A letter to service providers in the Cairns area

Dear Service Provider

This letter serves to introduce you to Alan Webster Consultancies. Alan Webster Consultancies is committed to helping service providers value add to their service mandates by offering a range of professional services including:

1. Educational and in-service training. These opportunities are offered in two main ways. The first is the opportunity to participate in a variety of training workshops.  These workshops target a variety of service providers, from support workers to professionally trained workers and from new workers to managers. We hope this range of educational opportunities provides a means for your organization to engage in the training and support of new and experienced workers. The second way in which educational and in-service opportunities can be engaged will be through you contacting Alan Webster Consultancies directly and discussing your unique in-service training needs. Workshops will then be developed to service these needs with your targeted group.
2. Professional Supervision. Professional supervision is a process whereby an organization out-sources its professional supervision of staff to Alan Webster Consultancies. Supervision is an activity which engages practitioners in critically exploring their work practices through understanding, among other things:• the mesh of theory with practice. This enables workers to clearly articulate a rationale based in professional literature and research for their chosen work based practices;
   • how their everyday work meshes with the mandate of the organization including the policies their organization is implementing on behalf of government or government bureaucracies;
   • the mesh of practice with organizational structures, protocols and expectations;
   • workplace relationships, including use of self in the workplace;
   • how to work across organizations in a whole-of-government approach to service delivery;
   • how to manage stress and workplace expectations while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.Professional supervision provided by Alan Webster Consultancies enables an organization to ensure that employees are provided impartial professional support in articulating and developing socially just, professionally defensible and skilled approaches to their practice at whatever level of their employment in the organization.Professional supervision may also be engaged whereby staff train with Dr. Galloway in particular practices (such as family and narrative therapy, case management, and processes helpful for working with Indigenous people) and then continue in a supervisory relationship with her to implement these practice frameworks in their everyday work. In this direct practice type of supervision, it is expected that staff and Dr. Galloway work together with particular service users. In this way, workers see the consultant/educator implementing particular theories while simultaneously being actively engaged in building their own skills in working with their client group. Alan Webster Consultancies recognizes that clients can be individuals, families, groups and communities.
3. Project Work.It is intended that Alan Webster Consultancies engage with organizations to help them develop, implement and evaluate specific projects which value-add to the practical work, mission and mandate of their organization. projects. This includes research projects through which organisations articulate their practice to funders, the community, the government (etc).
4. Organizational process consultancy. Many organizations, at some point, develop issues in what the literature calls “process” or “maintenance functions” or “staff relationships”. An agency may be clear about its mandate, about the actual work (tasks) it is expected to carry out, and may indeed carry these functions out at an acceptable level, but be hampered in its overall functioning through inter-staff conflict or an organisational culture which is not aligned with the mission statement or vision of the organization. These conflicts have detrimental effects on the organization, with managers spending most of their time dealing (or attempting to deal) with staff issues, staff feeling undervalued and perhaps overwhelmed and unsupported (etc.). Alan Webster Consultancy has experience in working with organizations in these predicaments through undertaking workplace assessments and engaging with staff in negotiating workplace interventions, processes and monitoring tools for regaining “process” or “relationship” equilibrium. A report of all work is provided to the organization at the assessment, intervention and evaluation stages of this consultancy work.
5. Evaluation of programs. Evaluation is important as a self –reflective tool and as a tool of transparency to demonstrate the work undertaken by an organization and to articulate its impact upon the lives of service users. Evaluation of programs may be instigated by an organization itself or be part of a stipulated objective attached to funding opportunities. Alan Webster Consultancies is experienced in the evaluation of service sector programs. We look forward to hearing from you about your evaluation needs.
6. Clinical Case Consultancy. Dr. Galloway has clinical experiences in all schools of family therapy, including narrative therapy. These forms of therapy enable the real social and political contexts of peoples’ lives to be accounted for at all levels of practice including assessment, intervention planning; intervention; evaluation and termination stages. She is available as a clinical case consultant to attend case conferences; case planning meetings; case management meetings (etc.).

In this letter we have outlined six major drivers of Alan Webster Consultancies. These are those of educational and in service training; professional supervision; project work including research; organizational process consultancy; evaluation of programs; and clinical case consultancy. We look forward to partnering with you in these endeavours. Please contact us at that above telephone and e-mail addresses regarding your organizational needs, at your earliest convenience.

