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Chapter Eight – A Consulting Break - Page 258
taken at the meeting from which Judi was absent, that is to have one try at providing
sandwiches. In the defensive mode he is in on Page 249, he is keen to emphasise a
group perspective rather than an individual one, enlarging the view.
This last point represents a very major move. It carries defensive aspects but it is also an
attempt to reflect on aspects of the experience of running the course as a
countertransferential phenomenon. Judi argues again for the single and unequivocal
interpretation of S and Q’s request as a reflection of their wish to be a part of the
Agency. On Pages 249 and 250, Bill tries to put an alternative view. This is that S and Q
are possibly overwhelmed by 15 their identification with their respective groups, and that
this is more significant in terms of understanding than what Bill calls ‘history’ (that is,
the history of relationships within the agency to which he is not party).
As Page 250 continues, Bill seems to reach symbolically for R, until recently the full-
time Director of the organisation, who since resigning remains involved with the course
and the course group as a staff member. It is as if R has assumed a talismanic quality for
Bill, and Bill has brought him between Judi and himself as a third thing. He is
contrasted by Bill as someone who ‘sort of thinks about the group and sort of containing
it’ (so thinks about containing the group rather than contains it, and rather does so), as
compared to those who do not (think about the group et cetera). I wonder if the
diminution of the statement (by the use of two ‘sort-of’s’) is an attempt to forestall an
expected attack from Judi occasioned by his reaching for R.
Judi moves to ‘They feel a bit lost’, which seems to have the potential to be extremely
polysemic. By this I am referring to the phenomenon by which ‘They’ could mean the
15 (Changing voice to enable a personal account) Initially I mis-typed ‘buy’ for ‘by’ here)