*Statements highlighted in yellow are Editor’s notes.

FACILITATOR’S GUIDE
Step-by-step

Pre-session

1. Ground yourself and prep for session

About 20-30 minutes before the session, discuss with your observer to ensure
everything is ready and roles are clear (make sure to have an outline of your session,
which may include questions to ask). Then, do a grounding exercise or motivational
activity together with your observer.

During session
* The timings indicated per section are not fixed; you may amend it according to your session.

1. Self-introduction (1 min.)
Perhaps name + course + one question (eg: what do you expect from this session? OR
one fun fact).

2. Group introduction (10 mins.)

Repeat the same you did to yourself during the self-introduction.

3. Briefly explain about Connect and Honest Hours [Ref 03] (1 min.)
The introduction of Connect and Honest Hours (hereinafter referred to as “HH”) can be
explained through your own words.

4. Ground rules [Ref 04] (3 mins.)

Brief to the group about our ground rules (which will be sent in the group by Observer).
Remember to show and ask everyone to repeat the hand gestures.

5. Ice breaker (optional) [Ref 02 on page 6] (10-12 mins.)

It can be different sorts of short activities ranging from mindfulness or even something
silly.

6. Start the session [Ref 01 on page 4] (50 mins.)

If no one wants to volunteer, you can always start first yourself or ask your observer. You
may also jot down keywords from a participant’s topic and bring it up again to explore
further later on. Keep in mind that the session should (if appropriate) be divided into 2
environments, firstly to be more open and casual then to dive into deeper topics.

If you are asking questions you have prepared before the session, try not to begin by
saying, “My next question is…” to avoid sounding like an interviewer rather than a
facilitator.
 7. End the session [Ref 01 on page 5] (10 mins.)
You can state the time and/or go through everyone’s points then wrap up with another
one word check-in. Promote our social media for a bit. Briefly inform them of the Skype
group chat consisting of HH participants.

Ask for their consent to have a screenshot of them taken (for promotional purposes). If
they decline, they may switch their video off and we can block out their name(s) from the
photo. Always thank everyone at the end and ask them to fill in the feedback form.

Post Session

1. Have a short debrief with your observer

To see how things went and how you guys feel about it, anything that can be improved.
The Facilitator can begin with expressing what they have felt/observed first because the
Observer has their points written down already.
 REFERENCE 03: OBJECTIVES OF HONEST HOURS

● To increase students’ level of self-esteem and positive feelings.

● To provide positive peer influence and opportunities which help students to develop a
positive self-concept, self-acceptance and high self-esteem.
● To increase confidence, and to develop and enhance communication and social skills.
● To ensure participants feel listened to and understood.
● To provide a sense of connectedness and belongingness between participants.

REFERENCE 04: GROUND RULES

1 Turn on video if possible to feel more present when sharing.

Use hand gestures for "agree" and "disagree" of a statement. “Block” is used when you do
2 not want the topic to be spoken about, with reason.
Avoid interrupting. If we do break in, we return the conversation to the person who was 
3 speaking.
4 Be mindful of the next person (Give everyone opportunity to share).
Participants are awarded 3 mins discussion time. Due to time constraint, facilitators may 
5 break into the conversation.
6 Attack the problem not the person.
7 Everyone should try to participate.
8 No one-on-one side conversations (All Discussion is meant for everyone).
9 Put all mobile devices on silent.
10 Stay mentally present (no multitasking if possible).
11 Fill in a Google Feedback Form at the end of the session.
**Note: 
This is a mutual self-help group, not a therapy group. Hopefully, this group will provide 
emotional, psychological, and moral support for its members. Each of us is encouraged to 
participate to whatever extent we feel comfortable. The following ground rules facilitate the 
development of trust in the group and enable us to share our thoughts and feelings with each 
other.

Share the following photo on the Skype group along with the ground rules:
Note: ​The following pages contain references that you may use to help you with facilitating. They have
been extracted from websites that we have found to be helpful.

If you would like to find ways to improve being a facilitator, I highly recommend watching the video
(Reference ​A.​ on the next page).

*Statements highlighted in​ blue ​are additional important information by the Editor.

REFERENCE 01: HOW TO RUN A SUPPORT GROUP

(Summary of Reference (A))

1. Build Trust amongst the members.

a. Be willing to share a personal story, to be vulnerable yourself. This may allow
participants to feel comfortable being vulnerable as well.

2. You will require the use of “Perceptual Tools.”

a. Shifting Attention (Internally, as a facilitator)
■ As a facilitator, let go of your judgements; this can be done with a
grounding exercise.
■ Cultivate Mindfulness (before your session): The objective is to teach
someone to focus on what is on your mind and to stabilize a person.
● Create awareness of what is going on internally and externally
with how you are feeling.
● Completely accept the feelings going on internally and externally.
● Allow yourself to have those thoughts, not controlling yourselves.
● Remember that you have the ability to let a feeling go. As you
acknowledge a feeling, notice it and let that feeling go.
● Timestamp for “Mindfulness” in the YouTube video in Ref. A.:
20:52 - 34:31
b. Scan Environment (Participants) (during a session).
■ Understand their internal and external emotions.
■ Locate things that are unseen with your intuition (e.g. noticing one person
disagreeing through their body language).
c. Change Behaviour
■ Change your behaviour after understanding your environment through
scanning.
■ Acknowledge a participant whether they agree or disagree with a
topic/statement.

