Reflective Practice: Writing and Professional Development

`I found Gillie ′s book presented a powerful picture of the process of reflective practice - and how it can integrate the personal and the professional to the long-term benefit of professionals and their clients. I am inspired to try the process for myself, and ready to recommend it to all caring professionals, and anyone whose main job is dealing with people. Reflective practice provides a holistic approach to growth, involving our emotional and aesthetic sides as well as rational thinking, and exploring the consequences of jobs being embedded in organizational and political life′ - Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy

`Reflective practice is one of the most powerful methods for professionals in any field to engage in self-development. It is also a method of transforming the level of collaboration among colleagues. This is a practical in-depth guide. The examples show how useful these methods can be′ - Amazon Review

`Reflecting on what we do is supposed to lead to wisdom, and professionals in a number of different fields have been encouraged to do this for some years. The results for individuals have been mixed - it is easy to go over a difficult incident in your mind without actually finding any new ways forward. Gillie Bolton′s book offers a better way. Written out of the experience of running workshops on reflective writing for a wide variety of professionals, the book offers techniques for turning professional experience into story or even poetry, and in the process coming to terms with the emotional demands of professional practice.

This book is readable, scholarly, and inspiring. It is a book both for professionals in training and for those who are experienced and needing ways in which to cope with the realities of their calling - the shortage of time and resources, the bureaucratic demands, the limits to what they can do for their students, clients or patients′ - Amazon Review

`Gillie Bolton′s workshops in reflective writing are one of the best forms of continuing education that I have experienced.... This book is useful, informative and fun to read′ - British Journal of General Practice

`This excellent book is one to leave in the living room to pick up and dip into when you return, hungry for emotional refreshment, from a day at the office or clinic. And when you feel ready, use it as a guide for setting up a group of your own′ - Family Practice

`This is a life-enhancing book, brimming with confidence and optimism concerning the human capacity for poetic sensitivity, as evidenced in the professional practice of caring.... Altogether, a book which provides not only guidance but inspiration′ - Richard Winter, Professor of Education Anglia Polytechnic University

This book sets out the process of reflective practice, supported by underlying models, principles and theories. The author demonstrates a creative and effective mode of reflective practice, using the illuminative force of explorative writing alongside the in-depth educative facilitation of group work or mentoring; and appropriate focussed research. Together these three processes can enable the busy practitioner to achieve a deep, sensitive and critical examination of practice.

For professionals, writing about practice and then discussing it confidentially with appropriate others, can be an adventure into the heart of practice. It can enable the exploration of thought, feelings and experiences, uncovering layers of meanings. It can open up responses to questions such as ′what did my client feel then?′ ′Why did my colleague react like that?′ or ′why were my students′ assignments so dull ?′ Forgotten memories, which may be affecting daily practice, can surface. Past events cannot be changed, but our feelings about them can be, and practitioners can learn from each others′ experiences.

Based on the author′s work with diverse professional groups, this book presents many examples of writing by practitioners, students and tutors - stories and accounts, examples of tutoring and reflections on the reflective process.

Dr Gillie Bolton is an international authority on writing and author of a long publication list including nine books (one in 4^th Edition), academic papers (many in top ranking journals), as well as professional articles, poetry, and for a lay readership.  She has peer-reviewed for many journals and  has been a long serving editor of an academic and two professional journals.