Developing Relationship-Centred Practice

How the Diamond Model can help you place relationships at the heart of your practice

This course is for you if ...

Do you want to build meaningful and authentic relationships that foster well-being, learning, empowerment, and social inclusion? Our course will help you learn and apply the Diamond Model, a powerful concept in social pedagogy that visualises the potential and richness of every human being. In this course, you will learn:

  • How to express your values and ethics in your interactions with others
  • How to develop authentic relationships that support social inclusion and meaningful belonging
  • How to support people’s well-being and happiness through holistic and strength-based practice
  • How to facilitate learning opportunities that enhance resilience and empowerment
  • How to create positive experiences in the everyday that enable independence and inter-dependence

Our next cohort starts in November 2024

Find out more below or click the button to book your place on our next cohort.

 

Join our popular course to learn how meaningful relationships can transform practice

‘I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’ Maya Angelou

Discovering diamonds

The Diamond Model is one of the most powerful concepts in social pedagogy, a values-led approach to relationship-centred practice that aims to support people to flourish and feel socially included. The metaphor of the diamond visualises its central underpinning principle: As human beings, we are all precious and possess a wealth of skills, abilities, talents, knowledge and other resources that make us rich in very unique ways. There is a diamond within everyone of us. Not all diamonds are polished and sparkly, but all have the potential to be. Similarly, every person has the potential to shine – and relationship-centred is about how we can support people to uncover and recognise their potential, to draw out their inner richness. It’s about how we make them feel: treated with kindness and respect for who they are, connected with their inner resources, and empowered to create meaningful change in their lives.

Course Content

ThemPra's Diamond Model
Our experiential online course Developing Relationship-Centred Practice explores the ethics of relationships and how social pedagogical concepts can enable you to put meaningful and authentic relationships at the heart of your practice. Over the six course sessions, we will introduce you to the Diamond Model and its focus on enhancing well-being, learning, relationships and empowerment in supporting individuals, teams and the wider community. We’ll explore with you a range of relevant concepts designed to help you develop relational approaches in your practice and to navigate complexity and challenging environments, such as social work and social care settings. The sessions broadly follow the below format:

 

Session 1 – Introduction to the Diamond Model and Haltung: This session introduces you to the fundamental values of social pedagogy and how we express these in our interactions to build meaningful relationships

Session 2 – Authentic Relationships: This session explores how we can develop authentic relationships that support social inclusion and meaningful belonging

Session 3 – Well-being & Happiness: This session focuses on how we can holistically support people’s well-being and happiness through relationship-centred practice and the shift in mindset this requires.

Session 4 – Holistic Learning: This session explores how we can facilitate holistic learning opportunities through relationships supporting strength- based practice

Session 5 – Empowerment: This session explores how we can create conditions in which people feel a sense of recognition and empowerment

Session 6 – Creating Positive Experiences: This session examines how we can create positive experiences in the everyday, enabling individuals to form and enjoy both independence and inter-dependence in their own lives

We’ve designed this course together with Ali Gardner, co-author of Social Pedagogy and Social Work, to be particularly relevant to professionals working with children, families, vulnerable adults, disadvantaged communities and older persons.

Connecting learning with your practice

Over the course of six 3-hr sessions, we will build a peer learning community in which participants increasingly take on greater responsibility for supporting each other in the ongoing process of applying your learning to your respective role as practitioners in your specific practice context. Why is this a powerful way to achieve practice improvement? Because converting learning experiences into meaningful behaviour change relies on three factors:

  • CAPABILITY: Acquiring new skills and insights into relationship-centred practice, connecting theory, values and practical methods
  • MOTIVATION: Being eager and feeling confident to create positive practice change, connecting with your values and relational abilities
  • OPPORTUNITY: Finding ways to apply learning in practice, creating the space for self-reflection within the peer learning community, and identifying further opportunities for developing relationship-centred practice

We expect participants to commit to taking action in between each session, so that you can practice developing more meaningful relationships both in your professional and personal life.

Learning aims

By connecting social pedagogical concepts and principles to your practice, you’ll be able to:

  1. Apply relational approaches to support strength-based practice.
  2. Understand the role of learning in facilitating well-being, resilience and empowerment.
  3. Develop relational leadership skills supporting professional practice in complex environments.
  4. Adopt a range of reflective tools to enhance relationship-centred practice.
  5. Look forward to future practice with a renewed focus on the values, key purpose and goals of your work.

Each 3-hr session is designed to connect capability, motivation and opportunity by giving you time to explore an area of your practice that you’re determined to change, plan a micro-intervention – a small thing you’ll do to develop your relationship-centred practice – and commit to your peers that you’ll come back the following session having tried this out.

Testimonials

In my role as a Principal Social Worker I hold social work values, skills and relationship-based practice as key to the respect and empowerment of the people we work alongside. We have been extremely fortunate to engage Gabriel and the team at ThemPra through our Teaching Partnership to deepen our skills and learning around relationship-based practice and social pedagogical approaches. The learning has been fun, powerful and purposeful – an investment that I believe will reap rewards in terms of improving outcomes and experience.

Becky Squires, Principal Social Worker, Cumbria County Council

Social Pedagogy has completely changed the way we practise and has brought about some positive outcomes for the young people we support. My team have participated in the Developing Relationship-Centred Practice, which Gabriel and Ali facilitated, and the feedback from those that attended had been nothing but positive; it was creative, fun, but most importantly it sowed the seeds for them and me to continue our exploration into Social Pedagogy. I now participate in the HLS and Social Pedagogy Peer Learning Community facilitated by Gabriel and Alex. I can only echo what my colleagues have said about their creative facilitation and knowledge.

