“Systemic suitcases, storms and sm


of supervising a family therapy team in a Rachel Ames


This article is about family therapy in a service for children with disabilities. Not much has been written about systemic work in this context. I’ve been infl uenced by writers such as Lynggaard and Baum (2006) and their descriptions of systemic work with adults with an intellectual disability, and by systemic practitioners working with families with children with a diagnosis of autism (see the issue of Context edited by Simon, 2016). Positive behaviour support is a model that is often used in services for children and adults with an intellectual disability where many of the referrals are due to concerns about behaviour. I’m interested in how and when family therapy is most helpful for families who are referred to the service. Helps (2019), in her work with a family with a child with an acquired brain injury, describes the role of therapist as “creating a conversational space in which people fi nd ways of telling stories, unpacking those stories and weaving those stories within the experiences of others to open up new possibilities and understanding”. Daynes et al. (2011) highlight how a systemic approach can be helpful when a behavioural formulation doesn’t “fi t” a family’s perception of a problem; they show how creating therapeutic space with families can help them explore and share ideas and wider contexts.


I supervised a family therapy team


working in a CAMHS disability team in East London during my systemic supervision training. T e team were mainly assistant and newly qualifi ed psychologists; a qualifi ed family therapist and trainee family therapist joined us at times. T e psychologists were new to family therapy and, with a new team in a service context where there is lit le literature to draw on, it felt important to develop our work together in ways that meant we could learn together and feel able to take relational risks (Mason, 2005). I used a narrative metaphor in our early teamwork and have used the ideas of our systemic suitcases and the family therapy “voyage” to describe some of the work that we developed together with a family.


Systemic suitcases and preparing for the family therapy “voyage” Early in my systemic supervision


training, I wrote a paper using a narrative therapy metaphor describing my systemic supervision suitcase. T is provided a way of being self-refl exive about what I was bringing to systemic supervision and to think about my hopes for my future learning. I was infl uenced by Ncube-Mlilo’s (2013) “Narratives in a suitcase” approach to work with young refugees, by Partridge’s (2010) “bundle of treasures” for a wandering therapist and by how she had developed the ideas of McIntosh’s (1998) knapsack of white privilege to use as a knapsack of systemic skills.


26 T e outside of my systemic


suitcase represented the social GRRR AACCEEESS that are visible to others, (Burnham, 2012). Inside the suitcase are other aspects of my identity, including infl uences of the social graces that are not visible unless I chose to share and to “story” these. In my supervision group I shared the


idea of a “systemic suitcase” and my own suitcase as a way of introducing myself and of developing our work together as a team. I asked the team what they were bringing in their own professional “suitcases”. I was infl uenced by Boston’s (2010) description of an exercise where she invited supervisees, early on in their work together, to write a list of strengths and resources that each bring to the team, and who experienced this as valuable and energising. I am interested in the ideas from appreciative inquiry and of how “positive aff ect (such as hope, excitement, inspiration and joy) and collaborative relationships increase creativity and openness to new ideas” (Bushe, 2007), as well as the idea that “people learn faster f om looking at what they do well, as the skills needed are already there” (Webb & Fredman, 2018). T e suitcases were packed in preparation


for our family therapy work or “voyage” together. As we did this exercise, I was struck by the diff erences in how much systemic knowledge and knowledge of children with disabilities the diff erent team members had. T e idea of a team “systemic suitcase” seemed helpful in thinking


together about the knowledge that was held by diff erent team members and how these could be a resource for us all. I also asked the team what systemic knowledge, skills and abilities they would like to develop during our work together. One team member didn’t have much experience of working with children with a diagnosis of autism or an intellectual disability whilst the others didn’t have much experience of using systemic ideas in their practice. T ere was space in our team systemic


suitcase for adding theories and approaches that we drew on as we began our work together with families. I was also keen to develop our practice in ways that drew on diff erent “knowledge”. For me as a supervisor, I hoped to lose some of the “compartments” in my suitcase and to draw on my psychology and family therapy knowledge in ways that supported the family therapy work. Self-refl exivity was an important skill to develop. Following this early teamwork, we


developed our therapeutic work together over the next year. T e next section is about some of this work, of the challenges that we faced and how we responded to these.


The family therapy “voyage” and what we added to our team systemic suitcase


Introducing the family T e following is a composite family that


shares dilemmas that are typical of referrals to the team.


Context 170, August 2020


“Systemic suitcases, storms and smooth sailing”: Some of my experiences of supervising a family therapy team in a CAMHS disability service


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