Fiona Gardner – författare

Thomas Merton wrote to people of all faiths and none; he wrote to people who were searching, and those who were firmly established in religious orders; he wrote to students, peace activists and ‘ordinary’ people who had read about him and were curious. Some are letters of spiritual direction, a sharing of spiritual insights and social concerns, some more personal. In this carefully selected collection, Merton scholar, Fiona Gardner, has focused on extracts that seem to speak to all who are searching. They have been chosen because they offer an opening into something other – to provide a way into both silence and contemplative prayer.

"... the book makes an excellent contributionto the library of those keen to delve further intothe realm of critical reflection, understand variousinterpretations of interdisciplinary practices, anduse these to aid their own and others’ professionalpractice, exploration and development."Learning in Health and Social Care

How can professionals reflect critically on the aspects of their work they take for granted? How can professionals practise with creativity, intelligence and compassion?What current methods and frameworks are available to assist professionals to reflect critically on their practice?The use of critical reflection in professional practice is becoming increasingly popular across the health professions as a way of ensuring ongoing scrutiny and improved concrete practice - skills transferable across a variety of settings in the health, social care and social work fields.

This book showcases current work within the field of critical reflection throughout the world and across disciplines in health and social care as well as analyzing the literature in the field.

Critical Reflection in Health and Social Care reflects the transformative potential of critical reflection and provides practitioners, students, educators and researchers with the key concepts and methods necessary to improve practice through effective critical reflection.

Contributors: Gurid Aga Askeland, Andy Bilson, Fran Crawford, Jan Fook, Lynn Froggett , Sue Frost, Fiona Gardner, Jennifer Lehmann, Marceline Naudi, Bairbre Redmond, Gerhard Reimann, Colin Stuart, Pauline Sung-Chan, Carolyn Taylor, Susan White, Elizabeth Whitmore, Angelina Yuen-Tsang.

How can professionals learn more easily from their own experience?How can critical reflection be performed in a structured way?How can professionals maintain a critically reflective stance when contexts may be restrictive?Critical reflection in professional practice is popular across many different professions as a way of ensuring ongoing scrutiny and improved practice skills. This accessible handbook focuses on a description and analysis of the theoretical input as well as the approach involved in critical reflection. It also demonstrates some skills, strategies and tools which might be used to practise it.

The cross-disciplinary approach taken by the authors will appeal to a wide range of students and professionals and combines neatly with useful discussion of the complex educational and professional issues which arise from the practice of critical reflection.

An innovative website containing a variety of useful resources accompanies the book www.openup.co.uk/fook&gardner. Resources include:

Extracts from workshops, interviews and lectures Additional articles and readings Sample material for workshop preparation Throughout the book, the authors provide pertinent examples from their own practice, referring to relevant literature, providing annotated bibliographies, and noting where additional resource materials are available to provide further illustration.

Practising Critical Reflection is key reading for a variety of students across social work, health sciences and nursing, as well as health care and social welfare professionals.

Blending material from social work with religious and spiritual sources, this book makes explicit that engaging with spirituality in its broadest sense is an essential aspect of socially just social work practice. Gardner connects shared understandings of spiritual/religious traditions, critically reflective social work, First Nations relational world views, green and relational approaches.Through multiple unique case studies, Embedding Spirituality and Religion in Social Work Practice: A Socially Just Approach outlines the theoretical framework of critical spirituality, which is explored as a way of workers’ understanding their own and others’ sense of meaning, whether it is spiritual and/or religious, and to encourage workers to be mindful, open, humble and energised as workers.Combining the theoretical and practical, this book outlines strategies and processes to ensure social workers embed spirituality in their practice constructively and inclusively across all areas of practice. This book will be of interest to those engaged in the wider field of social work, from direct service to policy development.

Blending material from social work with religious and spiritual sources, this book makes explicit that engaging with spirituality in its broadest sense is an essential aspect of socially just social work practice. Gardner connects shared understandings of spiritual/religious traditions, critically reflective social work, First Nations relational world views, green and relational approaches.Through multiple unique case studies, Embedding Spirituality and Religion in Social Work Practice: A Socially Just Approach outlines the theoretical framework of critical spirituality, which is explored as a way of workers’ understanding their own and others’ sense of meaning, whether it is spiritual and/or religious, and to encourage workers to be mindful, open, humble and energised as workers.Combining the theoretical and practical, this book outlines strategies and processes to ensure social workers embed spirituality in their practice constructively and inclusively across all areas of practice. This book will be of interest to those engaged in the wider field of social work, from direct service to policy development.

