ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with how we talk with each other in professional relationships and how we think about dialogue and discussion in education and society. It is about managing the voice in the mind and being mindful about the voice we use to communicate our needs and wants in organisations. The meaning that we, as human beings, give to our voice is framed as much by our values and emotional and intellectual insights as by our communicative abilities. This chapter begins by thinking about the physical voice but concludes that voice also has meaning as a metaphor for being listened to as a person. It reflects on the paths taken on a personal professional journey through four decades of group and institutional work illuminated by psychoanalytic thinking. A series of narratives illustrates the nature of the inner and outer voices that build the psychoanalytic concept—an “institution in the mind”.
