Clear(ing) space: Mindfulness-based reflective practice

This paper reports on an enquiry into how practitioners working in health care environments bring mindfulness, a particular kind of practice of reflection, into their professional and personal lives. Nine participants engaged in group discussion, Haiku poetry writing and the recording of personal audio diaries. Thematic analysis of the diaries indicates a transcending theme that being in the here and now can highlight discomfort, pain and uncertainty. Within this, subthemes illustrate that mindfulness can act as a support to personal and professional development, to the content and process of clinical work and as a means to support dealing with work-related stress. A final theme illustrates participants’ experiences of using the research process to facilitate their ongoing reflective practice. The paper concludes with a note on what has been identified as ‘mindfulness-based reflective practice’: a practice that can bring vitality and fluidity to critical reflection.