IJSP Number 5, 2023

26 body sensations), depersonalization (loss of self-definition), and dissociation (loss of personal experience). Metaphorically, we describe our supervisory process as a ball of tangled knitting thread entwined from each person’s relational needs; this ball is then tossed into the supervisory relationship. The supervisor’s primary responsibility is to untangle the threads, to identify each person’s contribution. What are the needs of each person? Are these mature needs or unrequited needs (perhaps from childhood)? Often the result is a series of new formulations of what is required in both the psychotherapy and supervision. Untangling the supervisory threads is accomplished through: • our affective attunement to the supervisee; • our awareness of how the supervisee describes the case; • our investigating the possibility that the supervisee is expressing the client’s internal reactions when presenting their case for supervision; • our sensitivity to the possibility that the supervisee may be enacting some unresolved aspect of their own life story. We may ask our supervisee, “Are you talking about yourself or your client?”; “What commonalities do you have with the client?”; “What type of interpersonal contact would you need if you were having a similar internal experience like your client?”. We also find it beneficial to attend to what the supervisee is experiencing in our supervisory process by asking, “How are you currently?”; “Is anything in your life causing stress?”; “Is anything not working for you in our supervisory relationship?”. There are times when we have advised the supervisee to invest in psychotherapy for themselves in order to be more attuned to their clients. We are mindful that the supervision session is not an opportunity for the supervisor to flaunt their competence and authority. The mark of good supervision is professional modesty and humility [12]. There is an imaginary gas and brake pedal in supervision that must be used judiciously applied in accordance with the sensitivities and potential of each supervisee. By integrating these two models, the Pyramid of Supervision with the methods described in the Keyhole, we have acquired a new framework that provides valuable perspectives on supervision. The concepts of attunement and the relational methods reflected in the Keyhole Model correspond to the first level of the Pyramid of Supervision. In this early phase the supervisor has several supervisory tasks, such as attracting attention, staying on track, defining the problem, clarifying the problem, and structuring the tasks generated by the issue raised in the supervision [4]. An additional task may include identifying new areas that require new learning or benefit from the supervisor’s consultation. As supervisors we may begin by identifying the supervisee’s cognitive style, how they express their emotions, and the rhythm at which their learning is optimal. Our receptive understanding helps the supervisee feel secure in the supervisory relationship. Through being the recipient of the supervisor’s attunement, the supervisee can develop a greater awareness of the essential processes of psychotherapy. We carefully assess the relational needs of the supervisee, particularly the needs for security, self definition, and to be in the presence of someone on whom they can rely to guide and encourage them. We are also alert to