Abstract

In the spring of 2019, I was referred to Touski, a co-op in Montreal, who had been experiencing debilitating conflict in their organization, and was unable to get to the bottom of it. Our work together became my AHSC 698 Senior Project. What follows is a series of reflections on my experiences with the client system, inspired and informed by theories from the field. Another consultant might have responded differently to the issues faced by this organization. While I drew on well-proven practices I knew, and others I came to know for the first time, I now believe that what I was doing was working intuitively with the group, and their challenges (Lipson Lawrence, 2012). I listened deeply, and unremittingly, throughout the process, with all my senses (Holman, 2010), and I exercised a kind of vigilance to the quality of presence I brought to each of my interactions with the client. I did not realize it at the time, but what I was practicing, and heavily relying upon, was my self as instrument.