Support Facilitator Programme

Who can benefit from participating in the Support Facilitator programme?

If you are an experienced counsellor, or in the process of becoming one and you would like to learn more about experiential group process you can apply to come and support our Lead Facilitators at our Workshops. If neither of these categories applies to you yet you want to learn more about group processes and to provide support for others, you are also welcome to apply to be one of our Support Facilitators. If the role of Support Facilitator seems of interest to you please read the full explanation of this programme and fill out the application form below.

Expectations of their role as a Support Facilitator

Support Facilitators will be placed in a group with one of our Lead Facilitators where they will be supervised and guided as to the best way they can support that particular group during each group process.

Their level of involvement will depend on their level of experience and their willingness to be involved. If they are new to group work or counselling we will limit their involvement to observing and being a supportive physical presence. As their skills improve they will have the opportunity to be of greater support to our participants and Lead Facilitators. Some processes are done in a large group format and others in smaller groups where the Participant:Lead Facilitator ratio is not greater than 4:1.

Emotions, Thoughts and Events

Experiential group work is specifically designed to encourage the participant to think about their issues, which will then evoke feelings and memories about them. The Lead Facilitators can then work with them to identify, clarify, process and resolve the issues that come up.

At times, participants may experience deep emotion and share with the group about past or current events in their lives that were/are traumatic and these may be upsetting for a new Support Facilitator to listen to especially if they are new to the field of counselling. Even so, a quality necessary for a Support Facilitator is to be able to stay centred and focused on the participant as much as possible.

There is a difference between having an emotion about what the participant might be sharing and going into one's own process about a similar issue in your own or someone else's life. We are human and we recognise and empathise with their pain, fear, anger and so on, but to support them in the best way we can we need to remain focused on them. Often, in the lives of our participants they have been abandoned just in the exact moments when they needed others to maintain connection with them. This is why our insistence on maintaining the focus on them and remaining connected with them while they are going through whatever they are going through is so vital.

We recommend that our Support Facilitators bring a journal and pen with them and in the breaks take notes about what is occurring with the participants and their responses to them on all of the following levels ~ mental, physical, emotional and spiritual. We can debrief these with them during Monday's debriefing session.

Our overarching view is that each participant has all the inner and outer resources necessary to effectively deal with their issue. We provide the safe place, individual guidance and support for them to do so. We do not see our participants as victims but as people who have challenges and who will overcome all that they intend to. We feel that viewing them as victims is actually dis-empowering and demeaning to them and only delays their recovery process.

Primary Aim of the Support Facilitator

When they attend a workshop as a Support Facilitator their primary aim is always to support the participants.

Support Facilitator Challenges

Supporting our participants 100% is our main focus and also the main focus of the Support Facilitator. Therefore, if they are unable to follow through with their main focus, they will be unable to complete the weekend as Support Facilitators.

If they have been accepted as a Support Facilitator for a specific Weekend or Six-Day Workshop and they have any current challenges that are bothering them prior to the workshop, we ask that they inform the Lead Facilitators prior to the beginning of the Workshop so that together we can assess their ability to remain focused on the participants processes for the duration of the entire Workshop.

Honesty

We ask only that they be completely honest with us about how they are doing emotionally and mentally at the pre-briefing session at Friday afternoon's meeting (or anytime before the beginning of the weekend they have been accepted to be a Support Facilitator for).

Three Possible Outcomes

It is possible that together the Lead Facilitator's and they decide that the most supportive action for them to take is to

  • Attend as a participant during the Workshop
  • Wait until they have resolved their challenge in whichever way they decide before they apply to support at another Workshop
  • Move forward as a Support Facilitator for that Workshop as they are feeling capable of all that is required of them to support others.
    If they decide to delay their participation as a Support Facilitator we will consider them again for whichever other Weekend Workshop or Six Day Workshop they apply for next.

Our Ethical Responsibility

Our ethical responsibility and goals here are two-fold

  • To ensure that our Support Facilitators are assisted to do what is most supportive for them at all times; and
  • We have an ethical responsibility to always ensure that our participants are provided with the highest quality of care and professionalism attainable at all times during each and every Workshop we present. We are absolutely committed to this.

Unexpected Triggers

We completely understand that issues can come up quickly and unexpectedly and that on rare occasions Support Facilitators might attend a workshop feeling quite clear and are unexpectedly triggered by someone in the group. If this occurs we will work with that Support Facilitator in the moment and support them until they are able to contain and refocus themselves on the process at hand and the participants in their group.

We will not process the triggered issue to completion during the Workshop. However, we can continue to process whatever came up for them during the facilitator's debriefing session if requested.

If, after being triggered, they are unable to refocus on the participants and realign themself with their primary focus it may be the Lead Facilitators united decision to remove the Support Facilitator from their support role for the remainder of the Workshop.

One More Time

Supporting our participants 100% is our main focus and also the main focus of a Support Facilitator. Therefore, if they are unable to follow through with their main focus, they will be unable to complete the weekend as Support Facilitators.

Personal Counselling

We recommend that while Support Facilitator's are learning about group processes by attending our workshops they also participate in their own regular counselling sessions. Being in the room while others process their issues can trigger unresolved issues in those who are present.

One thing is a certainty, whatever issues they might have will be raised by our participants during the weekend that they attend. Ongoing therapy gives them the opportunity to process any issues that surfaced while they were in a supporting role and will ensure that their emotional and psychological needs are addressed outside the weekends. The more resolved they become with their own issues, the greater support they can be to those whom they support during weekends.

Hours of Attendance at Weekend Workshops

Their attendance at The Sanctuary ~ Lane Cove, is from

  • 2pm Friday until Noon on Monday for Weekend Workshops and from
  • 2pm Friday until 8pm Saturday for Six Day Workshops

It is a requirement that they attend both pre and post briefing meetings if they are to be a Support Facilitator for the weekend.

Weekend Workshops

On each weekend, Support Facilitators will attend a two-hour Facilitator's meeting from 2pm in the afternoon prior to the commencement of the workshop. During this meeting they will be briefed on the weekend's processes and their expected role.

On the Monday following the Weekend Workshop, Support Facilitators will attend a debrief session where aspects of the workshop and group process will be discussed. They are invited to bring specific questions for the Lead Facilitators about Group Facilitation and any issues they may have had during the weekend will be processed.

Six Day Workshops

Prior to each Six Day Workshop, support facilitators will attend a two-hour Facilitator's meeting on Friday at 2pm in the afternoon. During this meeting they will be briefed on the weekend's processes and their expected role.

On the Saturday night following the Six Day Workshop, Support Facilitators will attend a debrief session where aspects of the workshop and group process will be discussed. They are invited to bring specific questions for the Lead Facilitators about Group Facilitation and any issues they may have had during the weekend will be processed.

Investment

The cost for a Support Facilitator to attend a Weekend Workshop is $200.00,
The cost for a Support Facilitator to attend a Six Day Workshop is $600.00

This investment includes tuition, lunch, snacks and accommodation.

How often can I apply to be a Support Facilitator?

We welcome Support Facilitators as often as they would like to come and share their support with our participants and us. A new application is required each time you wish to attend a Workshop in a Support Facilitator's role.

We are all extremely passionate about Group Process work and we deeply enjoy passing along the tools, skills and techniques that we have learned during the many years we have all been doing this work.

Application Form

Click here for application form.