series: connections and conversation
Connections and Conversation is a free monthly Zoom meeting, cultivating creativity and freedom of thought and feeling. We invite you to engage with our presenters and community as they share their interests and passions in conversation on current topics in psychoanalysis.
This free event alternates between Thursdays at 7pm, Saturdays at 9am, and Sundays at 2pm (please note March 12 will be at 1pm) Pacific Time. The meeting begins with a 45 minute presentation followed by 45 minutes of conversation.
This series is open to all.
Power and Vulnerability in Supervision: a exploration for both supervisors and supervisees
Thursday, April 20 at 7 PM PST
Both participants in the supervision relationship are personally and professionally vulnerable. Thus the power is bidirectional, just as it is in therapy. Each participant has power, although the particular forms of power may be different and the distribution of power may be asymmetrical. But no one is immune from narcissistic vulnerability, including the supervisor. Supervisors want to have the experience of being liked, respected, viewed as helpful, for instance. How do these desires get managed in difficult supervision processes?
Also, themes of power and of vulnerability operate in different ways depending on the situation in which the supervisory relationship occurs. Are there racial or ethnic differences between the supervisor, supervisee, and/or the patient? Is the supervisee being evaluated in a formal manner by the supervisor? Is the supervisor being evaluated by the work setting in which the supervision takes place? Does the supervisee evaluate the supervisor in a formal or informal manner? How do the parties in the supervision relationship navigate the question of what kind of supervision best serves the supervisee and the patient?
We will explore together the vagaries of power and vulnerability, in hopes we can become more sensitized to the interplay of power and vulnerability in our supervisory relationships, and perhaps we can also become more graceful when these themes become disruptive forces in our work.
Lynne Jacobs, Ph.D.
Lynne Jacobs, Ph.D., has long been interested in the relational dimension of psychotherapy, and in integrating humanistic theories with contemporary psychoanalytic theories. She is also interested in what it means to practice as a white therapist in culturally diverse environments. Both a gestalt therapist and a psychoanalyst, she is a co-founder of PGI and faculty analyst at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis (ICP) in Los Angeles. She teaches at ICP, and teaches gestalt therapists locally, nationally, and internationally. She has published two books (with Rich Hycner) as well as numerous articles in both gestalt and psychoanalytic journals.
CE Credit
No one in the planning or presentation of this activity has any relevant financial relationships with a commercial interest to disclose.
Special Accommodations
Please submit any requests for Special Accommodations to the ICP Office prior to registering or at your earliest convenience to ensure that we are able to assist.
