I am only sorry Alex that I wasn’t able to make it live to this weeks session where you co-faciltated clearly so professionally, competently and in such an interactive and informative manner. I am glad that I was able to look back at the recording as well as the chance to check in with both Kaley and Anja to write this feedback.

We all agreed that overall this was a great session. Participants were engaged, welcomed and encouraged to contribute and valued when they did. The session felt natural and was a genuine CIT learning experience for all! We each felt that you both demonstrated good teamwork and coordination and co facilitated in a professional and confident manner.

Alex, I felt that you oozed of calmness, confidence and a sense of encouragement throughout with your tone and style of facilitation and I felt that the participants responded to your instructions well and shared when you asked them to do so which says a lot really.
You also actually pointed out and reminded the group of the importance of their safe space for their own participation and that of others.

For the Empathy slides, you asked the group what they thought of empathy before giving the definition; demonstrating clear signs of facilitation here not teaching and inviting participation from the group.

While facilitating the Cognitive Empathy slides and concepts, you presented a clear description and then invited participants to read the actually CIT definition, demonstrating group participation and interaction and allowing the participants to feel ownership and connection with the material in front of them.
You gave an example of psychopath not feeling fear or emotions, showing a clear understanding of the content and material and then invited participants to share other own examples, showing good facilitation here. You also accompanied this by adding a question in the chat but also asking them the same question out loud showing that there are multiple ways to participate in the session and that each are valued.
o You also lead the facilitation for the Introductions to thinking traps, which can be a very tricky and complex section and plays a vital role for the remaining skills as we continue to introduce and refer back to the thinking traps. You lead this section of the session very smoothly and encouraged feedback, questions and participation.
o Finally, you lead the Empathic distress vs. Empathic Concern slides which again can often play a pivotal role in communicating one of the most important concepts within skill 7 and you did this with ease and clarity in my opinion.

You gave clear instructions for the empathy line activity.
You also facilitated the discussions around empathy line political figure example, then jumped in after about 10 min to move us to next example showing apt appreciate for the timing of the activity but enough time for a discussion to develop as well and the main points of the activity to sink in before continuing to put follow up questions in the chat after asking in the group.

Not only did we feel as a team that you facilitated the activities with clarity and skill but you also demonstrated that you were not afraid to share yourself while your co-facilitator was leading. For example, when you shared an answer to a couple of Alex’s questions showing that you were not afraid to lead from within the group in addition to when you had the facilitator hat on. It also showed that you were working as a cohesive team who supported one another when there was any period or prolonged silence in the group and where an intervention may have been required.
We saw how you introduced the empathy line activity in a clear, supportive way before passing it nicely to Alex to continue and you went into support mode straight away.

Not applicable here with skill 7 as the facilitators did not choose to implement the MD and RW exercises with the skill

We all liked the fact that a clear instruction like when you invited the group to use the chat but asked them to do their best to keep their comments and contributions relevant. This demonstrates confidence but also shows leadership and good efficient facilitation.
I felt that you explained the Empathy line activity very clearly, concisely and in a way that I had not yet seen with such emphasis on the participants own reactions and not so much on sharing where they each would stand in relation to others in the group. You managed to highlight a very different and interesting aspect of this activity for all involved and demonstrated multiple ways of interpreting the CIT activities to get to the same ends and encourage interaction and lively debate and conversation to follow.

Not applicable here with skill 7 as the facilitators did not choose to implement the CP exercise with the skill

All said, myself and the practicum facilitation team could certainly not find a whole lot to be improved from your facilitation of skill 7. The more familiar you become with the material and the flow of the slides, it is clear to me that you will also become more comfortable with moments where you may allow for more silence and for the participants to process what has just been said before moving on or interjecting with a prompt or another question. I would also encourage you as much as you possibly can to play around with the technology side of the facilitation process simply to familiarise yourself and get acquainted with sharing the slides and facilitating the material at the same time. This is certainly not a criticism but merely an encouragement. As well as of course, an additional encouragement to play around with facilitating the CP’s when given an opportunity.
There was a comment in the constructive feedback phase from a participant who said he would have loved to have heard more from you as he appreciated your sharing and metaphors and examples so much, this is certainly encouraging and I felt from watching the session back that there were moments also where I felt the space allowed for you to possible share more of your wisdom and connection with the material but you were also cognizant of the fact that you did not want to overstep the facilitator/teacher/participant boundary so I do understand your reasoning for not sharing more, at the same time.