What is Reflective Practice and How Might it Help My Team?

Reflective practice is a term we hear about quite a lot in the homelessness sector, it’s a core component of the Psychologically Informed Environments approach, but what it means in each service can differ quite a bit. In this blog we will outline how we understand reflective practice, how we offer spaces for reflection in our partner organisations, and what the benefits are. 

So what is reflective practice?

Reflective practice in its broadest sense refers to a way of practising, which enables staff to have the time to pause and think about their ways of working. This might include thinking more in-depth about the histories of their service users, and how this history might be impacting and influencing them in present day. It might include practising in a way which is mindful of the various experiences and needs of the staff team – the “stuff” we all bring to relationships that we talked about in our last blog. It would also hopefully include regular, ongoing reflection on the service set up. The policies and procedures which influence day to day interactions and how these consider the psychological needs of the service users and staff team. 

Often “reflective practice” is used to refer to the protected time carved out for facilitated reflective discussions. Whilst this is absolutely important, and we’ll talk more about this in a minute, it’s a very narrow definition of reflective practice. Reflective practice exists beyond the facilitated timeslots provided, and is embedded in every interaction, from the individual appointments with service users, to the way your diary is set up and managed. 

What sort of spaces contribute to reflective practice?

Reflective practice sessions can take many forms and are informed by different models of psychology and psychotherapy. They are usually protected time slots, with no interruptions, and they are usually facilitated by an experienced psychologist, psychotherapist, or practitioner. They should be a non-judgemental space where teams feel able to discuss their own emotional reactions to different aspects of the work. 

At Matter South Yorkshire, we offer a few different forms of reflective practice, which are tailored to suit the needs of the partner organisation we are working with. For example, we might offer a service-user focused session, which aims to deeply understand the experience of one service user as described by the members of staff working with them. In this form of reflective space, we would take time to understand the service user’s history, the feelings that this brings up for the staff member(s), and the impact of the work on both sides. We would explore the emotional reactions of the rest of the team and hear about what stood out to them. We wouldn’t necessarily be looking to come up with an action plan, but through the discussion we might hear different perspectives which opens us up to a different way of working or a new approach. 

We might also offer a more “general” reflective space, where staff members can bring themes or difficulties in their work which might relate to multiple service users, their own experiences, or experiences of working within their team, service, or sector. The purpose of these spaces is to explore the emotional responses to all the aspects of their work, to understand where those feelings come from and to provide some validation and support from the rest of their team and the facilitator. Again, we are not necessarily looking for a plan to change practice, but having a better understanding of the emotional needs or experiences of the team can support better team-working and cohesion. 

What are the benefits?

Research into the benefits of reflective practice spans the whole healthcare sector and beyond. In the homelessness sector, Watson et al. (2019) found that staff experienced the “foundation of reflective practice” as helpful, and felt it improved their relationships with their service users. Benson and Brennan (2018) found that staff members felt they were able to go beyond simply “managing behaviour” in their work and developed supportive and restorative relationships. Staff teams have described reflective practice as essential to maintaining their own wellbeing and providing the best possible care for their service users (Phipps et al., 2017). 

Further afield, Dubé and Ducharme (2014) found that nurses engaging in reflective practice developed new skills in critical thinking and introspection and developed their communication skills. Davey et al. (2020) found that nurses who attended more regular reflective practice demonstrated higher tolerance of uncertainty, higher job satisfaction and better group cohesiveness amongst their team. 

If you feel that bringing reflective spaces and reflective practice into your team could be helpful, please contact us to discuss how we could support you.