Session 1 – Loving the NHS (Without Adoring It)

This is the first of three 90-minute themed sessions supporting senior leaders, with a focus on reflection, resilience and discernment through the Thinking Environment. Designed for those navigating change in complex roles.  The series continues with Session 2: The Tragic Gap and Session 3: Navigating Change and Uncertainty.

About the session:

Many healthcare leaders feel a deep pull to “give back” to the NHS — a kind of vocational loyalty that fuels purpose, but can also create personal strain. This session invites participants to pause and reflect on the cost of this sense of obligation. Drawing on Nancy Kline’s insight that love welcomes scrutiny, while adoration resists it, we explore how to stay committed to a system we also need to question.

We’ll use the Thinking Environment® to hold a space where honesty, affection, frustration and hope can all be present. This isn’t a workshop about critique — it’s a space to discern what loving the NHS really means for each of us.

Objectives:

• To explore participants’ emotional and professional connection to the NHS.
• To create space for critical reflection without fear of disloyalty.
• To introduce the Thinking Environment® as a way to hold tension between care and scrutiny.

Outcomes:

• Participants will gain language and confidence to examine their loyalty to the NHS more discerningly.
• They will experience a way of thinking that allows both affection and challenge.
• They will leave with a deeper sense of clarity and internal permission to reflect, without abandoning commitment.

Who’s the session for?

These sessions are for Senior Health Leaders working across the South East who play a pivotal role within the region’s Integrated Care Systems (ICSs). This includes leaders working at provider level, General Practice, within an Integrated Care Board (ICB), across Community sector or as part of a partner organisation. 

Book your Place:

Bookings have now closed but if you would like to attend, please email us at [email protected].

Please book your place via the green RSVP ‘Going’ button below. Places are available on a first come, first serve basis.  Although we will be able to see your name and email address upon submission, once extrapolated the demographic and protected characteristics data will be anonymised. We appreciate your support in providing this information, which will help us to ensure our leadership development interventions are widely accessible and inclusive.

The session will be delivered virtually.  Please ensure that you can access a confidential quiet space for the duration of the session. The joining instructions, including the meeting room link, will be sent one week prior to the session. If your circumstances change and you can no longer attend, please email [email protected].

Our Commitment: 

We are committed to making our training as accessible as possible (please see our accessibility page), we are aware that there is more that we can be doing. Please do contact us if there are any reasonable adjustments that we can make to support you to be able to attend this programme by emailing us at [email protected].

About the Facilitator

Mitzi Wyman is a leadership consultant, former lawyer and NHS Faculty member with a background in organisational psychology. She’s on the global Faculty of Time to Think and is completing her certification in the Courage & Renewal® approach developed by Parker J. Palmer. Mitzi leads NHS programmes across London and the Southeast, and offers open courses in the Thinking Environment® and reflective leadership practice.