Welcome to Rosemarie Whites' pages

This is the place where I will record my writings and observations of life here in Somerset and myself during a period of change in my life. I hope to explore and research myself, develop work I have alredy done on establishing my values, priorities and interests at the same time as learning about my community and developing a mutually beneficial relationship with those around me.

31/7/19

This week I am preparing for the Adlerian Summer School next week where I have been given a one hour evening slot to talk about Spirals and an introduction to my talk is given below:

ABOUT SPIRALS

As a member of the Adlerian Skype Research Group I find it easy to talk about my passions, beliefs and understanding of Adlerian Theory and its applications. Fortunately for me we are able to record our sessions and I can go back and see and hear myself speaking and explaining myself in the moment.

I have been actively encouraged to write about what I say but find that extremely hard to do. Where to start, how to organise my material and my thoughts. I recall completing my diploma application and trawling back over client notes for ‘evidence’ of my growth and my influence on my clients. What did I do, what was the impact and how did I know that? This became more true when I investigated the accreditation process. All the evidence was there somewhere but I was drowning in bits of paper.

Joy Mounter joined our Skype Research Group late in 2018 and comes from a teaching background. She introduced us to SPIRALS a learning process Joy developed with children in her primary class. Together they created ‘a space we could hold open for our learning and reflections: a space for reflection and reflexivity over time: a space to generate or own understandings and self-identity, giving us the energy of motivation’. Based on Belle Wallace TASC wheel, ‘Spirals is intended to help us to discover, explore and improve ourselves with respect to what gives meaning and purpose to each of our lives. One of the oldest geometric shapes, the spiral is fundamental in nature, design and religion’.

I have adopted the use of Spirals in my work with Adlerian diploma students along with the 7 eyed model for supervision. This I find useful for me to identify what works well for students and to have a structure in which to examine the counselling and supervisory process in a 3-dimensional manner whilst holding a timeline of individual development and learning.

Consequently, I use Spirals to record my work, case notes and reflections and as it is all dated it is easy to retrieve. Because of the way it is structured it encourages me to reflect on what took place, the outcomes and my successes and note when I could have done things differently? I question my purpose and if I am living my values in my work. What conclusions am I coming to from the sessions, am I open about my thinking or ‘acting as if’? In addition, I hold the client in mind and their presenting issue. Rather than thinking in rigid silos, I use separate spirals for each topic, exploring the relationships between them and allow them to overlap. For example, the placement where the counsellor is working, their contract, policies and working practices and the environment forms the context within which the counsellor and their client meet. They may require a dialogue with me too and that may need to be negotiated with all parties.

Learning to work effectively with the Adlerian Tool kit takes time and practice and when discussing interventions used with counsellors and their effectiveness with clients there is a lot to explore. Again, the use of the 3-dimensional process of Spirals works well in capturing a rounded view of the client from the Lifestyle work including Family Constellation, Early Recollections, Socratic Questioning, Social interest as flowing from and into each other rather than in isolation. Over time through recording notes and insights in this way supervisees can see how their understanding of theory has deepened and how they have become more skilled practitioners with improved outcomes.

As insights, strengths, discoveries and values are presented by the counsellor in their work and this information is collated and dated by both of us, the spirals process leads each of us through our own self-examination and reflection on what has taken place and explores feelings of failure and concern over ‘not knowing’ alongside achievements, excitement at discoveries and insights. Nothing is shared unless the individual chooses to share but the record is there for personal reflection and growth, so nothing is lost.

During my talk I will describe the Spirals Process but will leave you with the first step to consider:

Dear Me
A conversation with yourself. Reflecting on past experiences and present situations and starting from here can you identify what values, passions, beliefs, opinions, attitudes and interests have brought you to where you are now. The question is ‘What is important to me now?’ and ‘How do I account for my successes and difficulties?’ ‘Where do I want to be?’
Rosemarie White 8/4/19

For more information on Spirals visit: