Vital spaces for AP & SEMH staff

Build staff wellbeing, trust and understanding through professionally facilitated reflective discussion

Working in AP and SEMH settings is emotional labour. The complexity of young people's needs and their position in society is often carried by staff, and reflective practice groups provide a valuable opportunity for this to be explored in a supportive environment. Through carefully facilitated discussion, participants build a deeper sense of self, resilience and belonging, and establish their place in a community of supportive peers. We provide vital spaces in which staff can think about and reflect on their experience of work.

This is real team-building!

The safety of the group is key, enabling it to tolerate discussions that are often avoided because they are difficult, but which are an important part of growth and development. The aim is to help the group to think together about the difficult work they have to do; to learn about one another's perspectives and concerns; to share hopes, thoughts and desires; to build trust, momentum and a sense of togetherness; and to stay focused on the task of caring for the vulnerable young people who depend on them.

  • Nell Nicholson

    Nell Nicholson is an organisational consultant and is the specialist service manager in the Integrated Schools Service at the Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust. She led Gloucester House, a highly specialist children's day unit and outreach service for 17 years following prior roles in PRUs and mainstream schools as well as other children's services. Qualified in systemic theory, leadership and consultancy, she offers specialist support for teams and leaders based on reflective practice and trauma-informed approaches.

  • Ben Gibbs

    Ben Gibbs is a Tavistock-trained consultant and group facilitator and an accredited analytic-network coach. He is also trained in the use of systemic constellations for organisational consultancy and group coaching. Alongside these reflective practice groups, he provides consultancy, coaching and training to school leaders, and has been leading the IntegratED research project with the Relationships Foundation, exploring the importance of relationships in successful alternative provision.

We offer:

60 minute groups - held monthly and largely unstructured to enable issues to arise for discussion, development and reflection

90 minute groups - held half-termly and more structured with a facilitated activity, reading or work discussion, and possibly work between sessions

... but we are flexible! We will agree a programme after a discussion about the needs of the group.

A reflective practice group programme usually lasts between 6 months and a year and is co-designed with you during a free consultation session, ideally with the group. Fees depend on the programme's shape, duration and facilitation design.

The model we use in our reflective practice and work discussion groups emerged from the group relations and organisational consultancy work at the Tavistock in London, and has been applied successfully in school settings over a number of years. Its efficacy as an intervention for the support of wellbeing, performance and development in school staff is documented in a number of academic books - including Work Discussion by Rustin & Bradley and Sustaining Depth & Meaning in School Leadership by Jackson & Berkeley - and a range of papers, including: 

  • Ellis, G. & Wolfe, V. (2019) ‘Facilitating Work Discussion Groups with Staff in Complex Educational Provisions’. Available online: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0f09/824ec0a13c980a8242b61d566f55668621b7.pdf

  • Jackson, E. (2002) ‘Mental health in schools: what about the staff? Thinking about the impact of work discussion groups for staff in school settings’. Journal of Child Psychotherapy 28 (2) pp.129-146.

  • McLoughlin, C. (2010) ‘Concentric circles of containment: A psychodynamic contribution to working in pupil referral units’. Journal of Child Psychotherapy 36 pp.225-239.

 The importance and efficacy of these ‘supportive structures’ is also noted in the review of literature about the importance of relational interventions in effective alternative provision (esp. p39-45).