Containment — light in the dark

At the height of the pandemic Laurence Barrett held a weekly reflective space providing an opportunity for individuals to come together and reflect on their lived experience of the pandemic as it unfolded. The space remained open for as long as individuals showed up and so it was as things improved attendance dwindled.

Some months later, in a final session to reflect on the experience, individuals spoke evocatively on the importance of these sessions to maintaining their own sense of wellbeing. As this conversation developed I found myself doodling a dark forest punctuated with small camp-fires that seemed to offer temporary respite from the darkness that surrounded them.

I was reminded of Bion’s seminal paper “Container Contained” (1962) and wondered whether these sessions and the camp-fire metaphor pointed to the important role that this process had played. I wondered too how the regular rhythm, simple framing and evolving conversation, which were features of these sessions, provided some important lessons for us all in a world that at times felt unfathomable.

Fast forward two years, when it could be argued we continue to face into equally unfathomable times. It seems important to ask where are our containing spaces now?

I recently read Cooper and Dartington’s paper entitled “The Vanishing organisation” (2004) which provocatively suggests that over the course of the last 50 years we have witnessed the demise of formal organisational structures. Further more over this period an increasing shift away from religion and the emerging narrative about the primacy of the individual. Miller argues that this shift to dependence on ourselves has been driven by a sense of “failed dependence” (1999 p.103) in institutions that have historically provided for our collective need forbelonging.

The challenge with this individualist narrative is that it fails to take account of the relational nature of containment. In other words, being in relationship with others, is fundamental to our sense of well-being.

This leads me to wonder how in the darkness of current times we may find or create fires around which we might gather? This seems an important question for all of us individually, but perhaps more so for any organisation large or small at a time when we are becoming increasing fragmented.

References:

Bion, W. (1962) “Container contained”, Learning from Experience, London: Heinemann, 127–133

Cooper, A. Dartington, T. (2004) “The vanishing organisation: organisational containment in a networked world”, Halton, W. Hoyle, L. Pooley, J. Armstrong, D. Huffington, C. (eds) Working below the surface. The emotional life of contemporary organisations, London: Karnac, pp.127–156

Miller, E.J. (1999) “Dependency, alienation or partnership? The changing relatedness of the individual to the enterprise”, French, R. Vince, R. (eds) Group relations, management, and organisation, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 98–111