The interacting-reflecting training exercise: addressing the therapist's inner conversation in family therapy training.
In recent years several authors have made a beginning in describing therapeutic conversations from a dialogical perspective. Training and supervision, however, have not yet been addressed from a dialogical perspective. In this article, an experiential training exercise is described that is focused on the basic dialogical skills of the trainee: respectful inquiry and constructive reflecting. Rather than teaching and instructing, this training exercise is aimed at staging a dialogue. The trainees are invited to take part in this dialogue, as they are encouraged to experiment with new positions and new ways of encountering others, and as their different voices tell of their experiences, of the things they have learned, and of the new perspectives that have opened up for them. Leaning on ideas about the therapist's inner conversation (Rober, 1999, 2005b) and stressing the importance of polyphony, dialogism, and tolerance for uncertainty, the training exercise described in this article is consistent with a dialogical and postmodernist frame, as described by Seikkula and Olson (2003).
Rober
Peter
P
Institute for Family and Sexuality Studies, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. peter.rober@med.kuleuven.be
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003142:Communication; D004493:Education; D005196:Family Therapy / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D011361:Professional Competence; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*