Winnecott’s “potential space” [1], and Axline’s “permissive space” [2] are a large part of what gives the method its potency. In the Mimesis method group participants engage each other by voluntarily taking roles that the leader (supervisor) prepares in advance, using a story that calls to mind universal issues or those that are specific to a given purpose such as psychotherapy training. Some stories that are useful in this regard have received attention elsewhere [7], [10], [12] so a brief listing of useful ones will suffice here before proceeding to the topic at hand. In Somer et. al.’s article [7], using stories to develop psychotherapy trainees, they experimented with the following stories with good results: “The Ugly Duckling” by Hans Christian Anderson, “Vasalisa the Fair”, a Russian folktale, and “Sea Woman” versions of which were told in cold countries from Siberia to North America. I have given as examples several stories [10], [12] including “Inanna and the God of Wisdom” from the Sumerian myth, “The Good Samaritan” from the bible, the Greek myth “Asklepius,” and the Native American story “Rainbow Crow.” An examination of these stories will reveal themes that are useful in the training of clinicians. Althoughthe topic of choosing useful storiesis beyond the scope of this paper the reader is directed to the above references to see how they provided a useful starting point of explorationfor both supervisors and supervisees. 4. POTENTIAL SPACE AND PERMISSIVE SPACE AS LIMINAL SPACE The spontaneity of play reveals the subjectivity of the child’s internal world and the adult’s as well. The precariousness and generative power of playing described by Winnecott was recognized as an important component of the Mimesis process when the method was developed [13].