The learning from action (LfA) programme: reflections on how it has evolved

Purpose The learning from action (LfA) workshop was born more than 20 years ago and held in various places in Italy. This study aims to provide a learning experience for therapeutic communities (TCs) workers. During these years, the LfA work has developed by creating a dialogue between the experiential conferences and the group relations conferences (GRC) run by the Tavistock Institute. In this paper, the author explores the dialogue between (the leadership-oriented) GRC and (democratic) TC culture. Design/methodology/approach The authors intend to show how this dialogue has developed in LfA, describing tasks, purposes and critical aspects of LfA specific events: decision-making plenary, decision-making, TCs, action, dialog between cultures, GRC, learning methodology, decision-making group, activity group, morning and evening community meetings. Findings The authors confirmed the idea that acting and working together is a way of learning and communicating with each other. The role activities and works the authors do together to provide for the community in LfA have a more authentic quality of life than the purely verbal reflective work of a GRC. Originality/value The paper describes how LfA has developed and consolidated over the years, constituting an original learning model inspired by the typical activities of the culture of democratic TCs and the learning methodology of GRCs.