Finding Ways Forward: Social Justice for Counsellors in the Evolution of a Collaborative Practice and Study Group

This chapter recounts the evolution of a peer supervision group as the group strives to find a balance between maintaining homogeneity of practice while being open to divergent voices within its membership. The Narrative Therapy Study Group’s initial mandate was to create a venue for learning and practicing narrative therapy. Informed by narrative’s attention to the politics of voice, members reflected on how issues of social justice are always at play in relationships—the conversations between counselors and clients, but also their own collective conversations, as professionals and part of a group process where some voices might have been privileged over others. As members articulated their learning preferences over time, they re-envisioned the study group’s focus more broadly. It became more receptive to hearing from varying theories and practices, though it remained committed to core values of respect and collaboration that brought members together in the first place. The chapter is a demonstration of how an ethic of social justice plays out among counselors in a collective process of co-creating a study group uniquely suited to the needs of its members.