Go Back | Return to FIT Summary. |
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Facilitator-in-Training Name | Michael Frontier |
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Email | Email hidden; Javascript is required. |
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Evaluator(s) | Shane O'Connor and Kaley Hixson |
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Location | Online Practicum |
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Date of Session | 10/06/2020 |
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Skill | Skill 1: Calming Body and Mind |
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How well did the facilitator lead the group and create a safe space? Please explain and give examples. | Yourself and Terry ( Co-facilitator) did a great job with creating a safe space for the participants.
You both went through each of the ‘official’ CIT guidelines one at a time. Afterwards, you invited the participants to share in the chat any additional guidelines they could think of. One suggestion for next time is to invite the participants to share their thoughts on what each CIT guideline means, why it is important, etc. prior to telling them what each means (facilitate vs. teach). That said, the energy coming from you felt warm and welcoming, creating a safe space regardless of finding the balance between ‘teaching and facilitation mode.’
Well facilitated slides at the beginning while opening up the conversation to additional guidelines from the group (guardrails). Lovely use of chat in addition to appropriate space for thinking and encouraging valued input at this point.
There were several times throughout the session where you invited participants to share in the group or in the chat. One example is when you opened space for the group to share their thoughts on resourcing.
You were very attentive to the chat while facilitating, managing to monitor the chat and while your co facilitator was taking the lead as well.
It felt quite natural when you were allowing for silence on more than one occasion which creates a sense of confidence and safety.
There was a great, authentic session. What a wonderful free facilitation. It felt real. Wonderful interaction both between the two of you and between you and the group, watching the chat, picking up the comments.
Very smooth collaboration between facilitation and managing to guide the group with the slides through the skill.
Personal disclosure in a professional way did not feel too much, but created a safe space when he shared referring to the resiliency based attitude. I felt you handled a technical challenge very professional and filled the space with perfectly appropriate material and comments while your co-facilitator managed to negotiate the tech issue. I loved your use of humour and encouraging, playful yet balanced 'banter' throughout your session.
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How well did the facilitator explain this Skill using the PowerPoint presentation? Please give examples. | During their facilitation of Skill 1, and the introductory material, yourself and Terry used the PowerPoint presentation as a way to stay on-track with the session. Although you used the presentation throughout the session, there were a number of times where you added your own metaphors, examples and anecdotes to compliment the CIT content. For the most part, I felt this was supplementary and appropriate but there may have been a fine line between veering off the material and complimentary material as it was clear you are very confident and comfortable to share.
For example: when talking about Tracking, I think I recall you giving advice to the group on how, when, why to do tracking and to “release the emotion from the story you are telling yourself.” This may not be fully in alignment with CIT but I certainly could see where you were going with this advice.
Another example is when presenting resourcing. You did lead with the material in the PowerPoint presentation, though I would have loved to have heard a clearer definition of what resourcing actually is (not an activity or an action whereby this may be using a resource but recalling the vivid details of a resource like walking, being with a pet, looking at a photo etc)
I do not recall an explanation of how resources can sometimes split.
When asked a question about resourcing by one of the participants (what if my resource is not physically with me?), your answer was not completely aligned with the CIT definition of resourcing (Resourcing is the ability to be able to bring a resource to mind, not something we DO).
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How well did the facilitator explain and lead the activities in this Skill? Please explain and give specific examples. | In considering the introductions as an activity, the facilitators were very respectful and welcoming; Michael, you in particular did a great job at calling the next participant to introduce his/herself in a warm and encouraging manner. One suggestion here is to do the introductions in breakout smaller groups to create intimacy and space for sharing but save time. (Or, another way that we sometimes manage, not that it was presented as an option to you but just to know, in order to have the space and time to share as you did for the introduction which we recognise is extremely useful to the programme and the dynamic, atmosphere and relationship building within the group, is to add an 11th session so that all of the introductions can be in one session without having to rush through Skill 1. For the time allotted, however, I think the individual introductions of the participants could have been managed more efficiently in terms of time per each person sharing. Not an easy challenge at all though!
We didn’t get through the entirety of Skill 1; it would have been beneficial given some extra space created within the session to experience you leading us through the “Sensation Words” activity.
You used your fist to demonstrate the 3 areas of our brains. While this wasn’t an “activity” per se, it helped to illustrate the concept in an engaging way.
ANS being shaped over time: great to mention generational trauma or how other fears are engrained
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How well did the facilitator lead the Mindful Dialogues and Reflective Writing Exercises in this Skill? Please explain and give specific examples. | Not applicable during this session.
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What aspects of this Skill did you think the facilitator did exceptionally well? Please give examples. | The thing is, you clearly did a whole lot of things very well!! You are a strong , confident and competent facilitator with great mastery over much of the content.
You invited participants to share and allowed silence when needed.
You engaged in active listening throughout the session; making eye contact with the participants, nodding, use of facial expressions etc.
You demonstrated a very attentive approach to the group. In the coaching world, this would be referred to as “Level 3” Listening. Not many people can master this; you certainly did! You appeared to not only listen to whoever was speaking, but also ‘listening’ to the chat and reminding the group that you couldn’t see everyone’s faces; you seemed constantly aware of everyone in the room, not just whoever was in active speaker mode. This is a great skill to have in a virtual environment!
Tracking: again I really liked how you described the ANS as GPS;
All in all, we felt you did a fantastic job at treating all participants with unconditional positive regard; you were positive, appreciative, acknowledging, and affirming.
Both facilitators were very professional; you were calm, centered, and confident! Additionally, the synergy between the two of you was powerful without being intimidating. I can’t wait to see more from both Michael and Terry!
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How well did the facilitator lead the Contemplative Practice in this Skill? Please explain and give specific examples. | You did begin the session with a short activity which could have been described as a CP (Practice/meditation). This helped to ground and center the group although it was not part of the official CIT presentation. We did not have time for the full Skill 1 CP at the end. The content in Skill 1 leads up to the shared practice/CP at the end. As a general rule, it is recommended that facilitators not introduce concepts before the groundwork is laid. In other words, wait until the end of Skill 1 before introducing and leading a contemplative practice. All that said, it was introduced and facilitated in a highly professional tone, pace and done in a delicate and gentle manner, appreciated by all who I observed throughout.
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What aspects of this Skill could the facilitator improve? Please give examples. | Allowing more time for Skill 1 will be important, either by shortening the introductions, using breakout options or moving them to an 11th ‘intro’ session. This will allow for slowing down and getting through more of the content, including the RW, MD, and CP.
You are evidently a fantastic teacher! Although with sharing CIT it is more about facilitating, this skill will come in handy, especially when time is tight and there is a need to move quickly. That said, great teaching can often get in the way of great facilitation. There were several instances where we observed a tendency to go into teaching, rather than facilitation for some of the concepts. For example, when introducing resourcing and again when introducing the 3 parts of our brains. I’d recommend being more intentional about inviting participants to share what they know before teaching the content.
When Jeanne mentioned the example of her Little pet while asking a question about resourcing: I felt like this was a great moment to mention splitting of resources and the expose this element of resourcing to be mindful of.
In addition, although I and most of our group clearly embraced and enjoyed fully your suggestion at the beginning of deep, diaphragmatic breathing, this would not usually be introduced as part of CIT Skill 1. Breathing is certainly introduced in various CP as we progress through the skills but the risk is to trigger folks who are not familiar with CP's, meditations or breathing techniques or who may in fact have an aversion to such experiences due to underlying trauma.
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Do you recommend this facilitator to become certified? | Yes |
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Entry Date | October 20, 2020 |