Research and Consultancy

Some recent and current research projects involving Centre staff include:

• SEPTIMUS- a Leonardo-funded project which has enabled CSCR staff to develop and implement an online psychotherapy training course which currently runs in Austria, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania and the UK. This project comes to a close in October 2004 after a full analysis of the course has been undertaken.
• DEEP (www.sheffield.ac.uk/psychotherapy)- a Socrates-Minerva funded project for 2004-2007 to develop an online psychotherapy Masters course for implementation in universities in UK (University of Sheffield), the Czech Republic (Masaryk University, Prague/Brno), Sweden (Linkopping University), Romania (Hyperion University, Bucharest) and Austria (Sigmund Freud University, Vienna).
• Innovative teaching of psychotherapy
• Empathy and aggression in Asperger syndrome
• A survey of the needs of people with Asperger syndrome
• A comprehensive survey of the needs of Sheffield adolescents and adults with Asperger syndrome
• Resilience in psychotherapists who have been abused in childhood
• Self-harm in women
• The antecedents of self-wounding in women, what use self-wounding has for them, and what alternative strategies are available to them.
• Bullying of Asperger syndrome adolescents in mainstream compared with special schools
• Resilience and sibling abuse
• Careers of bullies and victims of bullying across the school/university transition
• School and workplace bullying
• Effects of peer tutoring on child tutors
• Effects of bullying on pupils
• Coping strategies of bullied pupils
• Effectiveness of peer support systems in schools and the workplace
• Adolescents’ understanding of mental health difficulties
• Adolescents’ perceptions of teacher racism
• Widening participation in higher education
• Distance and e-learning in higher education

We are keen to hear from potential research students who are interested in these and related fields

Consultancy

Staff in the CSCR are also available for consultation or training to meet the specific needs of your organisation. We can come to your organisation and work with your staff locally or your staff can come to the University for group training and individual coaching sessions. Retreats can be organised in a venue of your choice. Packages under each of these headings will be put together with you after a number of initial consultation sessions from various building blocks.

Some or all of the following elements will be included:

• Assessment of the human relations problems in your organisation- many organisations will come to us with an undefined sense that something is wrong. Staff are not getting on with each other. There may be open conflict or hidden hostility, complaints of bullying may have been received, and there are usually high levels of absenteeism. Sometimes tensions will be such that they make for a poor general working climate, leading to low motivation and despondency in all concerned.
  We shall work with groups of staff members at all the relevant levels to establish how the different groups view the problems in the organisational culture. We shall record the history of the working relations in the organisation. We shall compile the various accounts of current difficulties into a conflict map. We shall establish what the conflicting and shared objectives, values and beliefs are. We shall pinpoint the major obstacles to co-operative and efficient working relations. We shall sketch out the social and psychological parameters of existing personality clashes.
• Assessment of individual difficulties-
  individual sessions will be offered to all those involved in the tensions of the organisation. In these sessions an assessment will be made of the person's position, role and function in the organisation. Past and current conflicts with other members of staff and with the organisational culture will be reviewed. Difficulties and problems will be listed and the relative merits of proposed solutions studied. Coping resources and personal strengths will be analysed. Possible obstacles and personal weaknesses will be recognised.
• Training in human relations skills- staff training will be organised for the relevant groups of staff on the recognition of personal conflict and on basic or advanced conflict resolution skills. Communication, negotiation -and mediation skills can be taught. Workshops on bullying and intimidation are available. Work with fear and aggression can be done. Interpersonal sensitivity training is on offer. Racial and sexual discrimination issues can be opened up and addressed in a safe climate. Principles of group dynamics and organisational conflict resolution can be taught to managers. Team building exercises can be introduced in connection with personal development work.
• Coaching sessions with individuals- selected individuals, usually key personnel, will receive personal coaching sessions, to provide them with an opportunity to look at their careers in context. Paying attention to the intersection of personal and professional life enhances one's understanding of the dynamics of personal relations at work. Looking at the overall life patterns that a person has established gives new information about potential developments in the present career. It can also highlight typical trouble spots and patterns of unproductive relating that can be tackled and overcome. The individual's frustrations and irritations will be addressed and taken as a guide to desirable change. Realistic planning of a strategy for change will be follow from this. Supervised practice of everyday exchanges with colleagues and of interpersonal relations at all levels will enhance the individual's effectiveness in the organisation. Assessment and long term follow up of the impact of the coaching intervention can be provided.
• Mentoring- we can shadow individual staff members in their everyday activities, sitting in on meetings or interviews they conduct, training sessions or presentations they give. Review sessions to discuss and assess effectiveness in their interactions can be provided and this can be linked in with a coaching or training element for enhanced effect. Specific targets for improvement can be set in conjunction with the rest of the staff team and results can be regularly monitored. Teams can be mentored and monitored in a similar fashion.
• Action intervention with staff teams- entire teams can be helped to deal with specific difficulties in setting up action scenarios where they get trained to deal with specific individuals. Through the use of role play and group interventions individuals can be given new ways of approaching situations or people that were previously feared or avoided. Staff can be given an opportunity to explore inter-personal conflicts with an independent group leader. Retreats can be organised for longer periods of time for a particular staff group to do team building exercises and recover the ability to work co-operatively. Specific team work can be organised to enhance leadership skills in those who need them.

For further information about the Centre, about our consultancy service, or about our courses, contact us at:

Centre for the Study of Conflict and Reconciliation,
School of Health and Related Research,
Regent Court,
30 Regent Street,
Sheffield S1 4DA
UK

Phone: +44 (0)114 222 0786
Fax:+44 (0)114 272 4
E-mail: s.b.proctor@sheffield.ac.uk

Last updated: 14 July 2004

Last updated: 23 May 2011