Abstract
This chapter introduces ethics and issues of power in the relational process of supervision. The shift from a sense of universal, stable ethics to a relational understanding of ethics is introduced. Power is similarly refigured as a description of interactive dynamics and not a quality of a person. In addition, the distinction between “content ethics” and “process ethics” is presented. These revised understandings of ethics and power open the door for embracing relational responsibility. If supervisors, supervisees and clients are truly attentive to the process of relating, they extend possibilities for being relationally responsible. This relational ethic invites clients and supervisees to contest therapists’ and supervisors’ meanings and practices as a way of influencing and informing how the therapeutic and supervisory dialogue proceeds. The relational process of this conversation is “negotiated dialogue”. Negotiated dialogue refers to how supervisor and supervisee negotiate their ways forward in the supervisory conversation. During this collaborative, negotiated dialogue, supervisors and supervisees are informed by how both content ethics and process ethics are transacted as they converse with clients.
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McNamee, S., Tilsen, J. (2021). Relational Responsibility: Ethics and Power in Supervision. In: Ness, O., McNamee, S., Kvello, Ø. (eds) Relational Processes in Counselling and Psychotherapy Supervision . Palgrave Texts in Counselling and Psychotherapy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71010-1_4
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