What Matters in That Environment? Reflections from a We See You Workshop

The other week Dave Mather and I facilitated a We See You workshop for colleagues from the University.

Dave's work focuses on recognition, identity and belonging, drawing on his expertise in Armed Forces education and his longstanding commitment to supporting service-connected communities within higher education. He works incredibly hard to raise awareness and give a voice to the importance of recognising Armed Forces, veteran and Blue Light communities, helping others better understand their experiences and the valuable contribution they make to our society.

At its heart, We See You is an institutional awareness initiative. The aim is not to provide support or tell people what to think, but to increase recognition and understanding of service-connected communities and the experiences that can shape them.

In many ways, We See You is an invitation to become curious. To move beyond assumptions and ask better questions about the experiences, environments and relationships that shape us.

My role within the workshop was simply to help people notice. To notice the qualities that are valued in high-stakes environments, the adaptations those environments can encourage, and how those patterns can continue to shape us long after the environment itself has changed

As part of my contribution to the workshop, I introduced a simple question:

"What matters in that environment? What is valued?"

When people think about Armed Forces or emergency service communities, there can be a tendency to jump straight to the challenges. We talk about transition, wellbeing, trauma and support.

These conversations are important, but I think we sometimes miss something fundamental.

Before we ask about difficulties, we need to understand what the environment requires.

So I asked the group what they thought mattered in high-stakes environments such as the Armed Forces and emergency services.

The answers came quickly.

Teamwork.

Trust.

Discipline.

Readiness.

Loyalty.

Professionalism.

Responsibility.

What struck me was that nobody needed teaching. People already understood these qualities. The conversation simply created space to notice them.

This is one of the reasons I often use the ACT Matrix in my facilitation.

Not because I am trying to teach a psychological model, but because it provides a simple way of helping people notice patterns.

Patterns of behaviour.

Patterns of thinking.

Patterns of response.

Patterns that often make perfect sense once we understand the environment that shaped them.

The workshop was never about diagnosing people or explaining away behaviour. It was about increasing awareness.

What happens when a nervous system spends years adapting to environments where vigilance, control and rapid decision-making are valued?

What happens when those adaptations are no longer needed in the same way?

What transfers well?

What becomes more difficult?

These are not questions about pathology.

They are questions about adaptation.

As someone who grew up in an Armed Forces family, with a father who served as a bomb disposal operator in Northern Ireland, this way of thinking has helped me make sense of experiences that I could feel long before I had language for them.

Many of the qualities discussed in the workshop, discipline, readiness, loyalty and responsibility, were simply part of the world I grew up around. It has taken me many years, and a great deal of self-reflection, to begin understanding how environments can shape not only what we do, but how we learn to respond to the world.

Education, alongside the ACT Matrix, has played a huge role in that process, both professionally and personally.

Not because it gave me all the answers, but because it gave me better questions. Questions that helped me become more aware of my own inner world, my patterns of behaviour and the ways I respond to life. In turn, that awareness has helped me develop greater understanding, empathy and compassion for others.

Perhaps that is what We See You is really trying to do.

Not provide answers.

Not fix people.

But create opportunities for greater awareness, understanding and recognition.

For me, understanding began when I stopped asking what was wrong and started asking what made sense.

Sometimes understanding begins with something surprisingly simple.

Asking:

"What is valued? What really matters in that environment?"