About us - our people and practice
Training Attention grew out of a fusion of Clean Language, systems thinking, deep ecology and the irrepressible curiosity of its founders; Caitlin Walker and Nancy Doyle. They joined forces in 2004 and have developed these innovative ideas into distinct projects for schools, business, welfare to work and adult education. They work together in partnership, coaching, refining, challenging each others’ ideas and practices with a rigour that is at the core of Training Attention.
Through our comprehensive apprentice programme we have developed an expert team of modellers who can train their attention on any individual, team, organisation or community wanting to benefit from this unique approach. They all bring different ideas and skills and thus enhance our ability to pay attention to diverse patterns.
Caitlin Walker
Caitlin specialises in applying systems thinking to professional development. Combining the modeling processes developed in Neuro-linguistic Programming with the discipline of 'Clean Questions' and the common sense of coaching, she has developed leading edge processes that result in whole system sustainable change - Systemic Modelling. Clean language is the foundation of this work. (more...)
Nancy Doyle
Nancy specialises in creating learning systems that can operate independently of outside support. She co-designed the Skills4Success programme for unemployed adults and the Transition programme for teenagers, putting into practice years of research evaluating Clean Language by devising a facilitation technique which is also ‘Clean’ and allows participants to develop their own solutions, with each other’s support. More can be found on the specific approach on the systemic modelling page. Nancy believes that peer coaching is the most effective intervention in communities and schools where resources are tight and external consultants/therapists are in short supply. Self generated solutions are more likely to fit the problem and be sustainable for the people they are intended to help. (more ...)
Emma Dalrymple
Emma specialises in group facilitation, particularly in the areas of social exclusion and unemployment and has been involved in the design and delivery of ‘Skills4Success’ since 2004. Using a range of learning programmes in diverse settings – from schools to corporate team building events - she supports individuals and groups to realise their goals and to implement and embed change. Emma also has a wealth of experience training trainers and in using group activities for recruitment and selection processes. Emma began working in the ‘Welfare to Work’ sector in 2002 after obtaining a degree in Law and French from Sheffield University. She is a Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Symbolic Modelling.
Cheryl Winter
Cheryl is a passionate coach and trainer with a flair for building both intimate coaching sessions and interactive team events, for enhancing communication and results all round. Her specialisms are Team Development and Coaching Skills for Managers. As a highly accomplished trainer and coach with over 20 year's experience of helping teams Cheryl helps managers to pay special attention to themselves and each other. Following a successful career in the Financial Services and Retail Sector she joined Training Attention in 2006 and is currently working with our projects for NHS North West Executive Coaches and Sure Start Centres in Preston.
Ben Reeve
Ben has been designing and delivering training consultancy packages for 15 years. He worked for many years in local authority homelessness and advice units and began his training career in the late 1990s delivering housing law courses for officers of the Metropolitan Police. He then went to gain certificates as both a Master Practitioner and Qualified Trainer of NLP, and then specialising in communication skills courses for a wide range of clients, including the Chartered Institute of Housing, Shelter, Age Concern, and hundreds of local authorities and housing associations.
Louise Sanderson
Louise has been practicing Herbal Medicine since completing her BSc in Herbal Medicine 2002. Louise is a member of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists which has regulated the profession in the UK since 1864. All members have been trained to a degree level in orthodox medical sciences and herbal therapeutics. Louise has 6 years experience of working with a group known as The Medical Herbalists who travel throughout the country, providing professional drop-in herbal medicine clinics and first aid at major events. Louise also enjoys walking and gardening, and likes to combine these with her love and knowledge of herbs, leading various herb walks, talks, growing and gathering of herbs.
Pauline Haynes
Pauline works with people to develop their practical skills, self awareness and personal potential. She believes each participant and facilitator has their own unique view which is a wonderful resource. Her recent projects include the design and delivery of the ‘be’ project for Bristol City Council aimed at raising the aspirations and life chances of individuals within the community. She regularly works in the public and private sectors, delivering courses in Diversity and Managing People skills. In the last year she delivered a strategic development day for 12 Chief Executives in the Social Housing sector.
Pauline has been a training consultant and business coach for the last 11 years. Her clients include the Aster Housing Group, London Probation Service, London Borough of Southwark, Bristol City Council, NHS, the Metropolitan Police, Shelter and the Chartered Institute of Housing.
She is a Master Practitioner of NLP and a Certified Trainer of NLP. She also runs open NLP workshops and courses, in Bournemouth where she lives with her family.
Shaun Hotchkiss
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A rugby playing ratcatcher, Shaun left his life of hedonism and mindless pleasure seeking to become a sensitive, highly skilled coach. He has spent months in silence meditating, he has trained for 4 years in Integrative Psychotherapy at the Sherwood Institute, Biringham University, he spent 3 years with David Grove and for 2 years he's been on the NLP psychotherapy course with James Lawley and the Northern School of NLP. He offers 1-1 sessions in coaching, personal development and symbolic modelling.
Peter Keane
Peter is an experienced classroom teacher and a versatile trainer based in South Tyneside. Currently he works with whole school communities (managers, teachers, pupils, families) helping people discover and develop the skills to repair, build and maintain positive relationships. His approach embodies a variety of skills and processes including but not limited to: clean questions, systemic modelling, emotional resilience, restorative justice, NLP, peer mediation and mentoring, Magical Spelling, positive psychology and de-escalation strategies. He is available as a consultant for developing relationship based working in learning communities. He can be contacted at: peter@eazip.org
Our Intention: to enable systems in which people can perform at their best more of the time.
Training Attention specialises in applying systems thinking to learning and professional development. The Training Attention practise allows organisations, teams and individuals to understand themselves, other people and the dynamics between them in a non-judgemental way. This allows them to generate and manage their own changes, bringing sustainable development. We detect patterns outside the system's awareness and reflect back so that the individual, team or organisation updates and evolves its own solutions. A key difference at Training Attention is that we continuously apply the practises to ourselves using clean feedback and are an example of it. We train in diverse pairs, recruit for diversity, work with our clients' system and rigorously evaluate on both outcomes and delivery. We continuously challenge our own and each other's thinking, providing constructive feedback using the clean feedback model and setting developmental tasks on the basis of evidence. Those that take on the Training Attention practise as part of their core culture acquire a practical tool for bridging the gap between the theory and application of system thinking.
Our history
The Training Attention practice began as a synthesis of ground-breaking constructivist systems thinking surrounding personal and group development in the mid 1990's. Most influential was 'Clean Language' as developed by eminent psychotherapist David Grove, Symbolic Modelling developed by James Lawley and Penny Tompkins, the Linguistic Theories proposed by George Lakof and the new understanding of subjective experience being developed in Neuro-Linguistic Programming.
Training Attention's Managing Director, Caitlin Walker first began testing her ideas with as a Youth Worker in London's inner city. One of the underlying principles of the practise is that it can be applied to all systems irrespective of the amount of resources available. The range of contexts including 'at-risk' pupils in schools, questioning techniques used by the police on under 18's, courses for people who have been long-term unemployed and conflict resolution during Primary Care Trust mergers. Stories and Case-Studies of these and other projects can be found on this site.