4-session course: Intro to Facilitation Skills for Experts by Experience and Co-production Work

This is an interactive course that will give participants a grounding in facilitation techniques alongside development of practical skills, confidence and ambition to take their group and co production work to the next level.

The course is delivered using an experiential approach; participants doing the activities themselves and then unpacking and reflecting, and discussing how they'd work in different contexts etc.

YOUR COMMITMENT

We have very limited spaces for this course. The course is free, but to take up a place you must be willing to commit to attending all the sessions. 

We also ask participants to help us evaluate the course and their learning afterwards with an evaluation survey and writing a short reflective blog post. 

COURSE DATES

• Intro call - Monday 15th January, 1:30pm - 2:30 pm 
• Session #1 - Monday 22nd January, 1:30pm - 4:30pm
• Session #2 - Monday 29th January, 1:30pm - 4:30pm
• Session #3 -Monday 5th February, 1:30pm - 4:30pm
• Session #4 - Monday 12th February, 1:30pm - 4:30pm

TO APPLY

Please complete this Application Form by 22nd of December 2023 telling us why you would like to join this course and how you plan to put the training into action in your organisation.

Please confirm whether you can make all the dates listed and any access requirements you have.

Please note - places are limited and we do prioritise places based on selection criteria including: organisations who have taken part in the EBE X Co Production Network and our engagement target to reach grassroots / community led organisations and those led by a leader with lived experience. We also reserve places for participants with lived experience.

COURSE CONTENT

(This is a guide and may be adapted) 

Session 1:

• Breaking the ice (energisers, getting the group talking/sharing)
• Creating the container (Learning Agreements, rituals)
• Building Trust (Making use of the learning agreement, check in and check out, ensuring people are heard)

Session 2:

• Establishing the group (Building rapport, roles)
• Learning Styles Awareness (Types of activities to include, understanding impact of preferred ways of learning, variety of pair work, small groups and individual work)
• Planning (What needs to be considered? Energy, pace, breaks, objectives, variety of activities)

Session 3:

• Listening Skills (Active listening activities)
• Creating options/choices (Different ways in, people have different ways of being included)

Session 4:

• Group vs facilitator responsibility (Modelling energy and participation, getting group ‘buy in’, the facilitator does not need to have all the answers, experience as expertise, group working for itself, peer support)

REVIEWS

What previous attendees have said:

“Being in the position of the participant really helped me understand what it must be like for our clients joining our groups and what a positive experience could look like”

"The best thing about these courses is the enthusiasm given to it by all; the quality of the facilitation; the way that all activities modelled inclusion and were designed to carefully build confidence and participation; the ability to learn from others".

"I was pleased to learn about the theory behind becoming a facilitator and the things to consider when running an EBE group. Examining on things like language to use to make groups accessible and inclusive was invaluable and something I didn't think about prior to the training. Learning about different ice breakers were also great and I will definitely use those moving forward."

The course trainer is Lauren Maile-Wilson.