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2025: Volume 9: Issue 1
■ Kristina Urbanc
As Sijtze de Roos announced in the last issue of Anse Journal, I took over the role of chief editor from him in January 2025. The preparation of this issue began during his term, and this has been a transitional period for me and the members of the editorial board, in which we have, I hope, strived to preserve the mission, standards and ethics of Sijtze’s legacy.
This legacy is also evidenced by the recognition he received for his work in April this year, the so-called “lintje” (ribbon, which is a royal reward), also known as the Dutch “lintjesregen” (ribbon rain), in the Netherlands to individuals for their exceptional contribution of volunteer work to society.
Also, Sijtze de Roos has been awarded with the Honorary Membership of ANSE – a heartfelt recognition of his exceptional contributions to our European community of supervision1. It was in this atmosphere that the preparation of this issue took place and we hope you will enjoy reading, thinking, learning, wondering, questioning, reflecting, perhaps even gaining some new ideas.
A topic such as artificial intelligence and its application in the field of supervision, coaching and in the helping professions is above all a “hot topic”, often associated with ambivalent feelings and a division of opinion (“for” and “against”).
Our intention is not to choose sides in this issue, but to exchange experiences and try to prepare as best as possible for the future that is already here. Therefore, I invite you to approach reading this issue from some other perspectives (not only from your own shoes): the perspective of our clients, students, educators, our associates who belong to different generations and the perspective of the general public. And then, observe and listen to what this topic does to you, how it feels in your heart, in your head and how it sits in your stomach, what feelings and thoughts it arouses in you. Could it inspire you to use it in your work as a supervisor or coach? Preparing this issue was challenging for me, both because of the new role I was taking and because of the topic itself, which was awe-inspiring to me. As a university professor in the area of social work, I am aware that every student certainly knows more about it then I do and that they easily apply artificial intelligence tools in almost every written assignment. And then it is up to me to create such learning outcomes and devise ways that will enable future experts to develop and apply their professional competencies in accordance with ethics, law, professional standards and common sense. Whether this is an impossible mission, I do not know, but it is my job not to give up.
A few years ago, I was greatly amazed by the comment of a colleague who described the experience of a therapy session with AI (in which she participated as a client) in superlatives – a brilliantly achieved shared understanding of the topic that she brought to therapy. After that I was so blinded by the awe of AI in a helping and supervisory context that I forgot to consider her needs and perspective as a client in this process. It was so hard for me to stop and look at the world from her shoes and rejoice that she had fulfilled her expectations in her conversation with AI. So, as we know, whenever it is unthinkable for us to step into someone else’s shoes and imagine the world from their perspective – it is time for supervision.
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