Working at the frontline with authority and authenticity:
The complex realities of interagency working
A group relations conference, 25 – 28 March 2025
About this conference
Working in front-line services, across boundaries of profession, agency and organisation, feels ever more challenging and complex. The need for psychological care services has never been greater, yet teams struggle to recruit and retain staff, and relentless pressures can lead to unprecedented levels of sickness and burnout.
Facing constant change and uncertainty, with ever-increasing demands to do more for less, how do we prioritise our own needs and those of our patients/clients, whilst striving to work collaboratively and to our full potential?
How do we work with authority – both with the external authority figures and systems that shape our working environments, and with the personal authority we hold within ourselves?
How can we bring more of our authentic selves into our work and what might help free us up towards more genuine and creative connection with our colleagues and clients?
And what hidden forces might be at play beneath the surface, that hold us back from owning our personal authority and finding our authentic voice?
In this four-day Group Relations Conference we explore the power of authenticity in transforming how we work with others. We invite you to explore your personal sense of authority and reflect on how you can bring more of your true self into your professional interactions, fostering deeper self-awareness and meaningful connections with others. This conference provides a space to discover how authenticity might enhance personal growth and impact on group dynamics, to create a more inclusive, empowered, and effective work environment for all.
Please direct any queries to the conference administrator: GRC@tavi-port.nhs.uk
Conference Director: Carolyn Walker
Associate Director: Rajni Sharma
Building Experience Director: Mike Groszmann
Who is this conference for?
This is an applied Group Relations Conference that aims to address the learning needs of people whose work involves caring for the emotional and psychological well-being of adults, young people, children and their families within multi-disciplinary and inter-agency settings. They may be working or training as health, education or social care professionals, as therapists or as supervisors or managers of this work.
There is an opportunity for people who have already attended at least one Group Relations Conference to join the Building Experience Group. Membership offers separate and additional spaces, alongside the main conference timetable, to further develop learning and understanding.
Two subsidised conference places are available on application for individuals who experience barriers to attendance.
Why attend this conference?
Group relations conferences offer an opportunity for experiential learning. Working together in a co-created ‘temporary organisation’, we will participate in, and reflect on, the various group events that take place each day. Members are invited to work with each other and with the conference staff to explore how issues of authority, task, role and boundaries, difference, diversity and power can impact on the professional use of self. There will be opportunities to explore the conference themes, to experiment with the roles we take in our working lives and to better understand how conscious and unconscious processes influence our behaviour in groups.
In addition, this applied conference will consider the emotional impact of taking responsibility for the mental health and well-being of children, young people, adults and families. We will consider the inherent tensions involved in working with clients across multiple agencies and how the dynamics of differing professional practices may impact on authority.
Conference venue, dates and timings:
The conference will take place in person at: The Tavistock Centre, 120 Belsize Lane, London, NW3 5BA. To maximise the conference learning for yourself and other attendees, we ask all members to commit to attending the whole of all four days:
- Tuesday 25th March: 9am to 6pm
- Wednesday 26th March: 9am to 6pm
- Thursday 27th March: 9am to 6pm
- Friday 28th March: 9am to 5pm
Please note: the deadline for applications for this conference will be Friday 7 March 2025, or when all places are filled.
Conference fees:
- Internal Trust member fee: £570
- External applicant member fee: £730
- Building Experience Group member fee: £585