Study Groups

A small group of practitioners meeting regularly — over video or in person — to work through clinical material together. The format is structured: a text or case for the session, a reading note or case summary prepared in advance, and two to three hours of discussion guided by a set of questions.

Groups work through primary research literature, clinical essays, or specific theoretical frameworks — not introductory textbooks. The assumption is that participants have enough clinical experience to bring the material into contact with practice, not just with ideas.

• Manual practitioners and somatic therapists who want to engage seriously with the current literature — pain science, predictive processing, active inference — without doing it alone
• Practitioners preparing for research or writing who want to develop their ability to read and apply primary sources
• Colleagues who have found individual consultation or mentoring useful and want a more sustained, collective form of engagement
• Groups of colleagues from the same or complementary modalities who want external facilitation and a reading structure

Study groups are not introductory — they assume clinical experience and a tolerance for slow, careful reading.

Groups meet monthly or bi-monthly. Each session is built around a specific text or case — readings are short (typically under 20 pages) and circulated in advance with a guiding note. Sessions run 90–120 minutes.

Groups can be configured around a theme (pain science, biodynamic practice, somatic therapy and manual assessment) or built from participant interests at the initial meeting. I facilitate the discussion and provide the reading structure; the content of each session emerges from the group.

Groups can be formed from individuals who enquire separately, or from an existing team or practice that wants external facilitation.

A group can also include an in-person, hands-on component — working hand on hand, the traditional osteopathic mode in which palpatory skill is passed directly between practitioners. Where a group wants this, sessions combine reading and case discussion with shared clinical practice. Note that I only teach osteopathy itself to osteopaths with four or more years of training.