Value Everyone

We worked actively to create an environment where everyone felt valued. We discovered it was very important to acknowledge and create room for all the fears of inadequacy that participants might have. Participants revealed doubts about their ability to participate well for a variety of reasons: they had experienced violence or had not; had little experience as literacy coordinators or were in other adult education roles and settings; were younger than others in the group; were only used to formal academic courses or had not taken on studies in a while; were unsure about art, music or other creative expression; or were unfamiliar with yoga, movement or visualization. We wanted to suggest that it was "OK to be whoever you are," but also wanted to go further than that. We tried to encourage participants to see that the group needed them, with their skills, knowledge and experience, and with their discomfort, unfamiliarity, and doubt. We sought to demonstrate that we valued each group member and their approach to participation through all the stages of the Project. We also encouraged participants to value each other and each others' ways of participating in the shared experience.

Self-Reflection

As facilitators, we tried to be self-reflective throughout the Project and to invite that stance in participants. We wanted to be clear that we all have our own issues with violence, whether minor or major. We wanted to recognize the impact of all violence and to avoid the idea that less violence doesn't count or interfere with learning. We wanted it to be acceptable to express strong emotions or feel unable to think clearly—to not be "together" all the time. We wanted all of us in the Project to think about ourselves and our own needs. We valued a stance that said that we are all on our own road, that we may have struggles of different intensities at different times, and that each person's journey is unique, but that from our own experience and experiences we have observed, we can offer examples to prompt reflection.

As facilitators we were seeking another aspect of balance, namely a recognition that a facilitator does not work through her own issues or look for support from the group, but neither does she present herself as if she has everything worked out. We believe that facilitators can learn from participants in a group, but that facilitators should not use the group to work out their issues or expect to be looked after by the group. Again, we experienced the value of being co-facilitators who could ask each other to take over if our own issues came up or if we found aspects of our activities particularly challenging. We wanted to model that self-awareness is crucial, but that having it all sorted out is not!