My specialising in facilitation training arose out of a client, after I had run a workshop for them, asking me to run a programme for their training managers, explaining what I was doing and how I was doing it. From this event I realised that this was my main interest, training others in facilitation and how to work with groups, understanding the theory to know why they did what they did and to explore the relationship between the facilitator and the group from a constructively critical standpoint. It is working with the underlying processes that fascinates me.The FDP is an intensive four day practical training for facilitators. Facilitators run groups where the quality of communication and interaction must be of an exceptionally high quality. The purpose of the group is to share knowledge, experience and learning so that problems can be solved and decisions can be made that are based on the fullest understanding available that has been fully interrogated and looked at from as many angles as possible. Getting this to happen in reality within a group is not as simple as saying it! A facilitator learns to facilitate the processes to help this happen, to introduce the most effective process and to monitor it, intervening in the process when necessary. The skills of the facilitator are closely aligned with mindfulness.My TrainingI originally trained in a client centred groupwork approach and since then have done extensive gestalt training. I also attended many workshop both at Surrey University, HPRG and with others who had trained with John Heron and the IDHP. Seperately to this I trained as a psychotherapist.

First held in 1994 in the UK, I have now run this training course all over the world. Well over 1,000 facilitators have now attended this masterclass in facilitation and groupwork.The Facilitator's Development Programme (a four day masterclass in groupwork) is an outstanding in-depth programme that I have run all over the world. It has been running since 1994, well over 1,000 facilitators have now attended. It is a rich mix of professional and personal development. It will increase your confidence in facilitation, along with your skills and your ability to handle challenging situations. It is a unique combination of practice opportunities and applied theory inputs supported by constructive performance feedback.I run the programme in two formats. As an in-house course, where I go to the client organisation and run it at a venue convenient for the participants. Then twice a year (spring and autumn) I run it as an open course, where individuals book onto the course from a wide range of different organisations or as self employed consultants.This programme is run with a very gentle approach, it is all about the participants not the facilitator. This itself underlies facilitation and some of the challenges it can present. It is not for the facilitator to perform but for the group to. The facilitator’s role is to enable and allow that to happen. I believe that this is how I facilitate the programme.

It's a highly practical training, using the group of participants and the facilitator as a working model, bringing in participants’ previous experience and setting up an environment which is safe, supportive and conducive to real learning. This will inevitably cover both professional and personal issues.Around half the programme is devoted to practice. Each participant facilitates the rest of the group and this experience is used for applied learning. Feedback is provided by both the other participants and by myself as an observer. Feedback will cover both skills performance and applied theory, making sense of the thinking about facilitation and groupwork by providing examples from the practice session.The training builds up participants confidence to run the group by starting with pair exercises, moving through small group work towards working with the whole group. Everything that happens during the course is part of the learning material. Not everything will work as intended but everything will provide learning.The course teaches the skills used by the facilitator in interventions. Looking at building trust and rapport within the group and with the individual group members. The group facilitator needs to understand how to use these interpersonal skills and also why to use them. Importantly it also provides practice in observation skills and framing interventions based on this observation. We will analyse the whole process of intervening, from the standpoint of the facilitator, the participant and the group.The course also provides a theoretical perspective on facilitation, this is done so that you understand where the thinking comes from that lies behind the practice of facilitation and so that you know why you do what you do. I believe that this is a significant factor in building up confidence and it also gives you support when things are difficult so that you can stay with what is important, with a clear understanding of why it is important to do so.

I worked for 5 very intense years as a facilitator on general management, leadership and team development programmes for a wide range of training organisations. These were always residential, experiential and mainly 4 or 5 day events. This gave me an indepth grounding in groups and learning. It was learning by doing and I backed this up with my own development through attending training courses and workshops associated with groups, development and psychotherapy.During this time I soon realised that a lot of other facilitators had little or no formal training in groupwork and often experienced an underlying lack of confidence in the essence of what they were doing, not through lack of skills but due to the lack of training in groupwork. One part of this was due to little or no objective feedback on what they were doing and not having the chance to discuss their throught processes with anyone who understood the dynamics of facilitation.

I starting working for the Leadership Trust around 1982 and found it fascinating, I learned very quickly that I loved this work. It gave me a lot to study and think about and I met many very helpful people during my time there. This was the springboard that started me studying and working with groups.