Real voices from council life

This course is built around lived experience. Clerks, councillors, officers and community voices share what council life can feel like from the inside. Meetings. Papers. pressure. purpose. The parts that work. The parts that quietly don’t.

Notice what sits underneath

A different way to notice behaviour This is not about labelling people. It is about noticing what might sit underneath behaviour, communication, overwhelm, silence, directness or frustration. Sometimes what looks difficult is actually someone trying very hard to take part.

Start better conversations

Conversation prompts for councils Each film is supported by simple reflection sheets designed to open safe, useful conversations. Use them alone, with staff, with councillors, or as part of whole council training. The aim is not to get everything right. It is to start noticing what could work better.

About the Course

This is a free course, designed to follow on your own or as a whole council training, where discussions can be held after each section.  Council life isn’t one-size-fits-all. This course delves into the varied experiences and challenges faced in council settings, offering practical solutions and insights to empower you to navigate meetings and decisions effectively.  If you've ever felt out of place or struggled to communicate in council environments, this course is designed to provide clarity and actionable strategies to help you thrive.

About the Creator

Becky Walsh is the founder of Council Culture, a specialist training and advisory business supporting UK town, community and parish councils. Becky brings together psychology, behaviour, communication and lived experience in local government and has been a trainer for the SLCC for almost a decade. She works with officers, clerks, councillors and chairs to create shared language, clear standards and calmer ways of handling pressure, disagreement and public scrutiny. Becky is a qualified counsellor and coach, with a background in communications, training and performance. She translates complex psychological ideas into plain English and practical action that works inside real council settings. Council Culture training is known for being human, grounded and effective. Participants understand why behaviour happens, how power dynamics show up, and what to do differently next time. This leads to better meetings, clearer decision making and healthier working relationships. Council Culture delivers training online and in person across the UK, including civility and respect, creating a strategy, communications and engagement, leadership under pressure and culture reset work. These online courses are designed to give councils accessible, practical learning they can return to again and again. www.councilculture.uk

Course Curriculum

8 Chapters · 32 Lessons

  1. 1

    Understanding Council Culture

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Why This Matters in Councils

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Think access, not advantage

  2. 2

    Experiencing Council Life - Clerks

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Who Gets Heard in the Room?

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      The Pace, Pressure and Humanity of Being a Clerk

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      The Clerk as Translator, Juggler and Quiet Guide

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Formality, Power and Voice: Making Council Meetings Work for People

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Reflection: Group Dynamics, Assumptions and Different Minds

  3. 3

    Experiencing Council Life - Councillors

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      From Intimidation to Confidence: Finding Your Way in Council

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Overwhelm, Access and Speaking at the Right Time

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Becoming a Voice: When Confidence Meets Uncertainty

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Reflection. Who Feels Councils Are “For People Like Them”?

  4. 4

    Conversation handouts

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      How to use the handouts

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      The messages people carry into work

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      What you see is not always what’s happening

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Masking and its cost

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Completion, avoidance and frustration

    6. (Included in full purchase)

      When it feels like an excuse

    7. (Included in full purchase)

      The strengths that often get missed

    8. (Included in full purchase)

      Inclusion is what happens after people arrive

  5. 5

    Different ways brains process council life - Experts

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Quiet Inclusion: Small Changes That Help Everyone Work Better

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Seeing Differently: Neurodivergence, Strength and the Human Experience

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Working Memory, Confidence and the Pressure of Meetings

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Different Minds. Different Strengths.

  6. 6

    Conversation handouts

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Not mild to severe. More like a sound desk

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Attention, pace and council meetings

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Clarity, directness and communication

    4. (Included in full purchase)

      Written information, mistakes and confidence

    5. (Included in full purchase)

      Numbers, time and overload

  7. 7

    Possible Practical Solutions

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Practical solutions we learnt from the interviews

    2. (Included in full purchase)

      Psychological safety score card

    3. (Included in full purchase)

      Useful for everyone essential for some

  8. 8

    Thank you and whats next

    1. (Included in full purchase)

      Thank you

There's nothing more important than the community we serve.

This course is free because this isn’t just training. It’s about changing how people experience council life once they’re already in the room. We often focus on how to invite people to become councillors, or recruitment. We spend less time thinking about how we include them once they arrive. And that’s where many people quietly struggle. If you already feel like you don’t quite fit, the last thing you want is to stand out. So you stay quiet. You adapt. Or you step back altogether. These are not easy conversations to have. They sit underneath behaviour, communication, and meetings. They’re often felt but rarely named. This course is designed to open that door. To make those conversations easier to start. And to create council environments where more people can contribute in a way that works for them. Making it free removes the barrier. It allows more people to access it, reflect on it, and begin those conversations safely. Because inclusion doesn’t start with recruitment. It starts with experience.

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