Another 'phone call, 'please could I talk to you about a difficult client who... ' and I ask whether it is an emergency or can it wait for our usual appointment in 10 days time. The voice agrees that it is not a crisis but it feels urgent. Finally we agree to bring forward her appointment by a week. When we meet, there is a feeling of urgency; not for her client, but for herself as she has begun to feel inept as a therapist in a very difficult situation.
She accepts referrals from a local authority, of children and young teenagers who are deemed to be 'out of control', and the schools want something to be done or there will be permanent exclusion. However they have started to say, 'We only have money for 10 sessions of play therapy, can you do something?' There may well be children who can be helped with 10 sessions of therapeutic counselling, which often can be addressed within the school itself. However the children and young people who are referred, have very deep-seated issues of attachment, neglect or abuse that have not responded to the usual lines of support or discipline or sanction.
As a supervisor, whose task it is to show empathy but to remain objective, I am also experiencing the feelings of frustration and ineptness in a situation where the grass roots have to fundamentally change. I can enable my supervisee to ventilate her feelings, to support her in her work and to empower her to write yet another letter to both education and health. BUT, there is lip-service being paid to real investment in children and teenagers, who are, after all, the citizens of tomorrow. Despairing children will not be able to turn their lives around without support from appropriate therapists; and despairing therapists need support and supervision to enable them to bring about the alchemy of deep-seated change.
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