2nd Online Group Supervision Session: 2 June

Reflection On 2nd Online Group Supervision (Part 1)

Role playing process (things to know and watch out)
 Frame works
 Assessment thru the emerging contents
 The storyline
 The character development
 The quality of the character development
 The imagination of the projection
 The capacity of the role player
 Themes that are coming out
 The symbols
 The metaphors that are emerging from the role play.

Questions to ask self:
 Can I consider it as a psycho dramatic role playing
 Is it a scripted role playing

When a child is setting out a scene, how do we know that he is entering in the dramatic reality, how do we know how significant is that he has established the boundary between ordinary reality and dramatic reality, how to secure the dramatic reality.

The moment we see the potential of going into the role playing space or if recognised that the person is going into the role playing we can use the comments like:
• I know that you would like to do some role playing.
• May I suggest that we clear some of the stuff and us the things that are relevant to us.

By this way, you are consciously prompting to the child that both of you are going to do role play. Once he has the scene set up, we need to make the scenery sorted out, in this way we can enhance the role play, potential imagination by creating the transition from the ordinary reality into the dramatic reality, let the person imagine “Oh, this is my castle, my house, my cottage, here is the pathway to my house, there is a market near my house and so forth.” This way it will make the person feels special. We need to help him imagine the set up of the scene, therefore it will make him feels that at moment he is no longer Terry but the character itself, whom the house belongs to and may ask him what shall we call your character.

Summary: 1st thing – developing the setting, the characterisation as part of the ritual transitional process from moving from ordinary reality into the dramatic reality.

Example of Open ended questions:
• Who do you want me to be?
• What kind of character would you like me to play?
• Could you show me what kind of .......?
• May Be you can demonstrate to me so that I can get the idea, can you show me?
• What do I call you?
• Who are you in this character?
• I see that you wants to do role playing, how would you like me to participate?

If the person said he is the bad guy, need to ask him:
• What kind of bad guy?
• Could you show me?
• Does he have anyone else beside himself?

If the person said he is the policeman, need to ask him:
• Are you the sergeant?
• What shall I call you?
• Are you the inspector?

It is important to know that by role playing usually they are engaging you already, if not they are only doing self play or solitary play, just playing by themselves. Always keep on telling the person or rephrasing that the person is going into role and stuck into the role during play, “Benny, can you tell me where your house is? Is it by the hill top, kampong and etc. If he is putting his effort in ensuring of his setting scene, means that he is putting his concentration on how his house setting is like, we might get him to elaborate more on the scene setting.

If the person wants more than one character, then he will have to say so, depending upon the person capacity, depending where he is at, in development of his storyline.

In Terry case, he just go down and shoot – kill the monster as a result felt much better, come back again next week, shoot kill the bad people, nothing have change – role fixated, just to release his tension. Here the other therapeutic expect has not been cultivated or developed through the dramatic reality through the role repertoire or introduction of different potential theme, in the story line. Here is when you using your role to engine the possibility, when you know what is going on, find out deeper into the situation and his role.

(To be continued)