Facilitating facilitators' facilitation: experience with a model for teaching leaders of hypnosis practice groups

We developed a 6 hour training seminar for leaders of small group practice sessions integral to introductory hypnosis workshops. It has been offered annually for 3 years to prepare new faculty for our Introductory Workshop. Applicants met specific experience criteria. Participation was limited to 8 to match and model 8 learners/small group in workshops. Learners reviewed principles of adult education, group dynamics, and guidelines for leaders. Each had the opportunity to role-play small group participant and small group leader in two 3 hour evening periods a week apart. Twenty-four learners participated. Some had taught before. Most were new to teaching small groups and desired specific training. Extensive evaluation of the training was integral to the process. Training was evaluated by examining ratings of leaders by participants in our Annual Introductory Workshop. Ratings used the same parameters taught and evaluated during the training seminar. The training curriculum is presented with the results of evaluations of group leaders' performances in the Annual Workshop. Ratings of "experienced" leaders who did not participate in the training are compared to those of newly trained teachers. Leaders with training plus experience were more effective then leaders with many years of experience.