A six-session psychologically informed reflective practice programme for Black Film Directors.
Reflective Practice for Black Film Directors offers a confidential space to step away from the immediate demands of production and think alongside other Black Film Directors about the emotional and professional realities of creative leadership.
Some of the most important conversations about professional life are the ones we rarely have.
Much of professional development focuses, understandably, on what we do: developing knowledge, building skills, improving performance and progressing our careers.
Reflective practice creates space for something different.
It offers an opportunity to pause and think about how we experience the work we do, the responsibilities we carry, the relationships we navigate, the identities we inhabit, the pressures we manage and the wider contexts within which we work.
My reflective practice programmes provide confidential, psychologically informed spaces in which professionals can step away from the immediate demands of their work and think alongside others who understand something of their professional world.
Holding Complexity
At the heart of my approach is an interest in holding complexity.
Professional life rarely presents us with simple questions or straightforward answers.We may experience confidence and uncertainty, success and sacrifice, belonging and exclusion, authority and vulnerability at the same time.
Rather than rushing to resolve these tensions, reflective practice creates space to remain curious about them.
The purpose is not to tell you what to think, but to create the conditions in which deeper thinking, meaningful dialogue and new perspectives can emerge.
Holding Complexity
At the heart of my approach is an interest in holding complexity.
Professional life rarely presents us with simple questions or straightforward answers.We may experience confidence and uncertainty, success and sacrifice, belonging and exclusion, authority and vulnerability at the same time.
Rather than rushing to resolve these tensions, reflective practice creates space to remain curious about them.
The purpose is not to tell you what to think, but to create the conditions in which deeper thinking, meaningful dialogue and new perspectives can emerge.
Directing involves considerably more than creative and technical decision-making.
It can involve leadership, responsibility, visibility, relationships, uncertainty, identity and the challenge of holding multiple perspectives and competing demands.
For Black Film Directors, these experiences may also intersect with questions of race, representation, belonging, authority and the wider social and institutional contexts within which creative work takes place.
Across six online sessions, you are invited to explore questions including:
1. Who am I in this work?
• Identity, purpose, belonging, authority and the relationship between self and work.
2. What is this work asking of me?
• Responsibility, emotional labour, leadership, visibility and the hidden costs and rewards of creative work.
3. What is shaping my experience?
• Race, identity, relationships, organisational cultures, institutions, power and the wider context.
4. What tensions am I living with?
• Complexity, ambivalence, competing demands, success and sacrifice, authenticity and adaptation.
5. How do I want to respond?
• Agency, choice, values, boundaries, professional judgement and leadership.
6. How do I continue?
• Sustainability, community, growth, continuing reflection and living with unanswered questions.
A different kind of professional space
This is not a filmmaking masterclass, coaching programme or networking event.
It is a professionally facilitated reflective space. The programme draws upon psychological thinking to support reflection rather than offer diagnosis, advice or treatment.
You are not expected to perform, arrive with answers or present a polished version of your professional life.
Instead, the emphasis is on curiosity, thoughtful dialogue and creating enough space to explore some of the complexities that can otherwise be difficult to think about.
Full programme information, including upcoming dates, fees, format and booking, is available via Eventbrite.