Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Overgeneralisations of Great Facilitation?

[Sharon Villines (sharonvillines]

on 9/7/00 4:59 PM, Stuart Staniford at stuart [at] silicondefense.com wrote:

> If the facilitator is taking
> the group somewhere scary just for the fun of the ride... that's not ok
> (IMO).

Participants can also take the group somewhere scary just for the fun of the
ride, dumping stuff that is too difficult for the group (or the facilitator)
to handle. This is the main reason I like to have experienced facilitators,
not just because they know what they are going but because they know how to
handle members of the group.

> Getting consent is good in theory, but in practice people often have no
> idea what they are getting into in mediating some conflict, so it's not
> clear it's really *informed* consent.  And oftentimes stuff just comes up
> seemingly out of nowhere and one is making split second decisions about
> where to take it.

I recently walked out of a group where the therapist wanted an agreement
from everyone in the group that nothing said in the group would ever be
revealed outside the group. This was a demonstration session included in a
weeklong retreat in which few of us knew each other or the therapist or even
what his plan was. He gave no information. As another person who walked out
with me said, "How do I know you aren't planning on assassinating the
president?" Getting consent does require some explanation of what one is
asking people to agree to.

Sharon
-- 
Sharon Villines
Who left Manhattan the Movie Set for Florida the Postcard
And is now in DC the Diorama of the New World
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington, DC
http://www.takomavillage.org