24 practical insights from our Inner Critic Workshop at Guildford College, where counselling students loved the tools (Part 1)

Team Gridmoves
Feb 13
4 min read

Updated: Oct 3

Titled “Confront the Grey Voices: Overcome Your Inner Critic”, the session focused on helping participants challenge their inner critic, the Grey Voices, while equipping them with practical strategies for emotional clarity, self-reflection and growth.

We had the privilege of hosting a powerful workshop with second-year counselling students from Activate Learning Guildford, led by competition winner Maggie King, who brought incredible warmth, insight and clarity to the session.

Competition WInner

Maggie won a national competition run in partnership with Counselling First and endorsed by the CPCAB. The prize? A fully facilitated experience of one of our signature Grid Society workshops, delivered live and in-room to her training centre.

Titled “Confront the Grey Voices: Overcome Your Inner Critic”, the session focused on helping participants challenge their inner critic, the Grey Voices, while equipping them with practical strategies for emotional clarity, self-reflection and growth.

Inner Critic Workshop Day

The day was made even more impactful by the presence of Maggie and her two fellow counselling leads, who brought high energy, unwavering support and a shared commitment to their students’ development.

We were genuinely humbled by the atmosphere in the room. It was open, thoughtful, energised, and we were moved by the feedback that followed. The Grid Concept used as a tool for our Inner Critic Workshop seemed to resonate deeply, and the reflections speak for themselves.

Read Part 2 of this blog post - here

Once the works ended, the reflections began. Here's what stood out.

Did you find the workshop helpful?

Great Work

Yes! It went with our college course so well and will build my confidence hugely! really great self-development work.
Yes - interesting and simple way of looking at mental health. Gave me a better understanding of myself.

Awareness

Yes, it helped to explore my own thoughts. It allowed me to put some perspective on them.
Yes, very helpful. Thank you. It's brought my awareness to how I talk to myself in a negative way without consciously considering how damaging and limiting this behaviour is.

Grid Colour Codes

Yes. Acknowledging my grey voices & writing them down was cathartic.
The workshop was amazing and I feel that I learnt so much about how to manage grey thoughts and spend more time and energy focusing on turning them into green and orange.

Challenge Negative Thoughts

Yes. I’ve been thinking about the unhelpful aspects of my inner monologue recently. The workshop provided a really useful model to help challenge my grey thoughts.
It made me see a way I can combat grey thoughts more clearly.
It helps the mind focus on what voices we have of ourselves.
It provided a great model to start challenging difficult thoughts.
It was a really good way of taking control of my grey voice.

Attendees left with actionable strategies to apply to their daily lives and professional practices:

How will you use the tools?

Noticing the grey more and confronting it.
I will always categorise my thoughts into grey, green and orange.
By saying my orange affirmations every day.
I will look at the grid periodically to ensure I’m keeping on track.
Challenge my grey thoughts and develop my green and orange.
I will work through the handout and use it to challenge a pervasive grey thought that I have. I would then like to look at your other material.
Noticing the grey more and confronting it. Using it to encourage reluctant clients to open up.
This will be good to use not only for self (self-awareness) but also in counselling sessions with clients

Final Thoughts

It is so empowering and will help massively going forward
Practical way of overcoming thoughts - effective and easy to use
Clear and simple
Highly actionable
Very enlightening.
Amazing tools to use for myself and my clients

The reflections speak for themselves. Confront the Grey Voices: Overcome Your Inner Critic gave students a clear introduction to Grid Society tools that are practical, visual and easy to apply. Whether used for personal growth or in future client sessions, these tools left an impression. We are grateful to Maggie King and the Guildford team for welcoming this workshop into their space and giving it their full energy.

This workshop session reminded us why the work matters.

Visual from Grid Society’s online CPD workshop showing a laptop, printed workbook, and slide deck used to teach tools for qualified and student counsellors.

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About - Silencing the Inner Critic

Silencing the Inner Critic is a 6-hour live CPD workshop co-created by Counselling First and Grid Society. Backed by over 100 verified reviews and officially endorsed by CPCAB, this session is designed to expand your practice, not replace it, offering modern tools that work seamlessly with your existing modality.

Whether your clients spiral into overthinking, freeze under pressure, or carry a harsh inner narrative, this workshop gives you adaptable strategies that help them express what they are feeling, so you can work at greater depth, not just surface level.

The day is structured, practical and rooted in real-world application, no roleplay, no over-theoretical content. Just a proven framework you can use in the counselling room immediately.