Self-harm is worryingly common in young women, and is often used as a way of easing emotional suffering. Self-Harm: A Psychotherapeutic Approach explores the issues involved from the perspective of a psychoanalytical psychotherapist. Fiona Gardner examines these issues through extensive clinical material and an analysis of the social and cultural influences behind self-harm. This book will be of interest to all those working with those who are harming themselves, including psychotherapists, school counsellors, social workers and mental health clinicians.

Researching, Reflecting and Writing about Work provides a guide to the research skills and critical thinking required to complete a research project for professional learning courses in counselling and psychotherapy. Written at a level easily accessible to those enrolled on a work-based qualification as well as those considering postgraduate research at master's level, this book includes: how we reflect on our workdiscussion on preparation and structuring of a case studyhow to present work in supervision with advice on process recordingessay plan structures and appropriate methodologies for research ethical considerations and critical linking dilemmas and tensions involved in ‘research at work’. Key learning points and reflective exercises are included throughout and theory is supported by contributions detailing specific learning experiences from a variety of work settings, including the public sector, an organisation, in the community, and as an independent counsellor in a voluntary agency. There is also a section on how to prepare your research for consideration for publication and how to present your findings to colleagues. Researching, Reflecting and Writing about Work will be of interest to all those on counselling courses, or training as psychotherapists, as well as people involved in professional learning linked to the helping professions, including those interested in work-based research linked to therapy in any setting.

Researching, Reflecting and Writing about Work provides a guide to the research skills and critical thinking required to complete a research project for professional learning courses in counselling and psychotherapy. Written at a level easily accessible to those enrolled on a work-based qualification as well as those considering postgraduate research at master's level, this book includes: how we reflect on our workdiscussion on preparation and structuring of a case studyhow to present work in supervision with advice on process recordingessay plan structures and appropriate methodologies for research ethical considerations and critical linking dilemmas and tensions involved in ‘research at work’. Key learning points and reflective exercises are included throughout and theory is supported by contributions detailing specific learning experiences from a variety of work settings, including the public sector, an organisation, in the community, and as an independent counsellor in a voluntary agency. There is also a section on how to prepare your research for consideration for publication and how to present your findings to colleagues. Researching, Reflecting and Writing about Work will be of interest to all those on counselling courses, or training as psychotherapists, as well as people involved in professional learning linked to the helping professions, including those interested in work-based research linked to therapy in any setting.

Critical reflection enables practitioners – especially those within health and social care –to theorise from their own practice, improving and developing their work and practising both creatively and professionally.This book provides an accessible overview of the influential Fook/Gardner Critical Reflection framework for students, researchers and professionals. It then presents a wide range of illustrative case studies from a variety of different health and social care settings, demonstrating how it can be used in effective and innovative practice around the world. By highlighting how professionals are actually using the Fook/Gardner model of critical reflection, it shares practical and resourceful ideas and provides specific theoretical and practical guidelines for use. It also further conceptualises and develops the theory of critical reflection by articulating underlying theory used in practice. The book also draws out particular issues for how critical reflection might be better practised within organisations, and develops a framework for a better understanding of this. The book is divided into four parts, discussing critical reflection in: Professional Practice Supervision and Management Research Education Including an up-to-date overview of the framework written by Jan Fook, this helpful text makes a significant contribution in terms of the practical theorizing of critical reflection. It will be of use to health and social care professionals keen to practice creatively and effectively, especially those undertaking short courses or further development in supervision, critical reflection, advanced practice, and leadership and management.

Critical reflection enables practitioners – especially those within health and social care –to theorise from their own practice, improving and developing their work and practising both creatively and professionally.This book provides an accessible overview of the influential Fook/Gardner Critical Reflection framework for students, researchers and professionals. It then presents a wide range of illustrative case studies from a variety of different health and social care settings, demonstrating how it can be used in effective and innovative practice around the world. By highlighting how professionals are actually using the Fook/Gardner model of critical reflection, it shares practical and resourceful ideas and provides specific theoretical and practical guidelines for use. It also further conceptualises and develops the theory of critical reflection by articulating underlying theory used in practice. The book also draws out particular issues for how critical reflection might be better practised within organisations, and develops a framework for a better understanding of this. The book is divided into four parts, discussing critical reflection in: Professional Practice Supervision and Management Research Education Including an up-to-date overview of the framework written by Jan Fook, this helpful text makes a significant contribution in terms of the practical theorizing of critical reflection. It will be of use to health and social care professionals keen to practice creatively and effectively, especially those undertaking short courses or further development in supervision, critical reflection, advanced practice, and leadership and management.