These tools will help you understand how people are in the room.

3. Validate your peer’s feelings.

 a. Remember that it is okay if a participant does not want to share. Try to use
phrases such as “If you’re comfortable with sharing…” or “Silence is also
appreciated”
b. You may validate what a participant shares using neutral statements such as,
“Thank you for sharing,” or “That’s understandable,” or “Has anyone else here
experienced the same thing?”
c. Remember that as a peer supporter, your goal is to ​support​, not ​counsel.​ If you
disagree with a statement said, you may ask follow up questions or validate the
participants using neutral statements. Giving advice is not recommended (as we
are not professional therapists or psychologists).

4. Give people the “surprise” as a goal.

a. When people join a support group, they may be hoping for support to be provided
but they are also expecting the worst.
b. The goal of a session is to ensure you “surprise” them by allowing them to think,
“These people might understand where I’m coming from. I’m not alone in this
situation.”

Recommended references to improve facilitating:

A. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjdvToRQvQE
B. https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/implement/enhancing-support/peer-support-group
s/main
C. https://www.mirecc.va.gov/visn1/docs/products/Part_I_Peer_Support_Group_Facilitation
_Skills_Presentation.pdf
D. https://www.bobpikegroup.com/resources/trainer-blog/tips-for-successful-facilitation
E. https://www.howspace.com/resources/how-to-facilitate-a-workshop
 REFERENCE 02: TYPES OF ICEBREAKER
(For #5 in the Facilitator’s Guide)
The following are just examples. Feel free to use any icebreaker you are comfortable with that is also
engaging.

Object Identification (Online):

1. Ask them to look at the objects surrounding them that are within their reach.
2. "Take one minute - which object represents my current state/mood/energy/who I am
right now? Pick up that object.”
3. Have another minute to think about your answer
4. Would anyone like to share, anything interesting came up?

*We can have every participant to share. However, if they don’t feel comfortable sharing, they
don’t have to.

Lost in Space (or anywhere)

In this imaginative icebreaker, students pretend they are living on a space station for a year.
Suddenly, the station is malfunctioning and they have fifteen minutes to gather only five items to
take with them on the evacuating space shuttle. This is not a time for deep thought.

Students are asked to share the five items they are taking with them. Once all participants have
shared their list of items, the faci should analyse similarities and/or curiosities and ask the
participants about it. Students can explain about the reasoning behind choosing the items.

One Word Description

Students think of one word that best describes them or their life. They start their initial
discussion post by stating this word in bold, then describe why they chose that word. Students
review peers’ posts and find someone whose word resonates with them. Replying to that post
with the connection and tries to find two other nouns that the two classmates have in common.
Note: Students always do better with this activity when a strong example is provided after the
instructions.

Example

Word: Challenge
I’ve chosen this word because I feel like my life constantly has challenges that I overcome in
order to achieve my goals. For example…

One Word Check-in

Ask all participants to describe how they’re feeling right at the moment with just one word. Each
takes a turn to share. Faci should accept all feelings and it will also help to gauge the mood of
the group. Faci can also do another one word check-in at the end of the session to see whether
the discussion had an impact on their mood.

The Social Question

The idea for this ice breaker comes from the online training service Guided Insights.

Ask each participant a "social" question. So, you could find out what someone enjoys doing
outside of work, or ask if she has a funny story she can share about something that happened
to her recently, and so on. Ask everyone the same question, or different ones if you want more
variety in the responses.

Here are some more examples of what you might ask:

Give an example of something you've done this week that you feel proud of.
If you weren't on this call, what would you like to be doing?
If you could eat any dish right now, what would it be?
If money and time were no object, where would you most like to go on vacation?

The Time Machine (dang this can be a topic on its own)

Ask the following question, to one participant at a time: "If you were able to travel through time,
either forward or backward... :

Where would you go?

If backward, to which time period? Why?
If there was a person you could go back in time and meet, who would it be, and why?
Would you just want to visit and come back, or would you stay?"

Childhood Dream (this also)

Ask the participants to share their childhood dream (what they wanted to be or do when they
grew up) and then ask them to reflect on how this correlates with their current aspirations.

Miscomm-puter-unication

Ask the participants to share their most embarrassing mishap using a computer. Share your
own experience, for example, replying to the wrong person in an email. This will loosen them up
and cause a few to chuckle before embarking on a whole new way of thinking…using
technology instead of paper and pen
Would you rather?

Ask participants some 'Would you rather' questions and let them answer them. After this
participants can make up their own would you rather questions. Come up with a list of Would
you Rather Questions or use some of these:

• Would you rather always win pie-eating contests or always win wheelbarrow races?
• Would you rather be a deep sea diver or an astronaut?
• Would you rather be able to hear any conversation or take back anything you say?
• Would you rather be invisible or be able to read minds?
• Would you rather be the most popular or the smartest person you know?
• Would you rather be the sand castle or the wave?
• Would you rather give up your computer or your pet?
• Would you rather never use the internet again or never watch TV again?
• Would you rather not be able to use your phone or your e-mail?

What is one thing you would like to change about the world?

This question can explore a person’s goals or point of view.

Possible follow up questions:

● Why is that the most important thing you’d want to change?
● Is there anything you’re doing currently to help with that change?

Get to know a person past first impressions:

What is something you wish more people knew about you?