The FoNS Residential Programme: Facilitating the development of person-centred cultures
25th March 2026: Due to current financial constraints across health and social care, this programme is currently only available via our scholarships:
FoNS is a leader in culture change in health and social care across the UK and our programme facilitators bring significant experience working with health and care leaders and teams across the system. We understand how challenging workplace environments and team dynamics impact on practice, leadership, outcomes and experiences of care.
The residential programme will help participants to develop knowledge, skills and confidence in facilitating the development of person-centred cultures. Participants will have the opportunity to:
- Explore and clarify some of the key underpinning concepts
- Experience, critique and practise the use of methods and approaches that are participatory, creative and critical
- Network with others involved in leading and facilitating culture change
Date: 22-26 June 2026, with arrival on 21 June 2026
Location: Norton Park Hotel, Winchester, SO21 3NB
Cost: The Residential Programme is only available via the schoalrships
What’s included: This includes all programme materials, accommodation (Sunday – Thursday), breakfast (Monday-Friday), evening meal (Sunday-Thursday) and lunch, morning and afternoon tea (Monday-Friday). The cost includes accommodation on the Sunday night before the programme starts.
Rooms are single occupancy, with an en-suite bathroom.
Previous experience needed: All that is needed is an openness to experiencing new ways of learning and an enthusiasm for exploring person-centred ways of working.
How to register: Download the brochure, read the terms and conditions below, complete a registration form with full invoicing details and email to [email protected].
Residential Programme Brochure 2026
Any extras: You will need to pay your own transport costs to and from the venue and any additional drinks in the evening or alcoholic drinks. You’ll need to make your own arrangements for dinner on Sunday evening 21 June.
Is funding available: Most participants are funded by their trusts or employers. In some cases, participants have accessed funds from their trust charity.
This programme is designed for any health and social care practitioners who are interested in the transformation of teams, services and cultures of care so that they are person-centred.
Participants may be:
- Clinical and team leaders, educators or researchers, nurses and midwives, allied health professionals and doctors etc.
- Involved in, or responsible for, leading (or aspiring to lead) and facilitating health and care teams, person-centred ways of working, practice development, transformation of services, quality improvement, practice education, professional advocacy and strategic planning and leadership
- Working in any area of health or social care, in the UK or internationally
The Residential Programme will be led by Dr Kate Sanders Director of Programme Development. Kate Sanders joined FoNS as a facilitator about 20 years ago. Prior to this she worked clinically in a variety of acute and community settings where she became increasingly interested and involved in activities and initiatives to innovate and improve practice.
She completed her doctoral studies in early 2022 at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, which focused on the well-being of staff and how this impacts on their ability to be creative and innovative and to deliver person-centred care.
She will be joined by Sheila McGovern. Sheila is a person-centred facilitator at FoNS and is passionate about supporting person-centred cultures to grow and the provision of restorative clinical supervision for nurses working in all sectors of healthcare. She has many years of experience in community complex care, caring for children and young adults with life-limiting illness and in adult end of life and palliative care.
Key areas of learning include:
The residential programme will enable participants to develop knowledge, skills and confidence in facilitating the development of person-centred cultures through the following key areas of learning:
- Psychologically safe learning environments
- Knowledge of self
- Understanding of person-centredness and person-centred cultures
- Facilitation skills to enable participatory approaches to learning and development for all
- Exploring, evaluating and co-producing cultures of care
- Healthful relationships and team-working
- Creativity to reveal and share experiential and embodied knowledge
- Critical reflection and active learning
- Evaluation as a process of learning to inform development
- Application of learning to practice
The focus of the FoNS residential programme is practical and workplace orientated. But FoNS is keen to offer enhanced support to participants through our mentorship scheme.
Bespoke mentorship for 12 months post residential programme:
- Mentorship will comprise four 2 hour sessions and cancellations by the mentee will be deducted from the number of sessions offered
- Mentorship may include online video calls, email and telephone access to your own dedicated facilitator
- Participants decide on their own priorities and targets
- Consolidates residential programme learning
- Just tick the box on the registration form
Dear Diary
A Factional Summary of the FoNS Residential Programme Evaluation Report
Sunday 22 April 2024
Arrived. First impressions – Sedgebrook Hall is a fantastic location, not far from Northampton. The staff are very friendly, and helpful. Looks like there’s lots of outside space to explore.
Feeling excited and nervous at the same time. Looking forward to meeting the facilitators – Kate Sanders, Person-centred Practice Facilitator, Foundation of Nursing Studies, UK; Sheila McGovern, Associate Facilitator, Foundation of Nursing Studies, UK; and Maria Mackay, Independent Facilitator, Australia, as well as the other participants.
I’m hoping to network and to improve my knowledge, develop new skills and learn about workplace culture and feel more confident to make positive changes. I want to gain new ideas and to develop and enhance my practice; to be inspired and re-ignite my passion!
But I’m also a bit worried that I might find myself out of my comfort zone and that I will not be able to make a change in workplace. It’s pretty tough in practice at the moment.