The Relational Practice Academy
Unlocking the power of good relationships
Relationships are the bedrock upon which all else is built. How we relate to one another has an impact on everything we do and on everything we care about.
And yet, as a society, we undervalue good relationships, prioritising perceived efficiency over human connection.
We can learn to relate to one another better and how to transform situations and systems shaped by mistrust, power imbalance and division.
That’s why we’re building the Relational Practice Academy: a space for existing, emerging and next generation leaders to set course for a different future, to nurture the skills, design the policies and create the conditions that will bring about a world of good relationships.
“This work is of immense importance in these anxious and uncertain times. The Relational Practice Academy has a vital role to play.”
– Rt Hon Gordon Brown
Our first cohorts
Relational Funders
Over 12 months, our Relational Funders cohort is exploring what relational funding can look like in practice: testing new approaches, working through challenges, and learning together along the way.
So far, we’ve been reflecting on how to navigate power imbalances, how relational offsetting might work, which permissions need to shift, how evaluation affects relationships, and how to have difficult conversations in relational ways.
Local Communities
In partnership with Our Future, we’re working alongside inspiring local individuals in North East Lincolnshire and Rochdale to put relationships at the heart of their communities. Together, we’ll be exploring how to bridge differences and build trust, how to embed relational ways of working for the long term, how to tell our stories of change, and much more.
Community Bridgebuilders
We’ve been working with brilliant local people in Newcastle and Middlesbrough to build stronger, kinder connections within and between communities, using the power of creative conversations.
Alongside these cohorts, we are delivering a number of shorter programmes and introductory sessions. We’re delighted to be partnering with the Confederation of School Trusts to deliver a three-part series on relational practice for school trusts. Katherine Perrin, Head of the Academy, shares more here.
If you’d like to commission or be part of a cohort, get in touch. hello@relationshipsproject.org
Our curriculum
The Academy explores:
How do we bridge differences and build trust? Navigate and reshape power imbalances? Have challenging conversations in relational ways? Resolve and utilise conflict? Ensure relational approaches are equitable and safe for all? Recognise where a transaction is enough? What is the role of technology in relational practice? How to design relationships back into our systems and processes?
The programme is informed by the wisdom of thousands of relational practitioners and real life examples of what is possible. It is also underpinned by research, concepts and approaches drawn from academic disciplines, including social capital, social contact theory, conflict transformation, nonviolent communication, peacebuilding and mediation theory. But the principal aim isn’t to teach the theory. It is to support learners to put relationships into practice with tools and strategies that are evidence-based, tried and tested.
Wisdom and rebellion
Change across whole systems and communities is about individual behaviour and it is about the structural context which can design out, or design in, effective relationships. The Relational Practice Academy addresses both. To do that, we’re committed to long-form programmes for our learners. Why?
To change our own behaviour we need time to think it through, try things out and reflect. Behaviour change is compelled from within, plugging into the wisdom from our ancestors as much as our own instincts. We can’t develop this wisdom in one day or even a week of training.
At the same time, changing organisations is a painstaking process. Sustainable systemic change is essentially a radical effort and a team enterprise, overturning existing custom and practice, challenging processes and structures, creating and persuading. It is an act of rebellion.
Our curriculum stresses the symbiosis of this wisdom and rebellion.
A Help Yourself pathway
We are also developing a Help Yourself pathway, open to anyone interested in relational practice. To be the first to hear about this, sign up to the Relationships Project newsletter.
Upcoming Opportunities
After a successful pilot in Newcastle, the Community Bridgebuilders programme came to Middlesbrough in January 2026. Watch the video to learn more. If you want to make your town a better and safer place, get in touch with Neil about bringing the programme to your community at Neil at neil@relationshipsproject.org.
A collaborative venture
We cannot do this work alone, nor would we wish to. Whether you have ideas, critiques, resources, are keen to help us deliver the curriculum, or have something else to offer, we’d love to hear from you.
The Relational Practice Academy has grown from the Relationships Project, a field builder committed to the belief that everything works better when relationships work well.
The Relationships Project is developing the Relational Practice Academy, in collaboration with others, to meet the need for training in relational practice.
