Journal of Systemic Therapies, Vol. 38, No. 1, 2019, pp. 44–60 44 The authors share equal responsibility for the ideas expressed in this article. Address correspondence to Jana P. Sutton, PhD, Interim Director, School of Allied Health, 700 University Ave., University of Louisiana – Monroe, Monroe, LA 71209. E-mail: sutton@ulm.edu © 2019 JST Institute LLC TRAINING THERAPISTS IN SYSTEM LOGIC AND PRACTICE JANA P. SUTTON University of Louisiana at Monroe BETHANY SIMMONS California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California NICHELLE MASON HAMMIEL Inova Health System, Falls Church, Virginia WENDEL A. RAY University of Louisiana at Monroe The Communication/Interaction/Cybernetic framework revolutionized how human interactions can be understood, especially in regard to “mental illness.” This article offers a case example of how to elicit systemic thinking in the train- ing of therapists. Process is emphasized over content as the authors explain and model their training method through isomorphic conversational sequences. Keywords: communication, interaction, cybernetic, supervision In the 60 years since Gregory Bateson and his research team set forth the commu- nication/interaction/cybernetic paradigm in the 1950s (Bateson, Jackson, Haley, & Weakland, 1956/2005, 1962/2005; Jackson, 1959/2009), numerous models of relationship oriented therapy have been set forth. Currently in the behavioral sci- ences, great emphasis is placed on efficacy-based and outcome-driven modalities. As systemically oriented therapists and teachers, it has been our experience that the proliferation of models that has developed and the emphasis within professional mental health accrediting entities on teaching a wide range of models obscures certain profound differences from the primarily individual, disease/illness orien- tation that continues to dominate models of clinical practice in western culture. Central to the communication/interactional/contextual focused models of systemic therapy, symptoms of an individual are viewed as occurring within sequences of