This Open Dialogue foundation training is an internationally recognised programme for professionals working in public mental health services (including peer workers) and independent practitioners. It is the most widely used Open Dialogue training programme internationally, and has now been run by Open Dialogue UK on more than 20 occasions, in five different countries, including seven times on an in-house basis in the NHS in the UK. Many of the materials in the training are based on those originally developed by Volkmar Aderhold and Petra Hohn, who began running Open Dialogue foundation trainings 18 years ago, continually revising their materials based on what proved to be most effective in training professionals in public mental health care services. This programme was also one of the two main trainings used in the Parachute Project in New York.

The programme provides a thorough grounding in the practice of facilitating Open Dialogue network meetings, and participants are encouraged to start practicing before the end of the training, if they are able to (though such practice is not a required part of Open Dialogue training at foundation level). The emphasis in the training is on practice, and understanding the approach through engaging both personally and professionally in the training process. In other words, though a good deal of theory and specific skills are taught on the programme, the heart of the process is the dialogue between the participants (and trainers) and the ways in which they reflect on the approach and each other’s contributions. Open Dialogue is an embodied practice and so it is important for participants to engage emotionally as well as intellectually in the training process.

Training days typically consist of a mixture of exercises, role plays, presentations, handouts and discussions, and there is also an 'exploring your relational world' process, where participants explore their own family background. Reading is given after each block, rather than in advance, as practice comes before theory. The reading given will tend to follow the particular topics introduced on each block, and largely comes in the form of journal articles, which can be accessed online in PDF form, via the Open Dialogue international website. Because most of the theory is shared in the form of handouts and presentations during the training, and explored through dialogue in small and large groups, participants can access the theory that they need in order to practice through these means. For more detail on the content of the programme, please see below.

In mid 2020, due to the pandemic, we had to move our training programmes online, in order to maintain the training processes that were already underway. We were very pleased to see how well the training worked online, with only minor adaptations needed for the online format. So we have continued to run the training online annually since 2021, and have had an ongoing positive experience of doing so. We use Zoom as the software for our online trainings.

We are very pleased to have such an experienced training team for this programme. Nick Putman has coordinated and been a trainer on more than 30 Open Dialogue training programmes of one year or more, and is joined by Anni Haase from Western Lapland and Petra Hohn from Stockholm, Sweden. Further details on the trainers can be found on the right hand side of this page.

If you are interested in participating in this programme please submit your application ASAP.