“Each person's experience, each person's needs”: How therapists open space for multiple perspectives during reflecting team family therapy supervision

Abstract

Tom Andersen's reflecting team approach invited family members to hear the dialogues between professionals in response to their stories. This study aimed to explore intersubjective reflexivity during reflecting team group supervision, by observing resonances between group members. Twelve hours of reflecting team group supervision was transcribed and analyzed using Systemic Functional Linguistics. Hallidayan transitivity analysis of selected sections of interaction focused on mental processes, and Martin and White's appraisal framework was used to explore the “engagement” between different voices at play in the conversations. We found the use of physical metaphor to express reflective experiences, multi-voiced expressions to expand perspectives and possibilities, and dialogical patterns of relating between group therapy participants. Understanding dialogism from a linguistic perspective may offer insights into how reflective dialogues work and support understanding of fidelity for approaches which engage reflecting teams.