Issue seven – Autumn 2026
Welcome to our newsletter, which is aimed at everyone who has been on Next Step Cards training.
If there is anything you would like to see included in the newsletter, of if you have any queries at all,
please just let Jenny know by emailing: cwp.
Save the date – our Better Practice Event is back!
We’re delighted to announce that our annual Next Step Cards Better Practice Event is returning for its third year on Wednesday 18 November 2026, from 9.30am until 3pm at the Holiday Inn, Ellesmere Port.
The fully funded event for practitioners who have completed Next Step Cards training is a chance to reconnect, reflect, share practice and continue developing how we use the cards and Goal-Based Outcomes in our work. This year, we’re delighted to welcome two fantastic guest speakers:
Dr Peter Hawkins, Co-Director of Windmills – Social Signature: Leaving Your Mark For Good
This highly interactive and engaging session will help you discover your Social Signature, the mark you leave on others, your community, yourself and the world. The Social Signature Blueprint will explore your four superpowers - ME, WE, THEM and US - that enable each and every one of us to leave our mark for good.
Professor Duncan Law, Consultant Clinical Psychologist – Working with Goals
Duncan will lead an interactive workshop exploring practitioners’ real experiences of working with goals with children and young people - what works, what gets tricky and what can we learn from one another? Through peer problem-solving, Duncan will bring learning from the global Working with Goals community alongside the latest evidence on best practice in working with goals.
There will also be plenty of opportunity for discussion, networking and shared learning, finishing with a Q&A with Kate Henderson, Peter Hawkins and Duncan Law. View the full agenda.
Places are limited and always popular, so early booking is recommended. Book your place via the Microsoft Form.
Thinking Outside the Pack - Reflective Space – Wednesday 25 November 2026
Our next Reflective Space invites you to think outside the pack and explore the many different ways Next Step Cards can be used in practice.
How might the Cards support a conversation with a parent or carer? Could they help us think differently with colleagues or within teams? What else might they offer in our work with adults? And what happens when we turn the Cards towards ourselves and our own reflective practice?
This will be an informal, interactive space to share experiences, hear how other practitioners are using the Cards, explore ideas together and perhaps discover some new ways of using your pack.
Whether you’ve already been experimenting with the cards in different contexts or you’re simply curious about what else might be possible, we’d love you to join us.
Thinking Outside the Pack: Exploring Next Step Cards with adults, parents, colleagues – and ourselves. Please join us at our next Reflective Space by booking here.
A big update to our Next Step Cards toolkit!
Our psychologically informed activities are growing! We started with activities for two Step Cards and, by the end of September / early October, there will be two activities for each of the 18 Step Cards, plus an additional two new ideas for the Blank Cards - 38 activities in total.
We’ve also created a Next Step Cards Tool Kit Guide, including an Activity Matrix and Reference List, bringing everything together in a stepped approach which helps you to:
NOTICE → EXPLORE → CHOOSE → ACT → REFLECT
Visit the Resources section of our website.
Share your practice
Our case studies section is growing too, so a big thank you to those of you who have shared case studies with us so far. Please keep sharing your anonymised case studies with us - your idea could inspire another practitioner.