A transcultural supervision activity

This activity is the ‘transcultural activity’ from Hawkins and Shohet (2012) adapted to incorporate SOCIAL GGRRAAACCEEESSS.

It is intended to help each of us become aware of our own culture, and the culture of another person, listening carefully for differences alongside finding similarities.

We’ve written a blog to accompany the description of this activity, where we reflect on our experiences of using it during supervision.

The Social GGRRAAACCEEESSS

Figure 1 shows the variety of Social GRACES that might be considered throughout the transcultural supervision activity.

Cycle 1 – Social Graces that mean the most

1. Using SOCIAL GGRRAAACCEEESSS, Person A explain to Person B about their culture, highlighting the areas that come most immediately to them using the questions below;
   • Which 3 aspects of SG mean more to you and are more important to you?
   • How did these influences develop? Think about significant experiences (for example, stories and images) in your life/family of origin/other relationship contexts which influenced you.
   • Which influenced you or organised your life most? Which are you more preoccupied with?
2. Person B listen carefully to Person A and recount what they have heard.
3. Person A listens to Person B and corrects any misunderstandings, adds further information as needed and clarifies any points, and together they explore how this may influence the supervisory relationship between them.
4. The roles are then reversed and Person B then explains to Person A about their culture using SOCIAL GGRRAAACCEEESSS, and the steps 1 to 3 are repeated.

Cycle 2 – Social Graces that might mean less

1. Person A explains to Person B the 1-2 aspects of SOCIAL GGRRAAACCEEESSS that are less relevant and don’t grab them
   • Which ones mean less to you? Which ones are less important to you?
   • Which ones influenced you or organised your life least? What does it say about you/your family of origin?
2. Person B listens carefully to Person A and recounts what they have heard.
3. Person A listens to Person B and corrects any misunderstandings, adds further information as needed and clarifies any points, and together they explore how this may influence the supervisory relationship between them.
4. The roles are then reversed and Person B then explains to Person A about the aspects of SOCIAL GGRRAAACCEEESSS that are less evident to them, and the steps 5 to 7 are repeated.

Discussing the activity and its impact

The discussion ends with considering the impact it will have on supervision and the supervision contract. This may include which aspects of formulation or case discussion may be emphasised and equally what may be missed or misjudged.

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Read Anita, Tara and Haley’s reflections on using this activity.

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References

Burnham, J. (2012). ‘Developments in the Social GGRRAAACCEEESSS: Visibleinvisible and voiced-unvoiced’ in Krause I (ed) Culture and Reflexivity in Systemic Psychotherapy: Mutual Perspectives. London: Karnac.

Hawkins, P. and Shohet, R. (2012). Supervision in the helping professions (3^rd ed) Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill

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