Who is this course for?

This course is designed for anyone who organises Tinnitus Support Group meetings. It will be of benefit to audiologists, volunteers with tinnitus, and staff working in other charities. The course is designed specifically for those people who are new to facilitating support groups or those who have been with a group for a while and want a refresher or new ideas.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course you will be able to:

• Facilitate constructive sessions with people with tinnitus.
• Identify issues with boundaries and explore how to share these with group members
• Confidently signpost group members appropriately for further support and medical expertise.

More specifically, the course will:

• Increase your awareness of models of facilitation and explore the facilitation process.
• Provide the opportunity to develop your own facilitation skills.
• Increase your engagement with, and understanding of, self-help principles.
• Offer different tools and techniques to use with groups at meetings
• Generally increase the confidence and capability of group organisers, particularly those new to running a group.

Some things you will cover

The course will give the opportunity to explore:

• How to fill the awkward silences
• How to deal with negative group members
• How to limit people who talk a lot
• How to avoid giving medical advice

Programme

• 9.30 - Arrival and refreshments
• 9.45 - Introductions
  Ways to open sessions
  What is group facilitation
  Stages groups go through
  Group dynamics
• 11.00 - Refreshments
• 11.15 - Effective questioning
  Challenging group members
• 12.45 - Lunch
  Quiz each other
  Simple tools and techniques
  Unspoken elements of group facilitation
• 15.00 - Refreshments
• 15.15 - A final good practice checklist
  What to do if it all goes wrong
  We are here to help
  Ways to close sessions
• 16.15 - Evaluations
• 16.30 - Departure

About the venue

The venue is centrally located, about a 5-minute walk from Birmingham New Street Station. Disabled parking on site is available free of charge by prior booking. A small number of spaces are available on the day at a cost of £9 per day or £4.50 for half a day. These are allocated on a first come first served basis.

Cost for the event

The training will be free to anyone who facilitates support groups. Places on the course are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment. Second class rail fare up to £100 can be claimed on the day of the training. Please note: Although places are free on this course cancellations after Friday 20 April will be invoiced at £25 per person.