[Skip to Content]
The Value of Reflective Practice

The Value of Reflective Practice

The Value of Reflective Practice

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Mike Wright from Cyrenians attended the Tackling Multiple Disadvantage: 2nd National Summit and shares some of his learning on the value of reflective practice.

The Tackling Multiple Disadvantage: 2nd National Summit in May 2017 focused on people facing multiple disadvantage because they have been pushed to the extreme margins of UK society. The issues surrounding homelessness, substance misuse, mental health, violence, contact with the Criminal Justice System, domestic abuse and extreme poverty often go unrecognised by services and systems mostly designed to deal with one issue at a time.

The Summit brought together a network of people with lived experience, service providers, commissioners, policy makers and researchers; each with different skills and expertise and all committed to achieving change.

Mike attended a workshop, facilitated by a Consultant Psychotherapist, on working with trauma, and the place of reflective practice for an organisation to work effectively when supporting individuals with lived experience of multiple disadvantage. The workshop explored the difficulties of providing services to vulnerable clients, in challenging times of austerity and limited, and reducing, resources.

Increasing pressure was being placed on frontline staff, faced with both the distressing situations experienced by the clients they work with, and the inadequate response from health and welfare benefit systems.

Clients who had experienced inconsistent caregiving or trauma in their early lives may find it difficult to be cared for, and may drop in and out of services, replicating what they experienced as children, as it is too painful for them to remain in the same place for too long.

Clients experience additional exclusion due to current economic and social policy and the pressure on frontline staff has, correspondingly, increased. Problems are compounded as there are fewer services to access, and services have longer waiting lists and more specific, and limited, remits.

Frontline staff are caught between the increasingly complex and diverse needs of their clients, and the pressure of austerity, which means fewer services, and more needing to be delivered for less. Without an opportunity to unpack and unload one's day-to-day experiences and emotions, the pressure can be overwhelming.

Cyrenians have developed a reflective practice culture, which promotes networks and relationships, putting them at the heart of all they do. They continuously reflect on their learning, practice and experiences to shape and improve services, as well as offer support and processing space for their frontline staff, many of whom are working with some of the most marginalised clients.

This model of reflective practice helps equip frontline staff with the right tools to best look after themselves and their clients.

News and Views

collapse/expand
  • Brain Injury Guidance

    Brain Injury Guidance

    Leigh Andrews of Change Communication offered specialist advice on brain injuries and homelessness through a digital...
  • End Furniture Poverty Survey

    End Furniture Poverty Survey

    End Furniture Poverty have recently spoken with the Frontline Network to discuss their important ongoing survey, seek...
  • Cover the Cost Campaign

    Cover the Cost Campaign

    Jasmine Basran, Senior Policy Officer at Crisis, talks to us about the Cover the Cost Campaign, asking the Government...
  • VRF Impact Report 2018/19

    VRF Impact Report 2018/19

    Over the past year we have given out 3827 grants totaling £1,156,805 through the VRF. Read the latest Impact Report t...
  • Influence from the Frontline

    Influence from the Frontline

    Frontline workers are crucial at giving insight into the viewpoints of the people they work with as well as the chall...
  • The Vagrancy Act

    The Vagrancy Act

    Crisis, along with others including Homeless Link, Cymorth Cymru, Centrepoint, St Mungo’s, Shelter Cymru and the Wall...
  • Influencing local decisions

    Influencing local decisions

    Zoe, Frontline Network Coordinator at Coventry Citizens Advice, talks to us about the Coventry Frontline Network and...
  • The Litigant in Person Network

    The Litigant in Person Network

    Martha de la Roche, Network Development Manager at Litigant in Person Network (LiP Network), tells us about The LiP N...
  • VRF Impact Report

    VRF Impact Report

    Find out what impact VRF had last year and how to get involved in shaping its direction in the coming year.
  • Housing First Scotland

    Housing First Scotland

    Please see here for the first issue of Housing First Connect - a twice-yearly newsletter for Scotland’s new Housing F...
  • Slaying the Dragon

    Slaying the Dragon

    Will Golding, Edinburgh Tutor at Crisis, talks to us about 'Slaying the Dragon'.
  • CPAG - Early Warning System

    CPAG - Early Warning System

    Dan Norris, from CPAG, talks to us about a new Early Warning System to record the impact of benefit changes implement...
  • The Hostile Environment

    The Hostile Environment

    Bethan Lant, a Project lead from Praxis, writes about the creation of a hostile environment for migrants and refugees.
  • Wrexham’s Crisis Cafe

    Wrexham’s Crisis Cafe

    Sinead Kelleher writes about Wrexham's Crisis Cafe, a multi-agency response to Universal Credit.
  • Frontline Worker Survey

    Frontline Worker Survey

    We are asking frontline workers to participate in a survey, aimed at those working with clients who are experiencing...
  • A map through conflict

    A map through conflict

    A Cyrenians Mediator writes about their innovative Amber Mediation and Support Project, a model of mediation and supp...
  • “A place to call home"

    “A place to call home"

    Hannah Gousy was seconded from Crisis to the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) to help design policy recommendations to...
  • A London Nightshelter

    A London Nightshelter

    On 7 November we opened our church-based shelters for the winter with more churches signed on then ever before. Glass...
  • 'Step Up' at The Connection

    'Step Up' at The Connection

    Wyn Newman introduces the volunteer programme 'Step Up' that has been developed at The Connection for service users.