Being ‘on the ball’ sounds pressured, with expectations to perform, so the
opportunity to ‘drop that ball’ for a while and to have space and time to more
freely play with it was valuable for Fiona. At the end of each training day, she wrote
about the increase in energy, motivation and confidence she had for her work, for
instance, ‘Feeling energised about working with clients . . . reiterated the importance
of time and space to reflect on the work and to pull back from the doings e.g.
waiting list management, reports that can occupy my head space’
Fiona did show some resistance to this reflective space at the beginning of one of
the workshops, though, writing of her ambivalence about engaging further with her
work, ‘Am a bit preoccupied with certain clients over past few days so seems to be a
good place to explore that today yet I find myself wanting to block it out and distract
myself from client work’. However, despite her initial resistance, Fiona again felt
energised and less pressured by the end of the training day, writing creatively about
her work and her clients. Tracking Fiona’s experience suggests that a supported
opportunity to reflect on and explore her client work was of more value in reenergising her than a complete break from the work