Jane Hylton, Development Team Manager for Looked After Children & Leaving Care, Lancashire County Council

Who we are

The course is facilitated by Alexandra Priver and Gabriel Eichsteller from ThemPra. With our international background in social work and social pedagogy practice, learning facilitation and team development, we are highly experienced in the field. Over the last 15 years we have been supporting practitioners in British social work and social care in developing relationship-centred practice. We enjoy enabling participants to further strengthen their practice through greater theoretical insight and clear commitment to ethical action.

Video conferencing platform

The six 3-hr sessions will be facilitated using Zoom to allow participants from a wide range of organisations to engage.

Costs

The cost per participant is £320 (ex VAT). We offer a 5% discount per place to organisations purchasing 5+ places and a 10% discount per place for 10+ places. Payment via credit card or bank transfer must be received at least 14 days prior to the start date. We’re happy to add any purchase order details to the invoice.

Dates

The 6 sessions will take place on the following dates:

Session 1: 6 Nov, 2024 – 9.30-12.30
Session 2: 13 Nov, 2024 – 9.30-12.30  
Session 3: 20 Nov, 2024 – 9.30-12.30
Session 4: 27 Nov, 2024 – 9.30-12.30  
Session 5: 4 Dec, 2024 – 9.30-12.30  
Session 6: 11 Dec, 2024– 9.30-12.30 

Registration

To register, please complete our booking form below.

Professional standards

Upon completing the learning programme, we will provide you with a certificate over 18 hours of CPD. You can use your applied learning from this course as part of your CPD requirements, including towards the following professional standards:

Post-qualifying standards: Knowledge and Skills Statements:

Child and Family Practitioners: Relationships and effective direct work | Communication | Child and family assessment | Analysis, decision-making, planning and review | The role of supervision | Organisational context

Child and Family Practice Supervisors: Promote and govern excellent practice | Developing excellent practitioners | Shaping and influencing the practice system | Effective use of power and authority | Confident analysis and decision-making | Purposeful and effective social work | Emotionally intelligent practice supervision | Performance management and improvement

Child and Family Practice Leaders: Lead and govern excellent practice | Creating a context for excellent practice | Designing a system to support effective practice | Developing excellent practitioners | Support effective decision-making | Quality assurance and improvement

Social workers in adult services: The role of social workers | Person-centred practice | Direct work with individuals and families | Supervision, critical analysis and reflection | Organisational context | Professional ethics and leadership

Social work practice supervisors in adult social care: Values and ethics | Influencing and governing practice excellence within the organisation and community | Developing confident and capable social workers | Assuring good social work practice and development | Promoting and supporting critical analysis and decision-making | Relationship-based practice supervision | Effective use of power and authority as a practice supervisor | Performance management and improvement

Care Quality Commission – Key lines of enquiry:

Safe | Effective | Caring | Responsive | Well-led

Professional Capabilities Framework for Social Work in England:

Professionalism | Values and ethics | Diversity and equality | Rights, justice and economic wellbeing | Knowledge | Critical reflection and analysis | Intervention and skills | Context and organisations | Professional leadership

Royal College of Occupational Therapists – Professional Standards:

Understanding relationship | Service users | Develop intervention | Evaluate impact | Demonstrate quality | Collaborative | Communication | Support development

Make the case to your manager

If you’re not sure how best to argue the case for being on this course, we can help you. Here’s a template email you can adapt when contacting your manager about this course.

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Dear [Manager’s name], I am writing to request your approval and support for me to attend an online course on relationship-centred practice offered by ThemPra Social Pedagogy CIC. The course is designed for practitioners who want to build meaningful and authentic relationships that foster well-being, learning, empowerment, and social inclusion.   Based on the experience of previous participants, the course is valuable because it offers practical tools on:

  • How to express your values and ethics in your interactions with others
  • How to develop authentic relationships that support social inclusion and meaningful belonging
  • How to support people’s well-being and happiness through holistic and strength-based practice
  • How to facilitate learning opportunities that enhance resilience and empowerment
  • How to create positive experiences in the everyday that enable independence and inter-dependence

  The course consists of six facilitated live sessions of three hours each, spread over two months. The total cost of the course is £300 (ex VAT) per person. The next cohort starts on 16 April, and I would like to register as soon as possible. I believe that attending this course will benefit me and our team in several ways:

  • It will help us deepen relational and strength-based practice.
  • It will give me new insights into the role of learning in facilitating well-being, resilience and empowerment.
  • It will develop my relational leadership skills supporting professional practice in complex environments.
  • We will be able to adopt a range of reflective tools introduced in the course.
  • It will provide a renewed focus on the values, key purpose and goals in my work.

I am confident that investing in this course will have a positive impact on my performance as a practitioner and on our team’s outcomes. I appreciate your consideration of this request and look forward to hearing from you. If you’re interested, you can find more information here, including on how this course fits against relevant professional standards. Many thanks, [Your name] P.S.: Other teams have sent a few people to the course together, because it’s an efficient way to benefit the wider organisational culture and take ideas forward. It might make sense for us to send a few folks to this course (there’s a 5% discount on 5+ places).

 

Further questions:

If you have any further questions please email Gabriel.