Yours Faithfully

Dr. Greta Galloway
B.A B.Soc. Admin M.Soc.Sc Grad. Cert Ed Ph.D MAASW
Clinical Director

Mr. Alan Webster
B.A B.Ed M.Ed.
Administrative Director

Counselling and Therapeutic Frameworks and Skills Training

 Alan Webster Consultancies engages health, education and welfare prctitioners in multiple counselling and therapeutic frameworks, ranging from skills in active listening and how to structure a counselling session and program, for new practitioners or those who have not undertaken tertiary qualifications but are employed in the helping professions, to those courses designed for experienced practitioners. 

Here’s a list of some of the theories and therapies Alan Webster consultancies has provided from 2009 - 2012:

• Introduction to counselling and professional practice
• Cognitive and behavioural therapies
• Mindfulness
• Narrative therapy
• Family therapy
• Life story work
• Tauma therapy

Here’s some of feedback from workshops and trainings:

• Loved the small group environment. Enjoyed the experiential approach. Like working with real examples from our group. I got some great insights personllay - light bulb moments. Everybody got a say and was respectful of each other and accommodating. Excellent workshop. I really get it - useful tools for exercises - Love Greta’s style of teaching.
• I really liked the listening, step by step easy to understand (approach)
• Case analysis and going through the (practice) maps to clearly understand each step. I learnt the purpose, stages and benefits of narrative therapy. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Looking forward to applying it to my practice.
• All was helpful and useful. The stories and case studies
• Thanks so much for your unselfishness in sharing your knowledge and wisdom and your playfulness - the reminder to have fun
• Clear, concise description of key concepts
• Greta is really inspiring and has helped me to have a better understanding around language in so many forms
• Stories and role plays were most useful; actual cases and not theory; workers from other agencies contributing and a refresh of ‘older’ theories. I found it totally enjoyable and valuable to both refresh knowledges and increase knowledges and ‘tools’.
• Most useful was the demonstration by you of how  “to do” the different styles in the larger group. Got to hear all ideas/perspectives, not just those of people in the small group
• I enjoyed the workshop because of the depth of theory given and because I work in relative isolation, having a “team” around was great
• Great to attend a workshop that is constantly on the move, and filled with appropriate theories. Very work related. A lot of the time I was relating the theories to past and present clients, and to work environment and colleagues.  Already planning about different methods of connecting with clients.

In 2012 Alan Webster consultancies is connecting with a number of experts in their field, to provide training. Some of these are:

•  Jo Knights to engage training in SoulCollage as a helpful tool for trauma healing and resolution
• Cairns Regional Domestic Violence Service to explore intimate partner sexual violence
• Irwin Reynolds to engage:  ”Working with difficult clients: Stages of change and motivational interviewing”. Irwin has had  lot of experience in the health care and correctional systems in the United States and brings enormous practical expertise to this workshop. Greta contributes much from a narrative and cross cultural practice to this training.

Case Management Training 2012

Case Management Training 2012

Alan Webster Consultancies has now been enagaging case management training for practitioners for three years. Prior to this Greta wrote curriculum for tertiary students on this subject. She has since been busy training practitioners throughout Queensland.  Greta has also been asked to engage with clusters of organisations and specific organisations as they prioritise building a staff group/sector competent (and even excited!) in case management process and protocols.

Here’s what some participants said about Alan Webster Consultancies’ Case Management Training:

• I enjoyed working at a small group level which gave us more examples and time to work through each step and issues (and) the basic and clear tools that made it easier to understand
• a very open dialogue between the participants was encouraged. The atmosphere was kind, accepting and supportive. This was not only the participants but also, very much, from the facilitator
• (What I enjoyed most were the) tools and positive ideas to take back to my organisation to improve our current client planning process
• (What I will use from this training are) the templates to formalise assessment and writing case management plans
• Greta was excellent in her delivery. She back-tracked when we needed it. Understanding with learning styles
• Clarification of the case management model
• I learnt, and enjoyed exploring what case management is really about at micro and macro levels. It’s been a loose term in the community
• I think the workshop made me reflect on my current practice and gave me practical ideas how to work with my client, especially on assessment and care plan development
• I have most enjoyed the wider spectrum of questions and information gathering on behalf of clients to competently put together a case plan
• I have avoided using genograms, but will do them now - I am sold
• Sometimes I focus more on counselling skills. I need to spend more time focusing on holistic assessment
• I found the use of case studies to provide examples most useful
• I found the training relevant and well delivered, practical and interesting
• Understanding how a case management role is going to asist with the young people we work with in a much more positive and holistic approach
• (I will use) case management strategies including assessment methods/strategies and focus on outcomes and goals
• Thanks for your time, I have some great items, ideas, thoughts and skills to take to work with me tomorrow.