IJSP Number 8, 2026

International Journal of Supervision in Psychotherapy, Number 8, 2026 Page | 102 My intervention at this moment came about through my discomfort in feeling into my own somatic counter transference in observing Maryna as she struggled to communicate via non-verbal cues. Watching her sympathetic nervous system deregulate was challenging. Exploring my own body countertransference while watching Maryna was uncomfortable. In this somatic resonance, I felt a need to pause, offering her a moment to step back, to self-regulate. Emotional distance from the enacted group experience enabled Maryna to let go for a moment. Holding Maryna as the safe and trusted other, as supervisor, I offered a moment to co-regulate her physiological state. She was soon able to self- regulate. My aim was to project a positive and supportive tone to help her regulate her autonomic state. Ideally, the "other” person projects positive cues through prosodic voice, warm welcoming facial expressions, and gestures of accessibility [27]. I offered support by holding via my words, tone of voice, and breathing. I believe the intervention of naming what Maryna was holding emotionally enabled her to carry on as it gave her the chance to reflect in action (RIA) [7], [10]. From the start, it was clearly too much for Maryna to hold the group on her own. She was overloaded emotionally. This gave me a moment to stop too; to breathe and notice how my body felt and to create more safety for Maryna and co-regulate before proceeding further. Maryna took time to gather material for the Small World technique where, step- by-step, she selected objects that represented people and feelings. With the Double Matrix, we not only identify a supervision question, but we also engage in identifying the Eyes [10]. Eye 7 captures the wider context of the war in Ukraine. The content of what and how the session seen in Eyes 1 and 2 were not explored in action. The focus of Maryna’s emotions is stirred in action during Eye 3 and 4 explorations; here the relationship between her and the support group is the main focus. UNFOLDING AND MAKING SENSE OF THE SMALL WORLD WITH MARYNA DURING THE CREATIVE ACTIVE METHOD The use of objects opens up a world of metaphor which offers powerful tools for us to consider and work with. Seven objects were used by Maryna: a towel, a purple soft toy, a cork, a stone, a pencil sharpener, bubbles and a candle. Figure 1. Maryna’s Small World.