IJSP Number 6, 2024

42 2.2. LEVELS OF UNDERSTANDING When we talk about empathy, we mean a kind of "resonating" with the feelings of our counterpart, we try to put ourselves in the position or point of view ofour clients, to empathize with them, to empathize in order to learn to understand thembetter. Supervision is also about "empathic understanding" 4 [7] the ability to take onthe perspective of the supervisee, to identify with them to some extent and then to return to our own, to understand the feelings or motives behind their actions, reactionsand relationships. In the role of supervisor, it is important and necessary above all to develop a basic contextual understanding. This means thinking in contexts andlearning to better understand contextual dynamics and always keeping them in mind. In addition to the supervisee's internal frame of reference, this also means exploring and learning to understand the external context in which the supervisee finds themselves. This is usually embedded in an institutional framework, which in turn is based on certain rules. It is therefore often helpful for the supervisor to have both field-specific knowledge and knowledge of how organizations and structures work in order to be able to identify and uncover interactions that are effective in thesocial sphere. At the same time, supervisors are also required to develop a kind of "scenic understanding" 5 . A supervisee describes a practical situation, talks about their relationship with their client, possibly also about the influences of their colleagues, etc. This creates a scene of action sequences and relationships within the field of work that now needs to be explored. The aim is to understand the information and meanings of the scene, to get involved in the atmosphere of the scene, to grasp the roles that exist in it and the theme that underlies the whole. The scene is the starting point for reflection, so to speak, and the combinationof scene and reflection can lead to insights and solutions. The supervisor has to recognize the underlying level of meaning, which requires sensitivity and a willingness to engage with the experience of this scenic representation. Self-awareness plays a key role in training to become a psychotherapist. It is about life-historical experiences that need to be grasped in their entirety. The holisticapproach of Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy is helpful in this context, as a holistic view, analysis and reflection of the life situation always start from the overall situation. In this context, life-historical experiences can be understood and integrated into the self. Within the overall situation, individual historical experiences as well as social and socio-political factors are significant [8]. This 4 The terms "empathic, scenic and biographical understanding" are also mentioned by Bernd Oberhoff asthree levels of understanding, which can be viewed conceptually and methodologically as a process of understanding.empathic. 5 Idem , nota 4.