FACILITATORS’ GUIDELINES
This is a short (one page) summary of the detailed facilitator's guidelines in "Growing Awareness"Each point is explained in more detail in the book

REMINDER
Begin by reminding yourself that being a facilitator is something you ‘ARE’ with people not something you ‘DO’ to them. Facilitating happens whenever your aware adult (aware ego) talks with">

FACILITATORS’ GUIDELINES This is a short (one page) summary of the detailed facilitator's guidelines in "Growing Awareness"Each point is explained in more detail in the book REMINDER Begin by reminding yourself that being a facilitator is something you ‘ARE’ with people not something you ‘DO’ to them. Facilitating happens whenever your aware adult (aware ego) talks with, dances with or embraces another person’s inner selves. Whatever occurs, depends on what those selves feel like at the time (not what you want to do). The best sessions close with your aware adult and the client’s aware adult dancing together (or embracing each other) energetically. As long as you believe this in your heart, facilitating will always be worthwhile. It will work and it will be a success. 1. STARTING THE SESSION 1.1 Agree on which is the central or safe chair and remind client it’s OK to go back to that chair at any time they need to, without asking you. 1.2 Remind client that when operating ‘in a self’ or away from the safe chair to refer to themselves by name and always as a third party as for example ‘He’ ‘She’ or ‘Toni’ and to avoid saying ‘I’, ‘me’ or ‘my’ when referring to themselves as the client. 1.3 Explain that the self being interviewed should use ‘I’ when talking about themselves as in "I have to work hard to protect Toni when she feels vulnerable." 1.4 Ask client what issue or topic he/she would like to work on or what energy is active 1.5 Watch for changes in tone of voice, body language or facial expression, as a guide to the selves that are wanting to talk 2. DURING THE SESSION 2.1 Stay completely neutral – offer no advice nor try to solve problems. Allow the client’s selves to take charge if they want to. 2.2 Be positive, show empathy & support for the self you are talking to 2.3 Unless it is a shy self, it’s good to ask lots of questions. Ask or invite a self to help you at any time you need guidance e.g. Invite a self to help tell you how it would like to be named 2.4 Offer validation and affirmation of the work the self is doing or has done 2.5 Fit your mood to that of the self you are working with. 2.6 If in doubt, acknowledge the wisdom and experience of the self you are working with, ahead of your own 2.7 If a new self ‘comes in’ of its own accord, don’t worry, quietely acknowledge to it your awareness it has replaced the last one, make it feel welcome and keep on facilitating 2.8 Work with a self as you would work with a smart or clever child and allow your intuition to help you in the same way 2.9 When you have finished facilitating a self, say a few words of thanks and motion with your hands towards the safe chair. 3. SPECIFIC DON’TS FOR VOICE DIALOGUE FACILITATORS 3.1 Do not aim for or expect any specific outcome or result at the end of the session that would be of benefit to you Resist the temptation to want it to be a 'good session' for you. Avoid any kind of hidden agenda. 3.2 Do not order selves around. Invite them to do things. Ask the self ‘Would you like to choose a chair (or a spot in the room) anywhere you would feel really comfortable while you are talking?’ rather than ‘Now go to that chair!’ 3.3 Don’t debate with a self or get involved in any way if one criticises you as facilitator. Acknowledge its point of view and let it go at that. 3.4 Don’t get involved in making judgements with any self about other selves 3.5 If one of your selves begins ‘talking with’ one of the client’s selves (whether it’s a nice chat or a full-on argument) stop the session and have a break before starting again. 3.6 Do not try to use voice dialogue as a treatment or therapy for diagnosable conditions 4. ENDING THE SESSION 4.1. Ask the ‘watcher’ or ‘aware observer’ self to summarise the session. (optional) 4.2. Make sure client is back in the safe (middle) chair before ending the session. 4.3 Integrate! Ask client to draw all the inner selves back from wherever they were in the room and ‘integrate them inside’ again. 4.4 Talk casually with client about the experience. RETURN TO VOICE DIALOGUE FACILITATORS' TOP PAGE RETURN TO VOICE DIALOGUE - GETTING TO KNOW YOUR INNER SELVES Copyright © John Nutting 1996- - 2004  and   ©   GROWING AWARENESS   All rights reserved World Wide   LAST UPDATE  Wednesday, 12 November 2008 00:03 Don't worry about those copyright notices at the foot of each page. It just means I want to hang on to legal ownership of what I write for use in future books.  Until that day, please feel free to copy, adapt and use them to your heart's content as long as you don't charge anyone for them. If you want to use them commercially (charge a fee for them) I would appreciate an acknowledgment and if they go well and you make a profit out of them, I would appreciate an appropriate sharing. RETURN TO GROWING AWARENESS  HOME PAGE