Holding/containing Turbulence

Bio

Dr Kalina Stamenova's doctoral research at the University of Essex explored the role of envy in learning groups using psychoanalytic observational methods. Since then, her research has expanded into the emotional and relational dynamics of online and hybrid working, with a focus on containment, virtual collaboration, leadership, and unconscious group processes in digital environments. She has extensive experience in teaching, doctoral supervision, reflective practice, and group relations work. At the University of Essex, she developed The Unconscious in Individuals, Groups and Society, integrating psychoanalytic concepts with experiential and group relations methodologies. Her work is influenced by Tavistock traditions and informed by psychoanalytic, systemic, and relational approaches to organisations and learning.

She has facilitated reflective groups, work discussion groups, leadership workshops, and experiential learning events for students, educators, and organisational practitioners. Her consulting practice focuses on authority, role, organisational culture, unconscious dynamics, and the emotional experience of working within institutions and systems. She is especially interested in how organisations respond to anxiety, uncertainty, and change, and how reflective practice can support more thoughtful and humane ways of working.

She currently serves as Associate Director of Leading and Working from the Screen at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations and as a staff member on Group Relations Conferences in the UK. She also supervises doctoral research in psychoanalytic and organisational studies and serves as Book Review Editor for the Journal of Organisational and Social Dynamics.

Her philosophy is grounded in the belief that learning and organisational life are deeply emotional and relational processes. She sees psychoanalytic and group relations approaches as offering important ways of understanding the hidden dynamics that influence individuals, groups, and institutions, particularly in times of uncertainty and transition.

Thomas' hope is to contribute to making organisations more humane.

He believes life, including the workplace, is inherently relational — shaped by the groups, systems, and contexts we inhabit.

His philosophy is to combine candour and empathy to create spaces where people can safely examine assumptions, be challenged, connect with others, and discover new possibilities for themselves and their organisations.

Over the last several years he has enhanced his extensive professional experience by learning from, and working with, leaders across the executive coaching, group dynamics, and systems psychodynamics fields.

A graduate of the NIODA Master of Leadership and Management – Organisation Dynamics, he combines a deep understanding of working in large organisations with a passion for supporting others as they work toward gaining deeper awareness of their actions and drivers.