Preparation for live consultation and live supervision when working without a one‐way screen

This article focuses upon the preparatory work which two people should undertake when they intend working together with families. Although a particular model of joint work, namely live consultation between peers , without the use of a one-way screen forms the core of the article, the ideas which have been developed in relation to that model apply, with some variations, to all forms of joint work. Some of these variations are considered towards the end of the article.
Many of the ideas here presented arose within a number of workshops which we led on the subjects of Live Consultation and Live Supervision Without One-Way Screens. We are grateful to the participants for their ideas, especially to those of the 1981 York Association of Family Therapy Conference workshop who returned questionnaires about their use of these methods.