ABSTRACT
During the Free Response stage members are invited to share their more immediate reactions to the material brought to the group and to explore their intuitive and emotional responses to it. The aim is to reconnect with feelings and bodily sensations and to acknowledge and begin to look at spontaneous thoughts and associations, and also at opinions and snap judgements. The coordination of this activity with the next stage of More Effortful Thinking is at the core of the Intersubjective Model. The Free Response stage offers a space for the expression of curiosity and spontaneity, providing the opportunity to enrich and expand the material which has been brought from the practice setting before the group moves on to give this more deliberate consideration. In this way emotions and creative, more associative thinking can be integrated into reflections on practice, rather than sidestepped or avoided.
