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Facilitators:

Study groups have a facilitator who helps organize the group. Though RSSE has trained facilitators in many locations around the country, it is often most feasible to have a individual interested in participating in a group undertake the facilitator training and then get a local group started.

• what is involved? A facilitator is one who makes the process easy. In terms of a group process, a facilitator is one who assists and guides the group, but does not control the group. The facilitator must facilitate both the content and the process of the group.
• who can be a facilitator? Facilitators come from all walks of life. Anyone with good people skills can be a facilitator. It is desirable that the facilitator have a knowledge of the community from having lived in the area for at least two years. Facilitators need to be able to have the confidence of the group.
• what is training like? Facilitator training involves modeling the facilitation process. It involves learning how to let group members share their life stories, how to use general material and make it specific to the local area, how to select projects and then work together doing a project, how to receive feedback from learning experiences, how to be the administrative link to the RSSE office, and how to use the process and the materials in various settings.
• what is the expectation from RSSE? Trained facilitators are expected to form a group to undertake one of the studies. It is desirable to have the group formed prior to getting the facilitator training, but a group can be established after the facilitator has been trained.
• what content will the facilitator be able to "teach"? Trained facilitators will be able to work with groups using any of the RSSE studies. Facilitators are not trained to be "content" smart, but rather are trained in the facilitation process, that process can then be used and applied to any of the studies. The facilitator actually participates in the learning process along with the rest of the group. They have the benefit of some additional information available to them in the Facilitator's Guide, but they are not expected to teach the content, only facilitate the process.