Enroll in this course to get access You don't currently have access to this contentYou don't currently have access to this content Enroll in this course to get access

‘Kindness as Primer’ Part 2 Workshop with Dr. Francesca Bernardi

This is the second workshop in a series of three events: Silence as Primer, Kindness...

Last updated 7 April 2025
Current Status
Not Enrolled
Price
£9.99
Get Started
or

This is the second workshop in a series of three events: Silence as Primer, Kindness as Primer, Play as Primer.

‘Kindness as Primer’ is an offering to pay attention to being kind and receiving kindness, eliciting a genuine engagement with shared meaning and divergent possibilities. Drawing on our range of experiences of what it means to practise kindness and receive kindness, we can begin to reflect on the restorative potential of kindness within ourselves and in interaction with others.

Working with the group’s synergies, collaborate in defining a Manifesto for Kindness, which can be engaged in our practice with individuals and groups, and – importantly – can serve as a catalyst for self-compassion, taking stock of our being, becoming and potential.

Learning Objective Participants Can Expect From This Event

  • Expect an interactive circle, where responses to prompts are shared and valued; bringing together subjective and collective understandings of kindness, so that you may nurture and engage this value intentionally and in meaningful ways in the therapeutic encounter.
  • By identifying different subtleties, small gestures, responsibility, and more, we can re/present our ideas around kindness and ‘being kind’, developing a manifesto to encourage collective action towards a gentler way of becoming in togetherness.
  • Participating in a three-part experiential gathering exercise, allow yourself to accept the good that comes from reflecting on kind actions, co-creating clarity and recognition within the group, drawing on personal/individual definitions and expectations for a kindness-first approach towards ourselves and others, in different spheres.

Who is This Workshop Appropriate For?

  • Anyone hoping to engage in reflection and collective meaning-making; therapists, coaches and socially-engaged practitioners.

How May This Workshop Impact Your Practice?

  • This intentional appreciation of kindness can offer a generative approach to the therapy space and relationship, eliciting meaningful connection with past experiences, their restorative role, and their potential to ignite a gentler interaction with a demanding world.

Course Content

‘Kindness as Primer’ Part 2 Workshop with Dr. Francesca Bernardi

Presenter

Dr. Francesca Bernardi

Dr. Francesca Bernardi PhD is an advocate, author, coach, and artist, with expertise in MA supervision, dis/ability and community engagement. Francesca has an extensive background as a teacher and artist-in-residence, working with children and adults in various settings, including schools, alternative provision, further and higher education, corporate settings, museums, and public spaces (Tate Museums and the RSA.org). She’s dedicated to working with parents and caregivers of children and young people with dis/abilities who have experienced school exclusions and other forms of social discrimination.

Francesca engages in multi-disciplinary and arts-informed practices with marginalized communities, and individuals experiencing loss and homelessness. Her approach is non-hierarchical, socially just, and creative, aiming to nourish healing and personal agency while honouring the wholeness of individuals’ personhood, choices, and capabilities.

Francesca has published her work on autism, arts-informed methodologies, childhood, and children’s rights in books and journals (Bloomsbury, Routledge, Taylor and Francis). She is the founding chair of the Antonio Gramsci Society UK, board member of the Disability Without Abuse Project (2020-), and an Associate Member of CATA/ACAT (the Canadian Art Therapy Association 2021-).