Compassionate Integrity Training CIT-Faciltator-Guide-2.1-Final | Page 14

C OMPASSIONATE I NTEGRITY T RAINING
A S ECULAR E THICS A PPROACH TO C ULTIVATING P ERSONAL , S OCIAL AND E NVIRONMENTAL F LOURISHING
says. This will only serve to either shut down the dialogue or put the commenter on the defense. For
example, if someone says, “The earth is flat,” you could respond, “No. The earth is round. This fact was
even known by the Ancient Greeks.” Another option, however, is, “Yes, I understand that there are many
people who believe that” and then opening up to the rest of the group for comment or saying, “and there
are also people who believe the earth is round based on scientific discoveries.” Even better is a situation
where a participant says many things in their comment, and you can select the one or two things you
agree with, affirming those with the “yes” followed by a comment that will steer the conversation in a
productive way.
8. Try Not to Read from Notes
As you begin facilitating, you may feel the need to read from the Manual or from your notes. While it is
all right to bring notes to support your facilitation, try not to directly read from the CIT Manual, the
PowerPoint slides or your notes.
9. Keep the Group Sharing Equitably
Once the group has met and engaged several times, there may be a few participants who are very vocal
and others who are more observers within the group. As long as you make space for everyone to
participate, you are doing all you can to foster the safe and equitable space. One way to navigate this
situation is to remind participants at the beginning of the session to remember to step up when possible
and to fall back when they feel like it’s appropriate. Simply reminding the group about this can naturally
foster more inclusivity. If a few participants consistently dominate discussions, you may privately
approach them and say that while you appreciate their enthusiasm and engagement, can they help to
encourage wide participation in the group by sharing the space and allowing others who are quieter to
participate.
10. Limit Self Disclosure
Related to the previous Guideline, although it is tempting to use our own life experience and insights as
personal examples when facilitating, try to keep these to a minimum and instead look for opportunities
to solicit examples from participants. Personal examples can be very effective if used sparingly.
Otherwise, you risk focusing too much of the attention on yourself. If you do share, it is helpful to share
some examples of when you have fallen short, so they see that we are all a work in process. As is
commonly understood in trauma-informed care, in no case should you share your own trauma story.
C ENTER FOR C OMPASSION , I NTEGRITY AND S ECULAR E THICS | L IFE U NIVERSITY | M ARIETTA , G EORGIA
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