Why Is Reflective Practice Important?
Do you work in a caring profession looking after and managing the needs of vulnerable, high-need clients daily (adults or children/YPs)? Perhaps you manage a staff team that is under constant pressure to deliver an excellent service with limited resources? Do you know that regular reflective practice sessions can not only support you or your staff to do your/their best work but also avoid burnout and blocked care?
A Multi-Level Approach
I take a multi-level approach to working with staff teams or individuals, meaning that reflective practice sessions include:
- reflecting on their role and relationship to the adults/children in their care
- focusing on the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of the children/adults in their care
- taking into account how past and current life experiences may impact on the beliefs and behaviours of the adults/children in their care
- sharing information about and building on staff skills and knowledge of anxiety, grief, attachment, trauma, etc
- where relevant, identifying trauma informed practical strategies that can be implemented individually (and where appropriate, across the team) to support the development of healthier coping mechanisms in the people they work with
- helping staff understand blocked care and what self-care really looks like
- thinking about the influence of cultural and organisational issues on their work
Why Me?
I have many years’ experience of supporting and mentoring staff in residential children’s home, and health and education settings. I count developmental trauma, adoption, attachment and child-parent relationships, anxiety and emotional dysregulation, and neurodivergence particularly autism and especially when it is comorbid with trauma amongst my specialities.
Trauma Informed
My approach is trauma informed; I understand how trauma impacts the body-mind connection of the person with the trauma history but also their relationships with others. And I know that it is vital that people working with these clients and service users are willing and able to develop their self-awareness of their own blind spots and triggers, as well as the capacity to respond in the moment to the inner needs of the traumatised person when their behaviours may be disruptive and/or defensive.
Next Steps
If this is the kind of support you are seeking either for yourself or your team, please contact me to discuss your needs.
For more information about my individual body-mindfulness work with clients, please go to: Individual Therapy.
For more information about who I am and what makes me tick, go to About Me.