Anne Benson

I am interested in people, how we operate, how we work together and what gets in the way; how our individual and collective histories impact on our present and our futures. I am an organisational, team and leadership development consultant, executive coach and clinician with 30 years’ experience of working primarily in and with the health and social care sector. I began my career as a nurse. For the last twenty years, I have been working in practice-based consultancy, education and development.

My approach

I have a particular interest and expertise in leadership development, organisational and team culture and dynamics, working through change and working at and across boundaries; boundaries between professions, professionals and service users, teams, agencies and communities. My practice is informed by a blend of humanistic, psychodynamic and systems theories. I am interested in what goes on beneath the surface and working with people to make sense of this in practical ways that make a difference. I enjoy working with people to create spaces where they can explore possibilities and come up with their own solutions to the issues that are important to them and their organisations. Personally and politically I am drawn towards work that makes a contribution to promoting wellbeing, especially mental wellbeing for individuals and in workplaces, and addressing prejudice and inequalities amongst people.

Areas of work

I have worked in NHS, Local Authority, Higher Education and third sector organisations as well as organisations with a national and international remit, most recently The Kings Fund (2009 – 2015). Clinically I have worked in in-patient, community and primary care services in the NHS and Local Government. I have designed, facilitated and evaluated many professional development programmes nationally and internationally. I am experienced in facilitating Action Learning and using participative approaches to engage diverse groups in dialogue e.g. Appreciative Inquiry, Open Space Technology, and World Café. I am an experienced and EMCC accredited coach and accredited to use MBTI step 1, Firo Element B, The Healthcare Leadership Model 360 and the Aston Team Performance Inventory. Alongside my consultancy and development work, I have a private practice as a Cognitive Analytic Psychotherapist.

Current / recent projects

NHS Leadership Academy: Building Leadership for Inclusion. Consultancy and development work to support senior leaders across the NHS create and sustain inclusive cultures. Abbey Court School: An Action Inquiry to understand the impact of repeated bereavements for staff working in a school for children with special needs. Hertfordshire County Council: Designing and delivering a leadership development programme to support culture change across Adult Social Care. The Academy for Conflict Transformation – Germany: Developing capacity for peace activists to understand and work creatively with unconscious group and system processes. Capacity development in China: The design and delivery of a suite of professional development programmes to build capacity in leading and supporting organisational change, working effectively with groups and teams through Tavistock Institute China. Liverpool YMCA: Developing coaching capabilities within the senior management team. Various NHS Trusts: Working with teams struggling with conflict, low morale and difficulty connecting to purpose, e.g. surgical teams, Emergency Department teams, Child and Adolescent Mental Health teams, midwifery teams. Also facilitating reflective practice groups Macmillan Cancer Support: Working across national pilot sites developing collaborative theories of change for a Local Authority Partnership Programme intended to improve pathways for people living with and beyond cancer. Public Health England: Evaluating the local authority sites delivering programmes of work within the Children of Alcohol Dependent Parents Innovation Fund Co-Director of the P3C programme: Practitioner Certificate in Consulting and Change, a certificated, modular professional development programme held annually at the Moller Centre in Cambridge University. Executive Coaching: Current and recent clients include: Senior leaders in Higher Education CEO and Executive directors in the NHS, Senior clinicians and managers from a range of NHS and local government organisations, Senior managers from the National Museum sector, CEOs third sector organisations.

Relevant Publications:

• Benson, A (2018) A social justice framework for training in cognitive analytic therapy: inequalities, power and politics in psychotherapy in Pollard R & Lloyd J Eds (2018) Cognitive Analytic Therapy and the Politics of Mental Health Routledge: Oxon.
• Benson, A (2010) ‘Creating a culture to support patient safety. The contribution of a multidisciplinary team development programme to collaborative working’. Journal for Evidence and Quality in Health Care 104 (2010) 10 – 17
• Benson, A (2009) ‘Time and Space to Think’, Nursing Management 15 (9) 10 – 11.
• Benson, A (2007) The Team Effectiveness Guides. RCN: London.