ETHICS AND REFLECTING PROCESSES: A SYSTEMIC PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This paper begins with the premise that the therapeutic space occupied by social work straddles both systemic and psychodynamic perspectives and therefore that social work has been ill‐served by the traditional oppositionality between the two orientations. The systemic perspective on reflecting teams and processes is the primary focus and this is discussed in terms of intersections with themes in social work and psychoanalysis, in particular the psychoanalytic concept of reflective functioning. It is suggested that both perspectives — reflecting processes and reflective functioning — point towards the increasing democratisation of the therapeutic process in ways that bring it much more into line with key concerns and challenges in social work, particularly around therapeutic engagement of clients with more severe levels of psychological difficulty.

Keywords:

• ethics
• reflective team
• systems
• psychoanalytic psychotherapy
• social work
• democracy
• therapeutic engagement

Notes

1. See Donovan (2003b) for additional discussion of this clinical material from a systemic perspective.