Reflective practice groups – the Heads & Hearts model

By Dr Arabella Kurtz

I’m a psychologist with a longstanding interest in reflective practice, and in particular the creativity, emotional support and intellectual stimulation offered by reflective practice groups (RPGs). These involve a small number of colleagues meeting for regular, facilitated discussions to give close attention to complex and challenging work experiences. In RPGs colleagues share ideas, develop understanding and process emotional reactions.

The immediate aims of these groups are in-depth learning and peer connection. Longer-term outcomes are many and varied, affecting quality of work, practitioner wellbeing, team resilience and organizational culture. A recent systematic review of research demonstrates that RPGs enhance empathy towards clients and colleagues, reduce burnout and professional isolation, and result in colleagues feeling more able to manage complex situations (Leung & Peisah, 2023).

My experience has largely been in running RPGs for those working in health, social care and probation. More recently I’ve done lots of training for group facilitators who often speak about the need for more clarity in relation to the RPG task. I developed the Heads and Hearts Model in order to demystify the area, and provide structure and purpose to those attending and facilitating groups. The Model is described in a book published in 2020, a second edition of which comes out this month (Kurtz, 2026; Kurtz, 2020).

Donald Schon, an American town planner, was the first to coin the phrase reflective practice. He argued for ways of ensuring sustained and considered attention to unfamiliar, ambiguous and high-impact situations in professional life, alongside knowledge and understanding of standardized technologies and frameworks, which he called Technical Rationality or TR. Schon wrote his landmark book The Reflective Practitioner at a time of intense disillusionment in the US in ‘the brightest and the best’, able and highly educated leaders who, despite their privilege and cleverness, became embroiled in ethically dubious episodes such as Watergate and the Vietnam War. Something else, Schon argued, was needed alongside TR. This is surely also true now.

Schon thought that divergence of viewpoint and paradigm were crucial in widening the reflective field, and building a true culture of learning. How better to bring this in than a group, which can draw upon the resources of different individuals, and the depth and range of their life experiences and professional perspectives? The Heads and Hearts Model provides a framework for doing this, guiding group members through a series of stages to achieve a balance between open exploration of a situation and responses to it, with work towards coherence and perspective.

The Heads and Hearts Model

We give lots of attention to how we set groups up, making sure people know what they are signing up to and expectations are aligned.

• We encourage colleagues to bring real problems and dilemmas for discussion, the things they really want and need help with.
• We try to promote an atmosphere in which there is minimal need to impress. We invite colleagues to share their work experiences in depth and detail, asking other members of the group to listen closely and attentively.
• We then give time to explore a variety of responses to what has been shared, looking first at immediate reactions and then at more considered views and ways of understanding.

The Heads and Hearts Model provides a simple but effective structure, designed to ensure there is space to process what is brought and enable shifts of view.

It is lovely to see how, over time, groups develop open and supportive learning cultures, growing in the ability to use the resources of other members to learn and connect. Each group is unique, and the Model allows for this. It offers a holding framework, with enough room for each group to develop its own particular areas of focus and approaches to making meaning.

In recent years we’ve heard from legal colleagues about isolation and stress in the job, and the 2025 Life in the Law Report has highlighted particular concern for those with management responsibilities. We think the Heads and Hearts Model for RPGs could be a very effective way of bringing colleagues together to support and learn from each other.

Webinar introducing the Heads & Hearts model of reflective practice groups to senior lawyers

Dr Anna Churcher-Clarke and I will present our work at a webinar hosted by LawCare UK on Thursday 2 July. This will give an opportunity for us to bring it to life for the audience, and to consult on factors for consideration in setting RPGs up in a new sector.

Sign up for free now

Kurtz, A. (2026) How to Run Reflective Practice Groups: The Heads and Hearts Model for Healthcare Professionals (Second Edition). London: Routledge.

Kurtz, A. (2020) How to Run Reflective Practice Groups: A Guide for Healthcare Professionals. London: Routledge.

Leung, K.C. & Peisah, C. (2023) ‘A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review of Group Reflective Practice in Medical Students’. Healthcare 2023, 11: 1798.