In the 2010 film Inception, a layered hitchhike through dreams within dreams within dreams – the Director Christopher Nolan blurs the lines between the dream world and reality, building a “meta” universe within which the plot travels deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole.

In a similar way, but in no way as dramatic or theatrical (as much as I’d like to sell the rights to this article to Universal Pictures) I will attempt to reflect on what I’ve learned about reflection since training and qualifying as a chartered psychologist (CPsychol).

A look back on five years of applied practice training, whereby formal reflection is part and parcel of the qualification handbook; where reflection is seen as a skill that can be worked on and cultivated; and where you might even reflect on which reflective model you are using and why.

So a reflection on reflecting on reflection. Reflectionception? You still with me? Great!

So having reflected on it, what do I think I know now about formal reflection that I didn’t when I set out on my training journey? The clue is the word ‘formal’ in formal reflection.

When I started out writing a reflective diary (a key pillar of the training handbooks for both the BPS and BASES pathways for sport and exercise psychologists to HCPC practitioner status) – on reflection, I thought it was looking back at something you’ve done, and “having a bit of a think about things”. I hadn’t yet delved into the extensive literature on the topic nor considered a working definition of reflective practice (or “RP” as it is shortened to in the literature).

Luckily for me (and those reading this), other psychologists have helped contribute definitions to literature. In 2014, Knowles and colleagues proposed the following definition for reflective practice (RP):

A purposeful and complex process that facilitates the examination of experience by questioning the whole self and our agency within the context of practice. This examination transforms experience into learning, which helps us to access, make sense of and develop our knowledge-in-action in order to better understand and/or improve practice and the situation in which it occurs.

There are three key elements of this definition that I’ll reflect upon: 1) purposeful, 2) questioning and learning-oriented, and 3) tangible.

Purposeful

The nature of applied practice means that sometimes taking a step back to reflect is difficult. In their BASES expert statement on the topic, Huntley and colleagues note that “professional applied practice is often dictated by a ‘hurry-up mentality’ where practitioners are expected to be engaged in practical action rather than in critically reflective thought”. The same expert statement advocates for building time into the working week for reflection. When it’s not regular and purposeful, we can fall into the trap of only using reflection in a reactive way, opposed to it being an embedded part of continued development.

Part of being purposeful is also being systematic and theory-informed in terms of how reflection is carried out. And this is where I came stuck, unstuck and stuck again during my supervised practice – as formal reflective frameworks such as Gibbs’ and Kolbs’ enter one’s vernacular. Training programmes such as the qualification for sport and exercise psychology will expect one to use such models and frameworks to help structure and facilitate reflection, however I found in my early experiences, that they could feel limiting and “straight-jacketing” versus genuinely capturing applied experiences and promoting insightful reflection. This is why Huntley and colleagues’ expert statement advocates being “aware of the range of different approaches that may support RP” and it being “driven by the right questions (dictated by the purpose) rather than the right “model”.

Questioning and learning oriented

As Cropley and Knowles have posited, our applied practice experiences are underpinned by culture, context and emotion, all of which requires human interaction. According to their paper, it is hard to solve practice-based problems by applying theory and techniques derived from scientific knowledge alone. Therefore, formal questioning of one’s self, behaviour and interaction with real people and environments, affords us the opportunity to develop another form of knowing to dovetail with the aforementioned theoretical and scientific knowledge – a “knowing-in-action“.

As the BASES expert statement unpacks, knowledge-in-action “is made up of social norms, values, prejudices, experiences, technical knowledge, aesthetical knowledge, personal knowledge and ethical knowledge”. Applied practice decisions in the moment, are constructed from melding together all these different sources of knowledge.

Huntley and colleagues also note that too often RP occurs following negative outcomes or situations of concern, and that we should also be reflecting on the things that went well: situations of strengths and positive feedback. Helping us to understand how to replicate and build on these successes and strengths.

Tangible

In Wadsworth and colleagues’ systematic review, exploring the reflective accounts of applied sport psychology practitioners, they note that applied practitioners may also engage in RP at different “levels”. Knowles and Gilbourne suggest “three distinct levels: technical (was that intervention effective?); practical (am I too emotionally involved with this client?); and critical(what does this experience mean in relation to the broader culture and context?).” Transforming reflection from these three levels affords the opportunity to make tangible changes to behaviour, as well as interventions and policies. Through training, these tangible changes were manifest in an ongoing “action plan” which I intend to carry through into post-chartership. Keeping a formal record of these also helps address the HCPC’s recently updated (September 2024) standards of conduct, performance and ethics, whereby a written account of CDP is necessary. 

A final key component of tangible outcomes is not just concerning practitioner behaviour, knowledge and technical processes, but managing one’s own well-being. Huntley and colleagues maintain that RP is also a “key process in helping practitioners develop the coping strategies needed to manage the demands of their work”. Reflective practice is not just about improving the quality of our knowledge-in-action and work outputs, but also getting better at managing ourselves so we are fit to help others.

OK, we’re in the final part of the film. Leonardo Di Caprio is about to save the day, and we’ve written the word ‘reflection’ 172 times already. What learning and takeaways will this movie leave us with? Well, harping back to Knowles and colleagues’ definition is a helpful way to end. For me personally, as I navigate the new chapter of applied practice post-chartership, I’ll endeavour to make reflective practice:

• Purposeful: Something part and parcel of my process with individual clients, teams and wider work in the field. Informed by theory and routinely critiqued via mentor and peer supervision.
• Questioning and learning–oriented: Of both myself as a practitioner and my role and influence in the context of practice. Transforming real life experiences into engagement with applied practice literature, mentorship and peer to peer discussion – thus developing ‘knowledge-in-action’ – both from negative and challenging experiences, as well as those that went well.
• Tangible: All of the above combines to impact my future behaviour, materials, plans and policies (including self-care) – captured in a reflective diary and action plan. Documentation, which auditing bodies can take note of when reviewing my practice.

Thank you for following me down the rabbit hole of “reflectionception” – it is a vast and multifaceted aspect of our work as psychologists, and by no means am I positioning myself as an expert. I am on my own journey, ably informed by some of the fantastic literature linked to in this article. Just as Cobb ends Inception, thankful for his nearest and dearest, I am thankful to Huntley, Knowles, Anderson, Wadsworth and the dozens of other authors that have helped guide the way.

Pete Jackson is a chartered sport psychologist, registered with the British Psychological Society.