Welcome

Hello and welcome, here's a little background information.

I'm an NHS Professional (RMN), qualifying at Keele University in 2002. I am a Solution focused practitioner as well as a Social Media Officer for the UK Association of Solution Focused Practice (UKASFP). I have previously been the National Development Officer for the same Association.

My main passions in life are my family and helping individuals, organisations and communities to engage more effectively with each other using a variety of methods. These include facilitating group sessions, developing communities of interest and developing online communities.

I have experience in designing and developing online communities using web design, social media and social networking tools, for the past 6 years. My work has involved building websites for the NHS, individuals, GP's, Arts companies and social reporters.

You can follow my community related blog here

I also organise and perform in experimental sounds and visual installations and have been running a regular event called the bITjAM. The intention with the bITjAM was to bring together experienced and emerging artists in a non profit collective. The bITjAM has been successful at this aim and continues to grow as a community of practice.

I manage my success in these fields based on the ideas from Solution Focused practice which has 3 simple elements that guides my practice:

* If it works do more of it
* If it doesn't work do something else
* If it isn't broken don't fix it



You can find me on twitter as well as facebook, so just look me up and have a chat about how I could be useful to you or your company!

Workshops

Development of Solution Focused practice in a range of settings using either a workshop approach or a presentational style approach.

Workshops:

Workshops and individual work to help people discover hidden resources and strengths. The work will include creativity and solution focused approaches to allow the person to develop towards a future they design themselves.

Workshops can include improvised music or other artforms to tap into the creative parts we all have but sometimes do not feel we have time to use.

The workshops will include evaluation and progress monitoring to make certain that the sessions are useful to the client group. There will also be a longer term evaluation (usually telephone call) to see that the usefulness has lasted.

Presentational style:

Each session will be developed to suit the needs of the client group, as part of the training sessions the group will have involvement in the session plan to meet their best hopes. The topics can vary depending on the needs of the group, the resources will jointly be provided by myself and the expertise of the group will be discovered and utilised.

My expertise will be in providing a co-constructed session with the client group paying great attention to the preferred outcomes from the individuals attending the session.

The difference between directive and non directive groupwork

Directive groups tend to be recognised by:

Topics set by facilitators
Conversations are directed by the facilitators
Rigid structure
Individuals experiences are reframed to fit the science
Facilitators have agendas to fulfill
Facilitators teach the group the language and concepts used to describe illness
Facilitators seen as the experts
The topics are the vehicle for change
Tasks set by the facilitators
Goals are shaped by the topics
If the individuals feel no benefit then they need to change
Chance events are not discussed in detail
Discussions are based around the topics and the tasks
Facilitators do most of the talking (to discuss the topics)
Facilitators measure the progress with assessment tools
Facilitators focus the group on developing relapse plans
Goal planning is done at the end
The evidence base is external to the group




Non directive, solution focused groups tend to be recognised by:



Topics are chosen by the individuals
The individuals are seen as experts into what works
Conversations are directed by the answers given by the individuals
Flexible in structure
Individuals experiences are 'reframed' to elicit resources
Facilitators use "empty mind" and mindful practice
Facilitators learn the customers' language
The concrete actions set by the customer are the vehicle for change
Goal planning is done at the beginning and constantly reviewed
The individuals focus on their own goals throughout
Tasks are set by the individuals
If the individual feels no benefit then the facilitators need to change
Chance events are used as important learning occasions
The sessions are based on creating small steps towards goals
Looking at exception times and using exceptions as inherent resources
Individuals measure their own progress with the scale
Individuals focus on maintaining the solutions
The evidence base is constructed from the individuals experiences