Many students and practitioners are familiar with critical reflection but struggle to make space for it in their everyday practice. This book provides an accessible and practical introduction not only to doing critical reflection, but to being critically reflective.- It demonstrates how reflective capacity can be developed in different practice contexts and applied productively to supervision, teamwork and interprofessional working. - It outlines the different theoretical underpinnings and methods of critical reflection, exploring the use of visual images, writing techniques and group meetings.- It is rich with engaging case studies and questions for the reader that will help them to make critical reflection an integral part of their everyday practice.This book is an ideal guide to dealing with challenge and change across a range of social and healthcare services, including social work, nursing, youth and community work, counselling and allied healthcare professions.

Critical spirituality is a way of naming a desire to work with what is meaningful in the context of enabling a socially just, diverse and inclusive society. Critical spirituality means seeing people holistically, seeking to understand where they are coming from and what matters to them at a fundamental level; the level that is part of the everyday but also transcends it. What is important in critical spirituality is to combine a postmodern valuing of individual experience of spirituality with all its diversity with a critical perspective that asserts the importance of living harmoniously and respectfully at an individual, family and community level. Human service professionals currently wrestle with the gradually increasing expectation to work with spirituality often without feeling capable of undertaking such practice. Some work with people experiencing major trauma or change such as palliative care or rehabilitation where people ask meaning of life questions to which they feel ill equipped to respond. Others work with individuals, families and communities experiencing conflict about spiritual issues. Increased migration and movement of refugees increases contact with people for whom spirituality is central. Such experiences raise a number of issues for existing professionals as well as students: what do we mean by spiritual? How does this relate to religion? How do we work with the spiritual in ways that recognise and value difference, without accepting abusive relationships? What are the limits to spiritual tolerance, if any? This book explores these issues and addresses the dilemmas and challenges experienced by professionals. It also provides a number of practical tools such as possible questions to ask to assess for spiritual issues; to see spirituality as part of a web of relationships.

Critical spirituality is a way of naming a desire to work with what is meaningful in the context of enabling a socially just, diverse and inclusive society. Critical spirituality means seeing people holistically, seeking to understand where they are coming from and what matters to them at a fundamental level; the level that is part of the everyday but also transcends it. What is important in critical spirituality is to combine a postmodern valuing of individual experience of spirituality with all its diversity with a critical perspective that asserts the importance of living harmoniously and respectfully at an individual, family and community level. Human service professionals currently wrestle with the gradually increasing expectation to work with spirituality often without feeling capable of undertaking such practice. Some work with people experiencing major trauma or change such as palliative care or rehabilitation where people ask meaning of life questions to which they feel ill equipped to respond. Others work with individuals, families and communities experiencing conflict about spiritual issues. Increased migration and movement of refugees increases contact with people for whom spirituality is central. Such experiences raise a number of issues for existing professionals as well as students: what do we mean by spiritual? How does this relate to religion? How do we work with the spiritual in ways that recognise and value difference, without accepting abusive relationships? What are the limits to spiritual tolerance, if any? This book explores these issues and addresses the dilemmas and challenges experienced by professionals. It also provides a number of practical tools such as possible questions to ask to assess for spiritual issues; to see spirituality as part of a web of relationships.

The meaning and mystery of life is ultimately found in personal relationship, sometimes with another and, for those who search, sometimes with God. In Taking Heart the experiences of four people who are spiritually searching and looking for a direct experience of God are explored, and their different journeys through self-doubt to self-acceptance and to the heart of faith are discussed. These four people are neither especially religious nor spiritual, and nor are they famous. They are ordinary people on an extraordinary search for meaning. As with all journeys there is discovery but also an uncovering and a recovering. All heart journeys are an exodus that takes us out of captivity and are also the passion story which is at the heart of the mystery of faith, a journey through the very worst and towards the very best. And, throughout the spiritual journey, God is shaping and forming our inner life in the unknown depths of our heart.