Group Info

The work discussion group (WDG) is a model of reflective practice: developed over the last 50 years at the Tavistock (Canlan 2000). It was initially developed for use within clinical trainings, such as child and adolescent psychotherapy, and gradually evolved into a model successfully used in other applied settings. (Canlan, 2000). It has been cited by the Department for Education and Skills as a ‘model of good practice’ (DfES/DH 2006).

The WDG offers;

•          An appreciation of the importance of relationships both in the work and in the self when providing therapeutically informed services for clients (children, young people, adults, families or couples) and also for those who care for them

•          A recognition of the emotional labour of care and the conditions required to enable staff to remain engaged, compassionate and active in the best interests of those in their care

•          A reflective connection to research evidence and a commitment to creating knowledge through practice based evidence.

•          An awareness that processes in the group can often reflect dynamics in the presented material.

•          The appreciation that adult learning relies on containment and competent facilitation to prevent overwhelming anxieties often associated with training and education and the consequent ‘not knowing’ as well as attacks on thinking which are often as a result of exposure to clients/patients with highly disturbing presentations.

•          The seminal importance is of providing and enabling safe and reflective space to explore direct practice. Done through presenting live and lively case material it links theory and practice in a recursive way. This model is a prominent feature of the Tavistock’s clinical and training approach; based on innovative and contemporary yet long-standing methodology, its structure, and facilitation have a well-developed and researched theoretical basis (Rustin & Bradley 2008).

Outcomes

The evidence from feedback suggests that the WDG model can help staff to:

•          develop professional skills, confidence and job satisfaction

•          deepen understanding of the impact of the client group on staff, and vice versa

•          utilise professional emotional experience, as evidence for awareness of the effects of clients on one’s own role and that of others, as well as informing the basis for therapeutic interventions

•          develop capacity to manage disturbing relationships

•          better understand some of the difficulties of interdisciplinary and interagency work

•          reduce work related stress, insecurity and absence

•          promote a sense of validation, being understood

•          promote development of reflective practice within the wider culture of the organisation