14. Can you really benefit from self-reflection

Self reflection or reflective practice is something that we talk about a lot in our professional practice. So what exactly does it mean for personal injury professionals? And how can you use it to your advantage?

Do you ever:

Worry about how you handled a situation at work?

Wonder if your actions at work were due to your feelings rather than your professional judgement?

Want to make changes to your practice but don’t know where to start?

Self reflection or reflective practice is a process of learning and developing by looking back at your experiences and learning from them. Reflexive practice involves taking that learning a bit deeper and identifying why, how and when you can change your practice. Evidence says using reflective/reflexive practice reduces work dissatifaction, helps the work-life balance and reduces burn-out.

Well, that’s great but how do you actually do it? Here are some ideas:

Identify a specific incident, interaction or action that you would like to reflect on.

Observe what happened, how you acted and felt, what your motives were. Imagine what was going on for everyone else involved.

Learn what worked, what didn’t, what gaps do you have in your skills or knowledge. If you find this difficult then discuss it with a colleague.

Plan how you will improve your practice based on this learning?

Act by making the changes in your practice, seeking CPD or supervision.

Have a listen to our podcast episode for more thoughts: www.psychworks.org.uk/podcast