Intervision group, towards articulating what is possible

On the second Tuesday of every month, we work on the projects that each of the participants share

It is a common experience for a professional who is faced with a project to request a reflection with other colleagues. This confrontation can take two forms: supervision and intervision. When we speak of supervision, we generally refer to a relationship between two professionals, one of whom is more experienced, who reflect together on the work of the less experienced. Intervision, on the other hand, implies a context in which several professionals with an equivalent level of preparation reflect on their practice and support each other in improving their skills. And it offers the opportunity to learn from those with a different experience and orientation from the case presenter.

"The multiple and intense encounters with other strangers, objects of different drive investments, emotions, affects and representations, produce an internal and reciprocal co-excitation, which intertwine in a complex interplay of projections and cross-identifications"           (Kaes, 1996). (Kaes, 1996)

The objectives of the intervision group

• improve the competence of the professionals, the contextualisation of the project and thus the effectiveness of the process;

• identify "facts" in a specific and clear way, allowing professionals of different orientations to build, on a solid basis, a common formulation of the functioning of the project. This can then be supplemented by considerations and hypotheses formulated on the basis of their own experience and training;

• identify errors or shortcomings in project coordination more easily, but also highlight the most appropriate interventions..

In this process, the team is supported by a coordinator who identifies appropriate tools and trains the team in their use.

Theoretical premise

The possibility of being a container for reflection, on the one hand, and the desire to belong to a project, on the other, are two guarantees of a good way of operating.

Looking to the future, there is a desire to "transport" the experience and skills acquired. We had a good internal experience by turning the "dream", a light-hearted reverie, into a project idea. The intention is to open up a dialogue and discussion about possible new perspectives. 

The motivation behind the birth of the intervision group is the desire to create a container and a network of professionals, to rediscover a sense of belonging and to promote ecolaboration*.  What emerges is the perception of a culture in which what is immediate is good; in this context, the isolated professional who does not have a moment of meta-reflection on his or her own practice risks both corrupting the approach and adhering to the "marketing" of the web. There is an obvious danger of slipping into trivialisation or collusion with the demand for a quick and painless solution.

According to Kaës (2008), the group as a shared psychic space allows the birth of metapsychic formations that produce effects in the psychic life of the subjects that inhabit it. From this perspective, the intervision group is established as a necessary space to share the dynamics of the respective work contexts, to support individual professionals in the process of "taking care" of their own projects and contexts.

In addition, the long-term aim of the group is to identify emerging needs in order to develop appropriate responses over time, moving from thinking to creative action.

The method

In the initial meetings, the professionals are invited to discuss their professional backgrounds, working environments and working practices in order to get to know each other. Through this exchange, it is possible to learn new information and to envisage potential areas of collaboration.

References and data on the group members are collected in a shared database. This first action was practical in order to "remember" the colleagues in the meeting. The group is used as a processing space and the meetings are also scheduled on a regular monthly basis, which reflects the professional needs of the participants.  Intervision can be used as a technique to facilitate getting to know each other and forming groups, both on project cases and on institutional issues.

Meetings are held online, and quarterly face-to-face meetings are planned for socialising and exchanging experiences, just as the pioneers of 'grupalismo' did long ago.

The structure of the working approach is as follows

• Drawing up a summary report of the work carried out. 

• The history of the group and the continuity of the shared cases will be established through the minutes of the group meetings.