Working with Neurodivergence: Taming the Inner Critic (FD2DEC26)

This session explores the “inner critic” and how self-critical thinking can develop within the context of medical training and high-performance environments. We will consider how the inner critic can influence confidence, engagement with feedback, performance and progression.

The session will focus on how educators can recognise and respond to self-critical patterns, including how feedback, supervision and workplace culture may reinforce or reduce these patterns. Practical strategies will be shared to support more balanced internal dialogue and psychologically safe learning environments.

The session is interactive and reflective in style, using a combination of brief teaching, guided reflection and discussion. It is suitable for all educators, including those supporting doctors in training and those who identify as neurodivergent themselves.

Booking courses

Please ensure that you check your availability before booking a place and add the booking to your diary / calendar. Please ensure that you also book the relevant study leave in advance with your employer.

Please refrain from booking multiple instances of the same course or course type to ensure that places are available to your colleagues. If a course is full, please add yourself to the waiting list and you will receive a notification if a place becomes available.

Joining Instructions

This is a virtual course, the joining instructions for the virtual meeting will be added to the documents section (above) before the course. Please ensure that you are able to access this before the course so that you are ready to join on the day.

Booking cancellation

Participants must make every effort to attend courses they have booked. If your availability changes after booking, please cancel your place through Maxcourse as soon as possible. This will release the place for colleagues on the waiting list.

If you need to cancel within 1 week of the course or the course has started and you are not able to attend, please email england.lsfdcourses.yh@nhs.net to give your apologies

This course is only available to Educational Supervisors, Education Leads, Training Programme Directors and Senior Faculty within Yorkshire and the Humber.

Mandatory: Dentist, or Doctor, or Public Health Professional

To support educators to understand self-critical thinking in medical training and develop strategies to recognise and respond to it in ways that support confidence, learning and wellbeing.

This course will:

• Introduce the concept of the inner critic and its key features.
• Explore how self-critical thinking develops and is reinforced in medical training.
• Examine the impact of the inner critic on confidence, performance and engagement with feedback. 
• Explore the role of the educator in recognising and responding to self-critical patterns.
• Provide opportunities for guided reflection on individual experiences. 
• Introduce practical strategies to support more balanced internal dialogue and psychologically safe learning environments.

After this course, delegates will be able to:

• Understand the concept of the inner critic and its relevance in medical training.
• Recognise how self-critical thinking may present in the workplace.
• Understand the impact of the inner critic on confidence, performance and engagement with feedback. 
• Reflect on their own responses and/or those they support (if applicable).
• Apply practical strategies to support more balanced internal dialogue and effective learning environments.