Who am I?

 

Hello, I’m Alison Clayton-Smith. If you are interested in finding out more about the person behind Growing Insights then read on.

 Career background and learning

I started out in social care working with adults with learning difficulties. I worked mainly with adults who had no verbal communication. This was both rewarding and challenging. I learnt how to build rapport without speaking. One of my favourite moments was when a colleague and I took one client 10 pin bowling. The gentleman, somewhere in his 80s, had been in a long-stay institution most of his life. He’d never bowled before. He loved it!

Around 1997 I decided I needed a change. A year later (via part-time jobs and further study) I found myself in an international law firm in the City of London. I stayed there for 9 years working my way from Admin Assistant to Training and Development Consultant. I learnt so much there that it is impossible to list it all. Probably the main ones were the technical skills of HR and Training. That, and how to fit into a corporate environment.

Then in January 2007 I became a freelance Trainer, Coach and Facilitator. I’d always wanted to be my own boss and with support from my law firm colleagues, I made the leap. Since then my work has been mainly designing and delivering training, coaching and facilitation for clients in the legal and not-for-profit sectors.

Over the past year I have been looking at how I can bring ecopsychology and mindfulness into this existing work and into new ways of working with individuals and organisations.This work builds on my own practices around mindfulness, meditation and yoga. I consider myself to be a pragmatic idealist. That is, I believe that we can all contribute to a healthier, more respectful world and at the same time, I know there are many challenges to this. In my own life I have been tusselling with how to live more socially and environmentally responsibly, focusing on small changes within my power. 

Volunteering

Besides my formal career, I’ve done lots of volunteering over the years. In fact, ever since my dad got me involved in delivering leaflets and helping at jumble sales for the political party he supported. Later activities included: being a trainer for local groups of a human rights charity, acting as Charity of the Year co-ordinator for a homeless centre in Hackney (for the law firm) and researching and writing about special trees. Currently I’m: a member of North Herts Timebank, write letters on behalf of prisoners of conscience for Amnesty International UK; am involved with Transition Town Letchworth; and do the occasional micro-volunteering project through Sparked.com.

Qualifications, memberships and other development

Here are a list of things I’ve completed as part of my development:

  •  Ecopsychology Distance Learning course with Dave Key (in progress)
  • Transitions course with Re:Vision
  • Introduction to Focusing
  • Natural Change for Facilitators course
  • MSc in Organizational Behaviour
  • Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
  • Proofreading Today course (Merit) run by Editorial Training.
  • Experienced user of personality profiling tools: Myers-Briggs, Team Management Systems, and Occupational Personality Questionnaire.
  • NLP Practitioner
  • Certificate in Online Learning
  • Certificate in Coaching
  • Facilitator Development Programme
  • OU Introducing Environment course
  • OU Economics and Economic Change course via OU

I am currently applying to for Re:Vision’s Foundation course in October with the hope of emabarking on training as a psychotherapist.

Values to work by

When I work with clients I value:

  • Integrity
  • Respect
  • Commitment
  • Valuing reflection
  • Having fun

Location

I am based in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, UK. Letchworth is the first Garden City, designed by Ebenezer Howard, a Quaker. It is a beautiful place with unique houses, lots of trees and wide open green spaces. Letchworth is also home to the black squirrel!