Meet Dr Leonie White

Are you curious about the Phoenix teaching team? Then welcome to the eigth of the Teaching Team Introduction series of blogs to introduce Leonie and the Phoenix Family Therapy Teaching Team Associates and Guest Teaching Associates.

Relationships are at the heart of family therapy and systemic practice and start with introductions.  It’s important that at Phoenix we practice what we teach and embrace the relational principles that we espouse. So let’s keep going with getting to know the team in this blog series.

From Leonie:

How did your interest in family therapy and systemic practice get sparked?

About 20 years ago, when I started working in a Child and Youth Mental Health Service (CYMHS), there was a Family Therapy team, and little did I know it at first, but that team changed the course of my career.  I didn’t know too much about Family Therapy at the time, but I’d done a literature review to see what the evidence-based intervention was for a client with Anorexia, and Family Therapy popped up.  I ended up referring my client to the Family Therapy team and saw some amazing progress.  This sparked my curiosity, and I became really interested in Family Therapy as a way of working and started down the pathway to become a systemic psychotherapist.

Actually, when I think about starting down the pathway, it was more like reconnecting with my roots (in Organisational Psychology), rather than a whole new pathway.  When I had decided to do my PhD I felt really torn between Clinical Psychology and Organisational Psychology because I loved understanding people, and also I was naturally drawn to understanding people in the different ‘systems’ of their life, understanding group processes, and the possibility of helping more people by helping systems to do well.

In systemic practice, I love the idea that I can consider the individual and also think and work in a holistic way that considers multiple layers and systems.

What frameworks are you drawn to and why? And which figures in family therapy have been your biggest influences?

When I first started to study Family Therapy, I had the great fortune to have teachers and mentors who were grounded in Systems Theory, and promoted the importance of being a systemic thinker regardless of how many people are “in the room” or what your role is.  And so, from the very beginning, my biggest influence was systems thinking.  I think this might be the basis of my connection to manoeuvrability and integrative practice because systems thinking means you can always take the helicopter back up when you are stuck and land it somewhere else … for another piece of work.  The person who was my biggest influence in systems thinking early on was my mentor Christine Hunt.

I will say though that my biggest influences early on, following systems thinking came from narrative therapy because at the same time I discovered family therapy, another mentor introduced me to Michael White’s work, and we attended training with him together.  And then following this, the work of Paolo Bertrando and Roger Lowe, as Paolo and Roger were teaching at the University of Queensland, where I was doing some training, and whose books we were required to read at the time really spoke to me:

Paolo’s books were:

Systemic Therapy with Individuals (co-authored with Luigi Boscolo)

And The Dialogical Therapist: Dialogue in Systemic Practice 

I still remember how exciting it was to understand systemic work with individuals as different from traditional approaches to working with individuals, and the power of dialogical hypothesizing, especially when feeling stuck, at an impasse or, in a relationship rupture.

And Roger’s book was:

Family Therapy: A Constructive Framework

I still consistently hold in mind Roger’s ideas about “travelling light”, “hosting”, and Solution Focused Brief Therapy as minimalist and versatile (e.g., supervision as well as counselling).

Following my training at UQ, I was able to do some professional development with Monica McGoldrick who has also been very influential in my thinking and my work with individuals, couples, families, and broader systems, as well as for myself as a person and professional.

Since then, I’ve become very interested in and influenced by the work of Virginia Satir, and the recent work from Maggie Carrie and Marie-Nathalie Beaudoin and others who are bringing in ideas from neuroscience and understanding of emotions to social constructionist work.

At the moment, I find myself circling back to the work of Gregory Bateson, especially in the context of thinking ecosystemically.

How has systemic thinking and practice influenced your work?

Working systemically has had some major benefits for me – and ultimately the people I work with, which is what it’s all about.  The biggest benefit I think is the manoeuvrability that comes from seeing the big picture…or as we say in Family Therapy, “taking the helicopter view”.  What this means for me when I’m working with someone is that if I can think about relationships, all the layers of context of a person’s life and how they make meaning I’ve got more to work with, or more options and manoeuvrability to decide where might be most helpful to “land the helicopter”.  This is soooo helpful when I’m feeling stuck because I’ve got options for what else I might consider or do to be helpful. 

This has a benefit for me too – I’m convinced that one of the things that’s helped me feel sustained in my practice is having a sense that there are options – It gives me a real sense of possibility, hope and confidence in what I am doing.    

Why have you chosen to go into a teaching/supervising/mentoring role in this field?

For me this goes back to my early days choosing my PhD – I’ve always wanted to help and create a positive difference in the world on a big scale.  I even dreamed of running off to work for the UN when I was doing my PhD!  What drew me to Organisational Psychology initially was thinking I could work with groups and make a bigger difference by reaching more people.  In teaching, supervision and mentoring I love that I get the opportunity to not just help and support other helping professionals on their journeys – because we all deserve help and support, but in doing so I get the chance to have a broader impact in the world.  By sharing ideas about systemic practice and supporting other professionals, in a sense I am reaching more people through others than I could on my own.  I also really enjoy supporting other professionals as they grow in their own way on their own individual journey – it’s a privilege.

If you could give one piece of advice to our program participants starting the 2-year accredited training program, the Advanced Certificate in Systemic Family Therapy and Practice, what would it be?

Never forget who you are, where you come from, and what you already know, and take time to think about what type of helping professional you want to become – what your values are and how you want to work.  Hold on to this as you move through the Program and start to incorporate more and more Systemic Practice into your work – do this in a way that fits with your unique journey.

What is something you love to do when you aren’t working?

I love spending time with my family, staying active, connecting to nature, and reading.  So, if you can’t find me with family, you will most likely find me curled up with a coffee and a good book or in the garden playing with my pets.  I also love dancing, something I’ve done since I was a small child, and at the moment, the style of dance I do is ADPA.  I love dancing – it feels like the ultimate mindfulness activity because I have to be so switched on and connected to my body to learn and perform the work.  And I love being a part of a dance class – there’s something special about being in a room full of people with a shared love for what you are doing. 

Dr Leonie White

Clinical Family Therapist & Psychologist

Director & Teaching Team Member Phoenix Family Therapy Academy

Please note that this article is educational in nature and does not constitute professional or therapeutic advice or suggestion.