The Summer is an alchemical time within the OneSpirit community. Our ordinands have just passed through the portals of their vow-taking and ordination. We here at Supervisors’ Corner join in welcoming them to the community of ministers. Our First Years are also in a process of transition as they integrate and reflect on their experiences of the time that has gone by. 

To me, this seems the perfect time to explore some of the different scopes and scales over which supervision can work. I want to begin by restating what I think of as the purpose of supervision in the OneSpirit context: Supervision helps us heed more clearly and answer more fully our own calling to ministry in all its many forms.

As I continue in my own ministry, my experience of supervision grows both as a supervisor and as someone receiving ongoing supervision. Something that fascinates me is the way that supervision can shift scope and focus, zooming in and out, both over an ongoing supervisory relationship and during the course of a single session. Sometimes half an hour or more can be spent just diving deep into a single interaction, a particular intervention, a solitary sacred moment where the client and minister exchange a few words. It can be profoundly liberating to, for example, explore and roleplay other approaches that we, as ministers might bring to our clients. At other times we step back from any specific client relationship, seeking guidance about the paths we’re being called to walk, the overall shape of service that we might find ourselves offering the world.

I’ve come to think about supervision as operating on at least three different scales, and I wanted to give examples of them here and how each scale might shift the approaches that the minister and supervisor take. I want to be clear that these categories are by no means exhaustive and represent purely my current, imperfect musing on the topic…

Firstly, there are times when a particular client or piece of work might benefit from being the specific focus of supervision. I recall one instance where I was supervising a therapist who had decided to end her relationship with a particular long-term client, referring them to a colleague instead of continuing to work with them herself. In supervision, we spent a long time exploring how to raise this issue, her sense of responsibility to her client, what she wanted in terms of closure, and what this decision brought up for her. As is often the case in supervision, this way of working brings three people into the supervisory space in differing roles we might label  ‘client’, ‘minister’ and ‘supervisor’.  And we might each spend time in all three positions! This is perhaps the default way that supervision happens, but it’s not the only shape supervision can take.

This brings me to the second scale over which I observe supervision playing out: There are often patterns that occur in my work, both as a supervisor and a minister. It may be that I get a series of requests for funerals for young men who have died suddenly, or find that the theme of loneliness occurs across multiple different counselling clients. If we hold the belief that the Universe provides us with exactly the clients we need, then this might feel like a big, flashing sign pointing at something we should really give some attention. In supervision, the particular clients might feature primarily as gateways into the pattern, giving context for a discussion of the recurring issue. As an aside, this is often a great opportunity to consider our continuous professional development – do these recurring patterns help us discover our learning edges? As an example, some time ago I found I suddenly had several neurodivergent clients asking for spiritual counselling. It was definitely an opportunity for me to explore more training!

Lastly, there are sometimes occasions when, as ministers or practitioners, we want support, guidance and supervision on the works of service that we’re called to. This need for support might not arise from any particular interactions with clients at all. We may feel new callings encouraging us into new directions. We may feel it is time to change the way we work, abandoning old practices. We may be facing major transitions in our own lives – moving house, career changes, retirement, new caring responsibilities, and grief, all of which will impact the way we offer ministry and acts of service. As an example, for a long time, I considered my work as a storyteller and a minister to be separate. In the former, I worked as a performer of myth, legend and folktale. I was primarily an entertainer. In the latter, I held sacred space for other people. I felt like I was bringing very different parts of myself to work that I was called to do. Over time, I became increasingly curious about the parallels and connections that arose from these two different arenas, but it took a lot of soul-searching and support before I felt ready to integrate them in any way, and supervision was a necessary part of this for me.

Before I conclude, I wanted to acknowledge another sense of scale over which supervision can be considered to work. Shohet and Wilmot talk about the “Finite and Infinite Game of Supervision”. The “finite game” is goal-specific; it focuses on tangible outcomes and keeps our attention on the realm of the known and knowable. The “infinite game” recognises that much of what happens in the supervisory space is operating on a level beyond the individuals in the session and thus invites the possibility for something profound to happen that continues unfolding well beyond the particular session or any one issue. The “infinite game” is, I suggest, an invitation to allow the God of Our Understanding into the supervisory space to support us through whatever transformation we may be experiencing, both internally and as part of a wider human constellation. Here, I want to return to my statement of the goal of supervision in a OneSpirit context. ‘Supervision helps us heed more clearly and answer more fully our own calling to ministry in all its many forms.’ If our supervision aligns us with our call to ministry, then the supervisory space is inevitably a sacred space and our sessions are a spiritual activity; an altar to which we bring ourselves, our work, our clients, our troubles, our growth, and offer it all up.

May our work be blessed.

 – OneSpirit Accredited Supervisors