How to Be an Extraordinary Group Facilitator

THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2026
12 p.m. - 1 p.m. ET/11 a.m. - 12 p.m. CT

Webinar

Discover what truly sets extraordinary group facilitators apart! Group facilitators have an important role to play in helping group members feel safe to share their concerns, and to feel emotionally connected. Yet, many who facilitate groups have no specific training on what makes a group extraordinary. There are 10 top skills, but exactly are these skills and how can you learn to do them?

Being good at facilitating groups isn’t something most are born with. It is a skill set that can be learned. Effective facilitation is less about having the right answers and more about creating conditions where people feel heard, respected, and valued.

Participants will explore effective, research-based techniques based in the ability to consistently value each person’s inherent worth, regardless of behavior, discovering how tone, presence, and nonjudgmental listening shape group dynamics. Facilitators will learn how to adopt a person-centered stance that holds steady even in the face of challenging interactions, ways to approach each individual with acceptance, curiosity, and enduring warmth, and to ask one question at a time, allow space for reflection, and ensure clarity and accessibility.

This session emphasizes a practical mindset shift and explores how this perspective opens the door to empathy, understanding, and more effective support. No matter how much facilitation experience you have, or how little - anyone can grow as a group facilitator and learn new skills!

Learning Outcomes:
•    Describe research and resources about effective group facilitator techniques 
•    Review and complete the ‘Group Facilitator Self Checklist’
•    Describe 10 extraordinary facilitator techniques
•    Identify 2 techniques to enhance over the next month
 

Presented by: Kristine Theurer, The Java Group
Dr. Kristine Theurer is a researcher who is pioneering the use of standardized peer support and peer mentoring programs to address loneliness and social isolation in senior living. She is a published author of a number of research articles, the most recent of which ‘It makes life worthwhile!’ Peer mentoring in long-term care—a feasibility study in the Journal of Aging & Mental Health, The Impact of Peer Mentoring on Loneliness, Depression, and Social Engagement in Long-Term Care in the Journal of Applied Gerontology and The Need for a Social Revolution in Residential Care, the most downloaded article in the Journal of Aging Studies. Kristine has completed her PhD at the University of British Columbia, leads training workshops and webinars in Canada and the US and presents regularly at international conferences. She has received numerous research awards including the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She serves on the planning committee for the national conference on culture change in Canada, hosted by the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging.

Registration Policy
Registration includes digital handouts and tools for each of the sessions, ONE connection to the live virtual trainings for ONE person, and instructions for receiving CE credit/attendance certificate for one person. Please note that a recording of this training is not included in the registration fee. 

Contact Hours
This program is approved for 1 hour of CE credit for Florida and Louisiana assisted living/adult residential care administrators and nursing home administrators, and Florida occupational therapists and nurses. Contact hours will be reported to CE Broker within 30 days of the program date for attendees licensed under Florida Boards. All attendees may request a certificate reflecting hours earned for self-reporting continuing education to other boards and oversight agencies.

Cancellations/Refunds/Substitutions
Substitutions will be accepted at no additional fee until registration closes. All cancellations and substitution requests must be submitted in writing to kmccloud@leadingagesoutheast.org.

Questions
For assistance with your membership status or recovering login information, please contact us at (850) 671-3700.