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College of Pastoral Supervision And Psychotherapy- The Tavistock Group

CPSP Plenary 2009

“Tavistock” is the label commonly given to a particular type of group seminar that follows the tradition of Wilfred Bion and his colleagues who were geographically based in a section of London called Tavistock.

The basic premise of the Tavistock approach to group work is that ownership of the group belongs to the membership, and that the consultant(s) will take a posture “outside the group” and will make consultative contributions to the group as a whole, not to particular individuals. A consultant in the Tavistock model does not take a leadership role in the specific work of a Tavistock group, but does provide consultation as well as protecting the boundaries of the group with regard to time and space. A Tavistock group relations seminar has the character of a laboratory in that a specific time and place is set apart to do a specific kind of disciplined task.

The traditional Tavistock group (so-called) is the closest thing to a sacrament that the Plenary has---an action symbolizing things that are complex and difficult to fully define.
It is a combination free-for-all, Quaker meeting and psychoanalytic couch.

In the CPSP Tavistock group no hierarchy exists. There is a center, middle and fringe. Any voice may be heard, and all voices are subject to interpretation, analysis, or rebuttal, but no voice should be quashed.

If no words are spoken in Tavistock we should not consider that to be a failure. We should simply contemplate the meaning of the silence.

The non-hierarchical structure of Tavistock well symbolizes the CPSP community.

We hope that the willingness to dare to do creative work in the Tavistock group will also reflect the commitment of the CPSP community.

No subject is out of bounds in the Tavistock meeting.

CPSP: “Promoting competency and accountability in the clinical pastoral tradition”

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