facilitation is a process where a neutral third party supports a group of people to work better together , understand their common objectives, and plan pathways to achieve these objectives, during meetings or discussions. at civitas, facilitation is a highly collaborative process that is dedicated to building nurturing spaces and fulfilling relationships, and encouraging personal growth journeys that enable intentional progress for the community.

why seek facilitation?

facilitation helps build authentic relationships, build safe and brave spaces, strengthen team development, and cultivate inclusive leadership, while also sowing seeds for trust and resilience. facilitation is ideal for any group of people who want to engage in meaningful dialogue, explore personal and collective resistance, identify and interrogate power dynamics, and co-create pathways to bring collective visions into reality.   

what conversations can be facilitated?

facilitation is appropriate for a range of different conversations and relationship dynamics. whether it is a family trying to work through their differences or an organization looking to identify how to redistribute and share power, or a group of people who want to organize toward doing social justice work, facilitation offers room to talk through difficult conversations, recognize how power shows up, and identify routes to dismantle barriers that have the potential to limit the group’s capacity to function cohesively.

how does facilitation work?

before a facilitation process begins, i will engage in 1:1 conversations and/or a general survey to understand what your group is hoping to achieve, where it seeks to move to through the facilitation process, and name what it finds challenging in or about the process. following this, over a series of sessions, we will work together to engage in conversation, reflect on positionalities and power dynamics, and build bridges that help achieve the intended goals.