This session covers the basic roles and responsibilities of a group facilitator. It introduces how to establish and maintain trust with group participants, how to create a safe space, and how to meet people where they are at by being present with them.

Part of building relationships with group participants includes setting boundaries and creating clear expectations. This session addresses ways to think about boundaries, enforce them kindly, and explore and consider the ethics of group facilitation.

Active listening is being present and focused on what participants are communicating. This session introduces the basic practices of active listening, including affirmation, paraphrasing, reflecting content, reflecting feelings, summarizing, and non-verbal communication.

This session covers the basics of how individuals change their behavior and introduces models for understanding the process of generating behavior change. Strategies for supporting and facilitating participants through their behavior change goals are also discussed.

This session guides facilitators through telling the relevant details of their life to group participants at the right time and in the most useful ways. Facilitators can also help consumers find ways to tell their stories.

This session introduces different types of questions facilitators might ask group participants to elicit information needed to support them. It also provides strategies for blending questioning with other facilitating skills to help participants gain insights and move forward.

Unlike active listening or asking questions, direct communication requires you to share your ideas, perceptions, and insights with the group participants. Offering your observations or opinions requires attention and skills to ensure that it is received as supportive. This session introduces different types of direct communication and when those strategies might be useful for supporting the group.

Planning for the end of the group workshops is an important part of the facilitators’ role. This session covers when and how to give referrals and the strategies and tasks for facilitating a good ending for the group.

Being a group facilitator is both rewarding and taxing. It is important that facilitators take care of themselves so they can continue to be great facilitators. This session introduces the idea of self-care and guides facilitators on how to recognize signs of stress, sources of support, and other strategies for self-care.

Facilitators should be familiar with the guidelines for providing reasonable accommodations in a workshop setting. This session introduces basic accessibility practices, and how to create a successful workshop space for everyone.