facilitator training

Imagine

Imagine being part of a circle, a safe space where you can tell the truth without fear of judgment, criticism, or rejection. A place where your heart softens and you feel accepted and accepting. A place where you feel free to share your feelings, work through conflicts, and experience that you are not alone. Now imagine that you are 16 years old and part of a circle like this. How might your life have been different? How might this change the world? NOW, how can you learn to facilitate this kind of experience for young people in your life, while working through issues you still carry from your own teen years?

Ucoming Training/Workshops in the Seattle area:

Since 1997, TTC has offered deeply experiential workshops to provide adult participants with a clear understanding of the basics of starting and running a teen talking circle. To date we have trained over 700+ people throughout the US, Canada and abroad in our method, who in turn have started circles for youth in their communities or taken our model into their existing programs.

TTC training staff have provided trainings in-house, as well as on location through the US, Canada and abroad. >see our client list

Our basic in-house Facilitator's Training usually runs from Thursday afternoon to Sunday afternoon and is typically held at a private home or intimate community space on Bainbridge Island, in Washington State. Trainings are limited to 11 participants and include all meals, but do not include transportation or lodging. Early bird sign up is recommended to assure your space. The comfortable location is set in a rural environment near the state park and beach which allows for plenty of walking exercise.

Facilitator trainings are attended by adults of all ages and professions including parents, teachers, counselors, social workers, youth service providers, mental health professionals, and anyone interested in bringing teen talking circles into their communities.

Our training is unique in that we come together as facilitator-trainers and  participants/facilitators-in-training to form our own circle and look at the issues we still carry from our own teen years. This allows us to discover where we might be challenged in our ability to be accepting and supportive towards teens in circle. This is a critical component of facilitation, as teens will only share as much of themselves as we as facilitators can open ourselves to hearing without judgment or criticism. By making peace with our own teen years, we form a basis for developing deep trust between teen participants and ourselves as facilitators.

As a participant, you’ll experience how it feels to be in circle by sharing about your own teen years, while learning the basic components of facilitation and practicing specific exercises you can use in your own teen circles. You will learn the basics, the how-tos, from "calling a circle,” to “closing a circle.” You’ll learn how to work with a co-facilitator, understanding how to create safe space, practice “Heart to Heart” processes, our specifically designed model of conflict resolution which uses pieces of important process oriented technologies such as Nonviolent Communication, Compassionate Listening(SM), and our own brand of  “Inappropriate Rant.”

The practice of Compassionate Listening is a very important part of our training as well as our local circles. Linda Wolf is a past board members and certified facilitator of the Compassionate Listening Project. (For more info on TCLP, check their website: compassionatelistening.org.) We highly recommend to all our facilitators, trainees, and youth to take one of their workshops.

The TTC training is an opportunity for you to learn everything you need to know to start and run a teen Talking Circle confidently and successfully.

 

>read what our clients have to say

"I had the distinct honor and pleasure of working with Linda and her Teen Talking Circles team at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in 2010 where she helped pioneer the use of unique, group-discussion sessions for helping teens with cancer. Linda's knowledge, preparation, sensitivity, and facilitating skills were nothing short of remarkable, and all of the Hutchinson Center's peripheral support with scheduling, videotaping, and so on would have meant nothing without her very effective and well-received work. Apart from founding and directing Teen Talking Circles, Linda is also an accomplished photographer and one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. I highly recommend Linda and Teen Talking Circles." January 1, 2012
Glenn Hanson, Former Senior Project Manager at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

 

"I am profoundly grateful for the richness of my experience at the Facilitator Training in June; for being nourished (with garden fresh, locally grown, organic meals), and nurtured mind, body and spirit; for the sacred space created for my evolution and ongoing ahas; and for the heart to heart/soul to soul connections I experienced ."
Adrian Reznick, www.nurtureachild.com

 

 

Facilitating the 2012 trainings are Linda Wolf, co-founder and Executive Director of Teen Talking Circles, Genevieve Wolf Smeeth, who was herself a youth member of a girl’s circle through middle and high school and is now a co-facilitator of the Bainbridge Island Girl's Talking Circle and co-leader of Women’s Sacred Circle Retreats, and Jessica Star Rockers, Managing Director of TTC.

 

Also co-facilitating one day are teen girls (and possibly guys) from our local circles who will share their personal experience, demonstrate specific processes and exercises, and answer questions. Often we have special guests, distinguished in their field, come speak about their work with training participants. This year, 2008, we have invited members of Contextual Conceptual Therapy to present their new model for understanding suicide and suicide prevention. Other presentors you might find at our trainings include: Therese Charvez, founder of Sacred Groves, leader of Girl's Maiden Rituals and Rites of Passage Experiences; Heather Corrina, founder of Scarleteens and Sexpert Advisor to teens.

Join our growing movement through our interactive website, blogs, facilitator gatherings, and conference calls. We are here to help you be as successful as possible in starting and running your own Teen Talking Circle.

Linda Wolf is a certified facilitator of Compassionate Listening.
Compassionate Listening is a service mark of the Compassionate Listening Project. For more information about Compassionate Listening, contact compassionatelistening.org. For more information about Linda Wolf, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Wolf

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