Navigating challenging encounters is tough. Ease into it by focusing on the behaviour, not the person.

By Jim Buckell

Our aversion to difference is an evolutionary protection that no longer serves us well. The rewards are immense if we can let it go  

By Steve Ray

The man who placed process at the heart of groupwork

Groupwork graduate, facilitator and community activist Janet Rice recently retired from the federal parliament. We asked her to reflect on how she was able to put her facilitation skills to use in the Senate.

Collaboration, says the meme, is a bit like teenage sex:
“Everyone is talking about it. Everyone thinks everyone else is doing it. Those who are doing it, aren’t doing it very well. Despite that, everyone says how good it feels.”

I found a blind spot and had a good look around

As facilitators, we spend a lot of time with groups. Still, no matter how well we read the room, it can still be easy to overlook the challenges and feelings that can arise for a participant in any group. Spending time as a participant – with someone else facilitating – helps us better understand the dynamics of the group from their perspective.

What’s going on when our basic needs in a group are overlooked? Hala Abdelnour runs a temperature check over a recent chilling experience.

Andrea Jones finds ‘groupness’ with a songsheet in one hand and a chardonnay in the other  

What does good collaboration look like? Nancy Nuñez reflects on a maternal health project in Melbourne’s west that could be a model for others

Doom scrolling the other day I noticed not for the first time, the high-voltage passion with which people engage in content that has some kind of social change conscience to it. There are strong opinions, judgments and deep concern about a range of issues, the most recent being the human tragedy of Palestine.

Who wants to be normal? It was a question I often asked myself in my youth. Normal to me meant straight, mainstream, suburbia. As a queer kid growing up without any role models, I didn’t know too much. But I knew this was not my thing.

We have a way, we humans, of breaking things into parts, as a way to understand what’s happening.

Many of our group interactions and encounters happen within social media platforms these days. Depending on the forum, there is often a set of rules that members sign up to when they join the group and there are “admins” or “moderators” who have the job of addressing problems and complaints raised by members.

We've just completed the third module in our Advanced Facilitation Course, and what a journey it's been. The setting for this immersive experience was the earthy CERES in Melbourne, a backdrop that perfectly complemented the deep explorations we undertook during these three days together.