Trainings

We believe that facilitation can change the world.

Whether you’re aiming to create community, bring people together at work for meaningful collaboration, or simply move through a challenging conversation, intentional facilitation is the key.

With the right understanding of frameworks, philosophy, and practical techniques, anyone can learn to harness the power of facilitation in their work and world.

We’ve designed our sessions to help both those new and seasoned with facilitation become more intentional, creative, and quick on their feet. You will feel more confident and ready no matter what type of session, meeting, or experience you’re leading.

The Sessions

Foundations of Facilitation

This session cultivates a deep understanding of what facilitation is and the key decision-making points that make for powerful facilitation experiences.

We’ll focus on how to:

• Increase participation from all types of people
• Remain in control when a single voice dominates the conversation
• Create safe and trusting environments for vulnerability

Your team will leave with a new shared vocabulary and tools they can use immediately for creative, quick, and meaningful collaboration.

Facilitating for the Future

This session is specifically designed for those who do Social Justice (and related) education work.

This session starts by understanding the key concepts of facilitation and moves into applicable scenarios and challenges that specifically arise in Social Justice educational environments.

We examine:

• What it means to create productive learning environments while learning about hot/tense/meaningful topics
• The unique challenges and strengths of social justice education in synchronous learning settings
• How we can best show up as educators/facilitators to meet those challenges
• How to bring a dignity and humanity-centered approach to anti-oppression work and every session we lead

This session aims to leave participants with the ability to create powerful change-making environments that undermine the toxic paradigms of our current world and embody an orientation towards dignity and humanity for all people.

Holding Space

This transformative session unpacks the different mindsets that we have as facilitators and how to identify and cultivate mindsets that invite curiosity even in moments of conflict.

Attending this workshop you’ll learn how to:

• Respond to controversial, bigoted, or otherwise divisive comments and energy in workshops
• Connect with participants even when you disagree with them
• Keep the group together when moving through conflict toward a cohesive resolution

Navigating Triggers as a Facilitator

As facilitators, it’s important to stay fully present in whatever is happening with our group. This workshop is all about building our capacities to remain grounded—regardless of what comes our way.

By digging into what happens both physically and mentally when triggered, we investigate our own responses and come to a deeper understanding of what strategies best help us in those moments.

This workshop covers:

• What happens physically, mentally, and emotionally when we get triggered
• How to stop a trigger while it’s happening before it disrupts the group
• Prevention strategies to lower our potential for being triggered
• How to lessen the impact of being triggered on the group

Participants will identify dozens of strategies for helping lessen, reduce, or eliminate triggers which will leave them more prepared and ready to handle the unexpected.

What can you expect from a Facilitator Cards session?

Our sessions embody the principles that we are teaching. They are highly interactive, participatory in multiple ways, and demonstrate what good facilitation looks and feels like.

Led by long-time facilitation expert, Meg Bolger, Facilitator Cards sessions will allow you and your team to recalibrate what they believe to be possible with facilitation.

We offer our sessions both in-person and online.

We know online workshops can be a drag but our workshops will leave you saying (as a previous participant once said) “I can’t believe I’m excited for another six hour Zoom tomorrow!”