Fancy trying something new and different for your CPD in 2024?
Or maybe you loved it so much that you are returning?
Are you a veterinary team member wanting to;
- Find more meaning and reward in your veterinary work
- Make sense of, and learn from difficult experiences
- Discover better, more sustainable ways to manage the challenges
- Be supported by your peers – people who understand your world
- Find out what the research is saying about veterinary well-being
- Be a positive influence in your workplace and the veterinary world
Why don’t you join a Reflective Practice group?
A Reflective Practice Group is a professional development group which provides a safe place to reflect on your work within the veterinary industry.
Our Share and Care reflective practice groups meet on-line once a month from February to November for 90 minutes. Each group is small with a maximum of 10 participants.
The conversation in Share and Care groups centres on the life skills (or non-technical competencies) that allow us to make good use of our technical skills and knowledge.
We have an interactive conversation whose focus is decided by the group. Some of the topics we might talk about are;
- Creating and maintaining boundaries
- Growing your self-confidence
- Leaving work at work
- Debriefing challenging interactions and situations – yourself or in a Balint style
- The importance of mattering
- The latest research around resilience
- Being assertive
You are invited to consider the views, experiences and research presented rather than being told what to do.
The discussion is facilitated by Cathy Warburton – an experienced veterinarian and accredited Balint group leader.
That sounds interesting. Are they new?
Yes and no. Make Headway have been successfully running groups of this type for the past 6 years. Peer discussion and supervision groups are common in many health-care professions and countries around the world. They have also been written about in the veterinary industry (Blum 2018, Moir and Van Den Brink 2019).
What about Balint work? I have heard that Make Headway does that.
You heard right! Balint group work is a form of reflective practice where we talk about the cases and interactions that trouble you, which come into your mind uninvited – maybe swirling around and causing stress and distress. You may have one sitting with you right now – a particular death or conversation or perhaps a complaint? Talking about these in a safe and non-judgmental place allows us to make sense of what happened and to be able to move forwards.
Cathy has been excited about Balint work for a few years now and worked with the Balint Society to become an accredited leader. Cathy is one of only two veterinarians world-wide (to the best of our knowledge) that is/has trained in Balint group facilitation – the other being in the US.
Want to find out more? Cathy collaborated with Renske van Den Brink in 2020 to write an article on the whys and wherefores of Balint group work in the veterinary world. Click here to read it.
Whilst Cathy is excited about the benefits of Balint work for our profession, it has been hard to establish an on-going group. If you would like to organise one for your workplace, or with up to 10 colleagues, please get in touch.
Register for a group in 2024
Have questions and want to find out more before you register? Please get in touch.
The importance of reflective practice to our learning and our development is being more widely recognised. An annual membership to Share and Care is a fantastic use of your CPD hours and dollars.
Make Headway facilitators also work with new graduate and mentor groups within veterinary corporates and practice groups. If you are interested in setting up a group for your workplace, please get in touch to find out more.
That sounds interesting. Are they new?
Yes and no. Make Headway have been successfully running groups of this type for the past 4 years. Peer discussion and supervision groups are common in many health-care professions and countries around the world. They have also been written about in the veterinary industry (Blum 2018, Moir and Van Den Brink 2019).
What about Balint work? I have heard that Make Headway does that.
You heard right! Balint group work is a form of reflective practice where we talk about the cases and interactions that trouble you, which come into your mind uninvited – maybe swirling around and causing stress and distress. You may have one sitting with you right now – a particular death or conversation or perhaps a complaint? Talking about these in a safe and non-judgmental place allows us to make sense of what happened and to be able to move forwards.
Cathy has been excited about Balint work for a few years now and worked with the Balint Society to become an accredited leader. Cathy is one of only two veterinarians world-wide (to the best of our knowledge) that is/has trained in Balint group facilitation – the other being in the US.
Want to find out more? Cathy collaborated with Renske van Den Brink in 2020 to write an article on the whys and wherefores of Balint group work in the veterinary world. Click here to read it.
Whilst Cathy is excited about the benefits of Balint work for our profession, it has been hard to establish an on-going group. If you would like to organise one for your workplace, or with up to 10 colleagues, please get in touch.