By Martin Vogel
Hetty Einzig and I have been convening ecosystems supervision groups since 2020 – both open groups for practitioners working with people and tailored groups for in-house/internal coaches and leaders. Having run several online six-month programmes, we will be returning to our original vision of meeting in person and working in a variety of spaces: a booked venue, the environment outdoors, or a public space, such as an art gallery.
Our groups have proved supportive and enriching for practitioners during this time of global disruption. We focus in depth on the individual and in breadth on the systems and networks in which our supervisees and their clients are located.
The enforced isolation and social distancing of the pandemic may have receded. But there remains continued uncertainty – with the global cost of living crisis, geopolitical uncertainty (brought into sharp focus by the war in Ukraine), and in the UK a state that is struggling to cope. All of these are part of the wider climate crisis and its impact on the social fabric and civic institutions.
We work within these circumstances, they form our wider ecosystem, and the challenges and concerns they raise are shared by us and our clients alike. The accumulation of ‘outsize’ and complex challenges engenders a sense of impotence, anxiety and confusion which our groups help to contain and explore.
We reflect on the impact of these developments on ourselves, our clients and our work. We consider the many cultural and natural ecosystems of which we are part – home, family, workplaces, community, nation and world. Our innovative approach encourages an integration of our identities as people, practitioners and citizens. In the groups, we can also challenge conscious and unconscious norms, assumptions and behaviours.
The groups are for experienced practitioners wishing to deepen their connection and contribution through their work.
We offer monthly sessions of three hours with a break in the middle. We respond flexibly to the group’s needs as situations unfold. The sessions address a mixture of thematic group content and supervision of individual practice issues.
Our approach is collaborative and experimental. We draw on our backgrounds in transpersonal coaching, bodywork, creative work, mindfulness and psychodynamic theory and practice.
Hetty brings experience from a career encompassing psychotherapy, writing and journalism, and launching and directing a successful non-profit organisation. Her coaching and supervision is founded in Psychosynthesis and informed by ecological and systemic perspectives, psychology, art and literature.
I draw on my career as a former journalist and strategist turned coach and supervisor – integrating critical perspectives of society and politics alongside an interest in narrative and arts-based approaches.
For more information, read our explainer article What Is Eco-Systems Supervision?
Logistics
The size of the group will be no larger than eight participants. The groups are ongoing and run initially for six sessions.
We will schedule monthly dates from April. Participants must be able to commit to all six dates and, once committed, will hold responsibility for rescheduling any group meeting which they cannot attend.
The fee is £1,200 plus VAT, payable in advance of the commencement of the programme.
We are now inviting expressions of interest. So if you would like to be part of this, or would simply like to start by finding out a bit more, please get in touch to arrange a chat: ecosystems@vogelwakefield.com
Image: Monet, Water Lilies, Green Harmony – courtesy WikiArt
