Why did I do that? “It seemed a good thing


to do at the time” doesn’t explain much. But in fact we do act in our practice in ways that don’t necessarily follow a rational code of procedures. We can spontaneously respond (John Shot er, personal communication) and fi nd explanations, if needed, aſt er the fact. T e girl begins to look up as I gently enquire


as to their reasons / thoughts / feelings / views about coming to our service. (I experiment with diff erent words, and note that each word has a diff erent resonance so I look to see which words invite more toing and f oing in our budding conversation.) T e words seem to move between us without interruption or contradiction but it is a faltering exchange, warning me that I could somehow intrude upon their sensibilities and crush any emerging discussion underfoot. I notice that the girl comforts the tortoise


(and maybe it comforts her) and an idea comes to me. Jim: “Could you do me a favour, please?” She looks up. “You see that tortoise you are holding … It


doesn’t have a name …. Do you think you could fi nd a name for it and let me know its name at the end of our meeting?” She looks rather blankly at me but I think I see her eyebrow liſt as if to say, “I think you’re a bit daſt ”. T e fi rst session unfolds slowly and, at


the end, I ask the girl, “Well Yasmin, have you thought of a name for the tortoise?” (client’s name changed). Yasmin: “Yes, he’s called Amaryllis.” Jim: “T ank you … great name! … Just another thing … would you please consider looking aſt er Amaryllis at home and bring him back next time?” Yasmin: (smiling) “Yes.”


Play and a generous spirit Each time we meet is a new beginning


informed by the developing history of the relationship between my clients and me. I hope the interest does not fade, but at times feelings of boredom, a lack of freshness, or a loss of curiosity might emerge. T ese are all signs that a spirit of generosity is on the wane and, when this happens, it is time to take a critical look at how I am being trapped in my own ideas about how to contribute in the therapy. T e tortoise hides in its shell when


sensing threat. Now, I don’t know if this is really the zoological truth about tortoise psychology, but it is what came to mind when Yasmin held the soſt toy in her lap. I look for connections and pat erns


between events and behaviours, and images 6


may come to mind. Pat ern connection and imagination are more likely to fi re up when we are absorbed in the moments of meeting with our clients: – the fearful girl hidden in winter clothes,


with her head down – A soſt toy chosen by her f om all the toys in the waiting room – a tortoise needing a home? Christopher Heimann, improvisation


teacher at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, in his description of the skills required to be an improvisational actor (Heimann, 2009) lists at ributes that also ring true to me as a systemic therapist. He proposes that training to act is “partly about undoing normal education processes and recapturing some of our childlike abilities”, including the ability to be fully absorbed in what we are doing, to be curious and interested, to be vulnerable and open, to be present in sensorial experiences, to act intuitively and spontaneously, to experience without judgement and have the ability to surprise ourselves and others! T is is a description of play. To play is


central to learning and to play with ideas and actions is jointly to create a context within which participants fi nd courage to take new therapeutic directions. A generous spirit is not a characteristic of the therapist alone, but part of a generative context in which the therapist’s job is to create the context in which such steps can become possible. Yet neither is a generous spirit a free


spirit. It is, like everything else, context dependant. When complex social and political forces operate against creative possibilities for change, generosity of spirit is forced to tunnel under those territories of oppression and division that would stop creative possibilities from developing.


Belfast 1994 Two colleagues are talking with me in


a restaurant. I only met them recently in planning my workshop but already I feel comfortable and warmly welcomed in their company. I learn that they have worked closely together for over twenty years in the same therapeutic institution. It is my fi rst trip to Belfast since I was a child and now I have returned as a trainer to their organisation. We are enjoying an evening meal aſt er my


workshop. At one point, I ask them about how the “Troubles” over the last twenty years have impacted on their practice, and I immediately feel I’ve overstepped the mark. T ey hesitate at fi rst then begin gradually to tell me about their experience of living and working in such


a divided community, where “whatever you say, say nothing” is the mantra to avoid saying the wrong thing or inadvertently doing something to bring unwanted at ention to yourself. T e evening’s conversation continued to fl ow and, at the close of the evening, they told me that never before had they had such an honest conversation about the eff ect of the “Troubles” on their relationship as friends and colleagues. I have never forgot en their trust in me in response to my naïve, clumsily launched question. We meet each other as cultural beings with


political forces that push us from behind our backs. Some of these forces are obvious – like the fear of being overheard by a sectarian renouncer as in the vignet e above. Partisan divisions between people shut down the expression of complex, mixed feelings, doubts, and the capacity to try to see the other person’s point of view. What these colleagues chose to do was courageous, expressed in a spirit of generosity off ered to me. When our clients try out something new and challenging, when they begin to say what has been frightening to say, they are tapping a generosity of spirit and it is our job to notice and respond to this with an appreciation of the risk they are taking. Yasmin kept looking aſt er Amaryllis until


she didn’t need this anymore and, although the therapy hit the rocks a few times, we persisted and I am reminded by my clients that persistence, being available, and off ering the possibility of bet er things ahead, keeps the therapy meetings vital and generous. At the same time, I am also reminded that if all the hope resides with the therapist this usually kills off any collaboration and generosity. Each move is an improvisation.


Note on systemic humanist values I have commented elsewhere that: “A central belief of systemic humanism is


the creative potential of every human being to overcome oppressive contexts in their lives; in therapeutic and social practices this entails challenging features that fail to try to transform human distress into human achievement. T e practitioner actively contributes towards this goal, and in so doing both client and practitioner become participants in a process of mutual humanisation. T e practitioner, like the client, is encouraged to challenge those ideas and ways of acting that constrain options for becoming other than they appear (Holzman, 2009). To do this, the practitioner looks towards therapeutic possibilities in direct work with the clients, as well as to a critique of organisational features and social-political


Context 169, June 2020


Meeting each other: Improvisation and a generous spirit


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