ABSTRACT
When differences in “race” and colour exist within the triad of supervisor, supervisee, and patient, then an additional layer enters the relationship. Power differentials will exist especially when the supervision is set within a training whereby the supervisor’s view will have a substantial effect on supervisee’s career. The experience within supervision was bruising and may well have meant an able psychotherapist turning away from the profession. While racism as a form of social categorization needs to be understood within a socio-political frame, given its tenacity within the individual psyche there is validity in applying a psychoanalytic lens to the phenomenon. While extreme forms of overt racism may be abhorred by the liberal white individual, the internal racist will express itself in more covert and subtle ways. When someone white is supervising someone black, the latter is likely to far more aware of issues relating to being at the margins and thus be more “knowing” regarding issues of “race” and racism.
