We are born from groups, and we inhabit them throughout our lives – in a continual process of being shaped by and shaping them. It is not possible to think of ourselves as individuals, without considering the groups in which we have developed, in which we live and through which we are continually changing and effecting change.
‘What is inside is outside, the ‘social’ is not external but very much internal too and penetrates the innermost being of the individual personality.’ Foulkes, 1990
Our relationship with groups is fraught with ambivalence; we long to belong yet are terrified of being subsumed. We guard our sense of individuality while seeking our fit with others. There’s comfort in community and there’s safety in numbers until a group tip into a mob, capable of committing unimaginable atrocities. Through our recent pandemic history, terms such as social distancing, lockdown, personal protective equipment (PPE), shielding, quarantine and self-isolation represent a profound shift in our relationships with each other. The covid landscape has reinforced our deepest fears that by being together we may indeed kill each other, and that by staying apart we reduce our own lethality and the deadly risk which others may pose to us.
Given our social nature, we recognise that our growth and our injuries derive from our being in groups; groups form us as we form them and just as they make us, so they sometimes break us. So where better to explore and make sense of ourselves than in groups?
A therapy or supervision group is a community of minds in which meaning, and understanding is co-constructed through shared endeavour. ‘Free floating discussion’ emerges in the play-space of the group in which thoughts resonate and mutative group processes can emerge.
“…what is called ‘the mind’ consists of interacting processes between a number of closely linked persons, commonly called a group…they create a new phenomenon, namely, the total field of mental happenings between them all.” Foulkes, 1990.
Course Content
Presenter
Jo Solomon is a counsellor, psychotherapist, group analyst and clinical supervisor. After gaining a BA(Hons) in Fine Art, Jo pursued her interest in the creative potential of groups, using the arts as a therapeutic tool in a wide range of community settings. She deepened this work through her training as an individual therapist and clinical supervisor and more recently through 7 years of academic and experiential learning, to become a Group Analyst. She is accredited with BACP, registered with UKCP and is a full clinical member of the Institute of Group Analysis.
Jo’s theoretical framework is psychodynamic, drawing on psychoanalytic thinking and developmental and attachment theory. Her practice is relational, recognising that our interconnectedness at all levels, is the key agent for change.
Jo has over 25 years’ experience of working therapeutically with young people and adults in settings including schools, colleges, and universities, as well as in the voluntary sector and in independent practice. She is Clinical Lead for a service providing counselling for children and young people across several inner-city schools. Working with colleagues, she has also developed a Reflective Practice service for Headteachers and other key staff which currently provides regular reflective space for 30 school leaders; she advocates strongly for the benefit of thinking space within educational and other complex settings. Passionate about the transformative potential of groups, Jo offers therapy and supervision individually and in groups.
