IJSP Number 8, 2026

International Journal of Supervision in Psychotherapy, Number 8, 2026 Page | 103 First , a yellow towel was placed to create the background: an appropriate color since it is one of the two colors of the Ukrainian national flag. The spongy texture of the towel didn’t provide a firm foundation for the objects as they kept falling. When the supervisee started setting up her Small World, the process looked unstable and messy. Things were being placed on the edges of the towel which were untidy and the first time an item was placed it fell, lacking a solid base. I noticed Maryna looked uncomfortable while we were exploring her supervisory question. It was a moment to offer reflection and to touch into her embodied experience, enabling her feelings to surface. This gave Maryna some reflection to look at the parallel process in what was being set up, and to see how the lack of a strong foundation was being played out. Second, the purple soft toy represents the support group of volunteers. The supervisee described them as ‘angels’ “because of the work they are doing on the front line in helping get people out of the war-damaged zones, alive and dead”. When Maryna spoke from the position of the angels, she identified what they experienced. “They drink a lot to cope and are unable to support themselves emotionally (we had already talked about the amount of alcohol the support group was consuming as a coping mechanism). In Maryna’s Small World, the angel object kept falling as if it was drunk, exhausted and unstable. It simply collapsed in ‘somatic dizziness’ (as described later by a member of the group). Getting the angel to stand up straight required persistence and effort. Third , the supervisee placed the cork as the next object to represent herself: a bottle stop to prevent liquid from spilling out. In metaphorical terms, this liquid could be emotion or blood. Placing her finger on the cork, Maryna explored how she is “trying to keep everything contained” in an effort of “having to hold everything in”. Lack of sleep and this struggle to cope created an unhealthy environment amid the damage, violence and trauma of war. Volunteers struggle to sleep. The violence they are exposed to creates PTSD. I made a significant slip in referring to the cork as a ‘corkscrew’, something that was ‘screwed’ without an opening counterpart (the colleague who was on leave). This remark was also later observed by another member of the supervision group. Even the cork struggled to find solid ground to stand on. Fourth , the stone represented her feelings -- hard and difficult to penetrate (as if frozen in fear). It symbolized the hardness and coldness of what was present for the supervisee in her group, where it was difficult to feel anything other than cold sadness. Fifth, the pencil sharpener (a red, angry bird figure) symbolised the war and the enemy soldiers responsible for attacks and killings destroying families. Sixth, bubbles reveal two emotions. They bring lightness by trying to make troubles burst and disappear. In this view, they offer light relief and temporary distraction. They also represent the bubbling of emotion, or more specifically the “overwhelming problems ” that are “bubbling over”. Seventh, the candle symbolizes restoration during the Small World process. Placed behind the cork, it offered light, presence and support. This seemed to be i mportant and something that has become a repeated symbol for Maryna, who reflects how light gives her the resource to carry on, signifying hope, love, warmth, clarity and support. The feeling seems deep, as I see her general demeanour soften. As supervision with Maryna unfolded, themes such as war, violence and destruction were repeatedly identified. The supervisee needed time to self-regulate when presenting such material.