Supervision is included in the training blocks, in the form of reflective group processes. Each participant will be allocated time to share some of their dialogical practice with their supervision group, in processes designed to support the development and learning of dialogical practice.
Participants will be required to share an example of their practice, in the form of video or audio material. The course facilitators will support you in your preparation for these supervision processes.

This component of the training aims to support you to explore your meaningful relationships and invite you to think about your life and tell your story, with the intention of deepening your work as a dialogical practitioner. The family of origin work supports understanding the relationships between significant members of your family, experiences/events in your family, and the meanings given to them. The selfwork supports the development of your identity as an Open Dialogue practitioner, the use of self and reflecting practice, while also fostering connectedness and trust with co-workers/team members. Most of this Family of Origin/Relational Self-Work will be shared within the small supervision groups, although some will be shared with the larger group as part of the coursework component of the training.

Participants will be asked to form a smaller peer group of 3 – 5 members. These groups will be organised at the first meeting  and will be a subset of the Supervision Groups. The peer group has two main purposes:

a) Support: The group is invited to spend time with each other throughout the 5- day blocks to support self-care, collective care, and connection

b) Peer learning/study group: The group work together to meet the study/reading requirements of the course and support each other’s learning.

At the first Block, we request each of the three supervision groups to nominate a Participant Representative who will act as a key link between participants, facilitators, and the Open Dialogue Centre. At any time during the course (including between blocks), participants may share their questions, concerns, or worries with any of the three Participant Representatives.

We ask that all three Participant Representatives make a commitment of one-hour after each of the teaching blocks to meet online with Shubhangi Kaushik from the Open Dialogue Centre to reflect on their experience, provide feedback to assist with planning for future meetings and discuss any issues that may have arisen.

The Open Dialogue Centre and facilitators are committed to open communication and responsiveness to any issues arising.

This course has been designed to integrate each participant’s learning into their everyday life, work practices, and settings. Each participant is required to identify practice opportunities for application of the learning from the course in their workplace or through partnering with other colleagues from their networks. It is expected that each participant will be able to demonstrate 100 practice hours for completion of this course. Open Dialogue Network Meetings are to make up a minimum of 70% of the logged practice hours. There is flexibility around the remaining 30%, with broader applications of dialogical processes and practices being acceptable. If this will present a challenge for you, we invite you to start discussions with your workplace, networks, course trainers and fellow course attendees to create opportunities to meet this requirement of the course.

Each participant is required to log their practice. It is suggested that participants spread the practice across the year to make the most of the practice-based learning. Participants are required to submit their progressive practice logs at the beginning of each block to a facilitator. Participants will also receive an electronic copy of the log template.

For each block of training there will be required reading material, usually 3-4 articles for each block. Readings will be provided one week following each training block, with the intention that the readings are responsive to participants’ learning needs.

You will be expected to read these articles and discuss them in your peer groups, which will meet between the teaching blocks. These peer groups are expected to meet for approximately 7 hours in the time between each of the training blocks, totally 20 peer group study hours over the course. Peer groups will be responsible for organising their own meetings, including deciding on the frequency and length of meetings, and whether to meet in person or online. At the end of each peer group study meeting, the group will complete a brief summary of themes explored from the course readings (Group Meeting Summary template to be supplied.) These records are to be submitted to a facilitator at or before the beginning of each Training Block.

The coursework requirements for this course are two-fold (more detail for each is provided below):
1. Seventeen reflective writing posts (300 – 400 words each) to be completed independently and submitted via the online learning platform Padlet between course blocks.
2. A final project, to be submitted after the final teaching block. There is scope for final projects to be completed in groups.

Seventeen reflective writing posts will be completed independently and submitted online between the training blocks:
• Seven between Blocks 1 & 2;
• Five between Block 2 & 3; and
• Five between Block 3 & 4.

Reflective writing is a form of writing that encourages individuals to explore their thoughts, feelings, and experiences. It involves introspection and critical analysis, often focusing on personal growth, self-awareness, and learning. These reflective posts are not assessed but will be visible for all the trainers and trainees to read and should be personal without being private.

You are encouraged to read and reflect on each other’s posts, creating an ongoing dialogue as part of our learning community.

Each course participant is required to complete a final project, to be submitted after the final Block of the training. As an indication of the size and scope of this project, we estimate that each participant will spend 40 hours working on this project (50% of the total coursework time). There is considerable  flexibility and scope for what you might choose to focus on for your final project, including the format in which it is completed (e.g. you may choose to write an academic essay, or create a resource for your workplace or community, or make a visual record of your own personal journey). Creativity is encouraged but even more so we are hoping that your final projects will be useful resources beyond the training.

We strongly encourage you to begin thinking about your final project right from the start of the training. You will need to gain approval from the trainers for your final project idea – we will spend some time in the second block discussing final project ideas, and dedicated time will be set aside in the third block  for each participant to share their plan for their final project with their supervision groups. You are encouraged to discuss your ideas with your fellow course participants, including your peer group. 

The way in which you submit your final project is open for negotiation but the final date for submission will be set during the first block.

Taking inspiration from Open Dialogue trainings internationally (including Peer-supported Open Dialogue in the UK) and building on the growing peer workforce and the importance of lived experience in mental health systems change in Australia, this training structurally embeds lived experience (both consumer and family/carer) leadership and partnership and addresses these as a theme throughout the training.