About Balint Groups

A Balint group is a group of peers brought together in a workplace setting, facilitated by specially trained leaders, and structured to enable its participants to think together, confidentially, about professional relationships and work that is preoccupying them.

Originally devised to support doctors, Balint groups are now being used globally in the wider healthcare sector, education and most recently in law. In bringing the Balint method to the UK legal profession, our aim is to support practitioners in their work, to enhance lawyers’ professional relationships with others, and to safeguard professional wellbeing.

This method of facilitated group work is valued because of its focus on understanding the impact of day-to-day work and working relationships. In the relational setting of the group, participants develop the capacity for reflection about their work, about themselves in relation to their work, and a stronger ability to navigate the complexity of professional relationships. This increases practitioners’ capacity to tolerate the interpersonal pressures of legal practice, as well as providing relief in the collegiality and support of like-minded colleagues.

Balint group work as a form of reflective practice and in its focus on working with clients and others meets both the SRA and BSB requirements for Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Balint groups are a tried and tested, long established method used over many decades in the medical profession. They are proactive - a structured, purposeful resource designed to enhance good mental wellbeing - not a reactive facility to use at point of crisis or impending crisis. They differ from informal chats and discussion between colleagues in that these groups run on a regular basis in a facilitated, boundaried, confidential and dedicated manner.

    The process of Balint is collaborative and relational, meaning that it is not something you do on your own or 1:1 - it uses the psychologically proven advantage of collective intelligence, of thinking together. This is important because legal practice is based on relationships, on the work done for, and with, clients and with each other. How lawyers relate to each other, and demonstrate self-awareness in professional relationships, matters. There is no better way to develop this relational intelligence than in the context of a group with others.

    Balint work and its impact are evidence-based, proven through decades of research to be effective in supporting other similarly pressured professionals in a comparably demanding environment.

  • Balint groups have been used successfully to support the professional development and wellbeing of doctors for over 60 years. Originally created to help clinicians understand difficult or complicated interactions with patients, they have been adapted over the years into a highly effective resource to support a range of professionals in their working relationships.

    Evidence from global studies across the healthcare sector over many years has shown that Balint groups improve performance, reduce stress, increase both professional and personal resilience, enhance practitioners' professional relationships and raise levels of satisfaction in work. We have little doubt that this will be replicated in the legal sector. UK research has identified the importance of legal sector support tools being evidence-based and run within the workplace, as Balint groups are.

    The successful and longstanding use of Balint groups across the medical profession demonstrates the unique value of supporting professionals in practice through facilitated peer supervision.

    Balint groups within the legal profession therefore aim to:

    • Improve personal and professional resilience by addressing issues leading to stress, anxiety and burnout;

    • Increase self-awareness and understand responses evoked in the lawyer-client relationship which impact work;

    • Work more productively with colleagues and better serve clients;

    • Tolerate the stresses and strains of day-to-day practice;

    • Listen and communicate better and more effectively;

    • Find pleasure and satisfaction in work and professional relationships.

  • Balint sessions are typically conducted with small groups of 8-12 participants and focus on the collective discussion of a perplexing case or matter presented by a participant, with the help of two Balint-trained facilitators. Groups meet at regular intervals, usually once every two to four weeks, for sixty to ninety minute sessions. Participation is on a voluntary basis, but once joined the participants commit to the group. The anonymisation of case details, the confidentiality of the group and all issues discussed in each session is paramount.

    The facilitated conversation begins with an unprepared presentation of a recent case, matter or situation that a practitioner has found challenging in some way. The group discussion which follows explores the case/matter presented, offering varied perspectives and responses, in order to help the presenter think about the issues in a different way. This enables the presenter to better manage the situation/relationship in hand as well as future or similar interactions as they arise in practice.

    Particular importance is attached to establishing a confidential, empathetic group that encourages creative thinking among its members, ensuring that participants feel safe and supported. Rather than focus on the technical/legal aspects of the case, the conversation explores how the work or relationship is experienced by the lawyer as well as by the client and, through its retelling, how it is experienced by members of the group. Through this process, new perspectives are opened up for the presenter and, at the same time, for the whole group about their own work and working relationships.

  • At Balint Legal we have tailored the Balint model to meet the specific needs and concerns of the legal profession.

    We offer structured and professionally-facilitated peer supervision and reflective practice groups (Balint groups) which may be in-person or online. These groups include:

    • Solicitors within or across law firms;

    • Barristers within or across sets of chambers;

    • In-house counsel within or across organisations;

    • Judges and those involved in tribunal work;

    • Independent legal practitioners.

    We also offer the possibility of joining a cross-profession group comprising lawyers in different roles. This is run independently of any firm, set of chambers or other organisation, and brings the opportunity for varied perspectives on work and working relationships in different settings.

  • It is important to emphasise that we are not therapists or counsellors, and we do not work in any clinical mental health capacity. Balint groups are not therapy groups.

    In our work as part of Balint Legal we also do not offer 1:1 coaching or support.

    Rather, our aim is to create a safe and supportive environment for lawyers to engage with their peers in a group setting about issues evoked by their day to day practice and working relationships. Our primary purpose is to develop the capacity of group participants to reflect about their work and its impact, to develop greater self awareness and empathy in the professional setting, and to strengthen their ability to better manage relationships with clients and colleagues in challenging and stressful situations.

    Ultimately our aim is to help lawyers better serve their clients and thrive in the pressurised legal world.

  • Balint groups were developed by Michael and Enid Balint some 60 years ago. At the Tavistock Institute in the early 1950s, Michael and Enid became involved in the training of GPs, developing Balint groups and publishing their research about these groups in The Doctor, His Patient, and the Illness in 1957. This seminal work has been edited and adapted over the years in subsequent publications. 

    We have compiled some resources regarding Balint groups and their development, as well as their application to the legal sector. This can also be accessed under 'Additional Links' at the bottom of our website.