Trauma informed – Group Facilitator Training
June 30 - July 2
£440.00 – £595.00
Are you a space holder or facilitator of groups ?
Do you know about how trauma shows up in group settings and what to do to prevent harm ?
Have you considered what the impact could be if you didn't know ?
This workshop is designed specifically for facilitators and teachers who run GROUP events and would like to prevent trauma from occurring in their workshops.
- Are you a workshop facilitator/teacher who offers personal development work, Spiritual Awakening work, Healing work, dance and movement, somatic work, Sacred Sexuality work or Relationship work in a group context ?
- Do you know what it means to be a ‘trauma-informed’ facilitator and the responsibilities that are held within this role?
- Have you ever considered whether people who have attended your events may have been traumatised and you didn’t spot it?
- Are you concerned that you may have unknowingly traumatised people and wondering how you could prevent this going forwards ?
- Have you done any kind of training in being trauma-informed in the context of group settings ?
- Do you hold a belief that your workshops are free from people being traumatised because you believe that if it had happened you would know ?
- Are you open to finding out how you could do more to make your spaces even safer ?
– Please note this is not for people who are working as one to one practitioners –
The Old Workshop Model
The current model of workshops is over 30 years old and does not have inherently built into it an understanding of how human trauma is activated in group settings. So many of the workshops on offer 30 years ago were an invitation to open up the wounds and cathart them away. And there has been much healing in this modality but only now is it coming to light that there is also a lot of harm being done – unintentionally – but harm nevertheless.
Over the past few years you may of heard the phrase ‘trauma-informed’. Maybe you already understand what this means and maybe you have read some books on the subject, done an online course or received support personally to understand better your responsibilities as a facilitator of group work.
Given that it’s not realistic in group settings to know what every person in the room is experiencing – this means that there is inherent risk of people being traumatised and the facilitator not knowing about it.
How does Trauma show up in workshops?
Participants will have many ways of trying to stay safe if they find themselves feeling unsafe from an unconscious place in themselves. They will operate from their survival-activated pattern rather than from a healthy regulated nervous system. Some participants may simply run by leaving the space. Some may stay but be armoured and defended because it does not feel safe to really open. That might look like fighting or resisting what is being invited and not feeling safe to include their vulnerability.
But many will be in a freeze or a fawn response and not even know it themselves.
The freeze and fawn responses are the most difficult to navigate because they so often look like a person is ‘ok’ and ‘happily’ going along with what they are being invited to partake in. And even if you asked them if they were ok they would say yes.
They may even give rave reviews about the workshop. It is often only days or weeks after the workshop that slowly they realise that they did not feel safe and over rode themselves. This kind of response can even continue for years and only much later on do people realise that all that time they have been frozen and traumatised.
Being an even better Facilitator
Doing any kind of Personal Development work, Spiritual Awakening work, Healing work, Sacred Sexuality work and or Relationship work in a group context is, by its very nature, is higher risk that one to one.
The questions that we need to be asking are things like:
- What are the methods whereby we evaluate whether everyone has a regulated nervous system ?
- What are the mechanisms to know whether people are fully in their choice and available for inner work from a regulated nervous system?
- Can they can metabolise and create sustained and lasting integrated change once they leave the workshop space?
- What space have I created for participant digestion and integration while they are still within the container of the workshop ?
- What have I done to prepare participants for the content of the workshop that might potentially activate trauma ?
- Have I considered that if I feel exhausted and ungrounded during or after a workshop whether that is a sign that others are being harmed in my spaces ?
It is vital that all workshop facilitators and teachers are trauma-informed so that old ways can be let go of. It is time to compost the outdated model of workshops and create new ways of supporting people to heal and transform in a sustainable way.
What the training will include:
- Understanding different kinds of trauma and how they might show up in a group context
- How to spot if someone might be in trauma in any given moment
- What needs to happen to take a person out of this trauma state
- What might we put in place to minimise it happening in the first place
- What do we need to learn to better see it
Group learning
This will be very much a collaborative learning field with an invitation for everyone to bring their lived experiences as offerings for deepening and optimizing what we can learn together.
25 years experience
Jewels will bring her 25 years+ of experience in holding space, running groups and leadership trainings. She is passionate about how we can take more responsibility in the spaces we hold.
Extra support
You will also have a chance to purchase a ‘learning pack’ with everything that has been taught over the weekend including teaching videos, flip chart information and written notes. This you will be able to use and apply in your work going forwards.
Logistics
Dates
30 June -2 July 2023
Times
4pm Friday to 5pm Sunday
Venue
The EarthHeart centre, Forest of Dean UK.
Eco campsite
Your ticket includes camping and full use of the facilities on our beautiful eco campsite which is in the middle of an ancient forest, with hot showers and compost toilets. We also provide the amazing Field Lodge barn with its fully fitted kitchen with cooker, fridge, all utensils and a dining area. It also has a large hang out space with sheepskins and a log burner should the weather be chilly or raining. This space is where we will gather for meals and hang out between sessions.
Campervans are also welcome but we do not have hook ups.
Meals
All lunches and suppers are vegan / wheat free and are included in the training fees plus unlimited hot drinks throughout the day.
Breakfast is self catering and you are invited to bring a simple easy to prepare breakfast such as muesli or bread and cheese.
Lunches will be a hot hearty soup with bread rolls and supper will be a hot meal of substance.
Accessibility
We support people with physical disabilities to attend. If you have one that means camping would prevent you from being able to attend the training please get in touch and we would love to see what you need and do our utmost to make your visit easeful.
Company invoice
For Company invoices there is a 25% addition to the fees. Please notify us if you would like an invoice before you book and we can send you an amended ticket for booking.
Booking policy
We request that you take the time to read our
cancellation and booking policy before purchasing your ticket.
We ask this so you can be sure you’re making an informed choice about your ticket purchase as we do not make exceptions to the policy.
This is important to us and we thank you in advance for taking the time.
Register your interest
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