Footprints in a Toxic Landscape: Reflexivity and Validation in the Free Association Narrative Interview (FANI) Method

Abstract

This article discusses the emotional intensity of reflexive supervision of a reflexive method, Free Association Narrative Interview (FANI), and the necessity of that intensity for insightful analysis of interview data. Two supervisors were involved in the work of validating interpretations in interviews with domestically abusive men. The different ways they chose to engage the material was partly their reaction to the toxicity of the material, and partly their own personal positions at multiple levels of engagement (i.e., personal and professional). This article demonstrates the necessity to have an honest inventory of one's emotional skills, the supervisor's skills, and the nature of the relationship between supervisor and supervisee. The article concludes with how painfully those relationships may be stretched when working with such toxic material and the necessity to maintain a complex set of boundaries, all in the service of analytic integrity.