IJSP Number 5, 2023

23 In other cases, the supervisee expresses their request for supervision explicitly and their request stays consistent throughout Level 1 of the Supervision Pyramid. We employ a variety of tactics centred on keeping the initial aim in mind, such as identifying and clarifying the client’s personal issues, facilitating the supervisee’s attuned involvement with the client, as well as choosing appropriate therapy methods that may be effective with a specific client. This process of identifying the therapeutic “problem” often entails a refining of the original goals of the supervision. We may have to help the supervisee focus on a specific issue. This often requires that we bring the supervisee’s attention to what they may consider nonsignificant, but in fact may be central to the current phase of psychotherapy. Our task as supervisors is to help the supervisee clearly define what is transpiring in their psychotherapy, both in the client’s phenomenological experience and in the client’s and therapist’s interpersonal relationship We ask our supervisee to articulate their feeling, what they are thinking about the client, and what they imagine the client needs in a therapeutic relationship. We encourage our supervisees to think anew about how to be in relationship with their client. We create a dialogue to guide the supervisee in defining the problem with which the client is struggling. For example, we might say, ”After listening to your description of the client, I recommend that we now focus on finding the times in the psychotherapy when you were aware that a relational disruption may have arisen.” “Did it occur during the start, middle, or finish of the session? What were the two of you talking about?” “What did the client do?” “What were you doing, thinking and feeling at the time?” “What do you suppose was happening inside the client?” These questions serve as an important guide for our supervisees because they help to clarify what issues require attention and in what order. An important feature of our supervisory discussion is the attention we pay to Erskine’s concept of contact-in-relationship [8]. We place emphasis on the supervise’s development of attunement to their client’s affect and rhythm as an effective way to strengthen the therapeutic relationship. We help them appreciate their client’s cognitive style, level of emotional development, and which relational needs are most significant with this particular client. We believe that the supervisor’s attunement to the supervisee is indispensable if we are to have an effective supervisory process. The supervisee may be confused and frightened, irritated and angry, or excited and happy by what has occurred in session with their client. They need the supervisor to go beyond empathy: to meet their fear with expressions of security; to respond to their sadness with compassion; to meet their anger with understanding; to respond to their joy with celebration. They need us to go beyond empathy and to be attuned to their affects. We have found that, when the supervisor fails to be attuned to the supervisee, there is often a degradation or even termination of the supervisory relationship. Often our attunement to our supervisee’s various affects serves as a model for how they can relate to their clients. When we say the supervisor is attuned to the supervisee, we imply the supervisor resonates on a conscious and unconscious level with both the supervisee and their client. The welfare of the client is at the core of the psychotherapy, and it is