Facilitation and Coaching Skills for Coaches: Helping Staff to Facilitate CFT Meeting

Level: Advanced Practice

Credits: 6

Intended Audience: SOP Coaches

Description of Course: After completing a course on understanding the purpose, structure, and process of a Child and Family Team meeting, CFS staff need to practice their skills to facilitate these types of meetings. Coaches are the second phase of training to allow for practicing the facilitation of a real family meeting. This course will review the repertoire of good facilitation skills necessary for staff to understand and practice. Participants will practice coaching on these facilitation skills and simultaneously increase their fluency in the CFT Meeting’s “super 8” structure, including the sequencing and processes and focus question for each phase. Participants will also identify strategies to successfully link the Phase 1 classroom training to the Phase 2 skills practice facilitation of an actual CFT with coaches assisting in their first facilitation. This is a highly-interactive workshop relying on small and large group discussions, small group activities, dyad discussions and individual assessment and reflection.

Intended Objectives:

• Increase fluency in the structure of the CFT Meetings
• Review and practice the common facilitation skills necessary for facilitating a CFT meeting
• Practice providing feedback and coaching to increase facilitation skills and to increase fluency in CFT meetings
• Practice creating and discussing safety networks
• Increase fluency in using the CFT Toolkit, and understand the necessary CFW worker documentation to support the process
• Understand the impact of cultural identity on coaching as well as facilitating a CFT Meeting
• Value the importance of the CFT pre-meeting and develop strategies to coach on facilitating the pre-meeting

Topics Include:

• CFT Meetings
• Facilitation Skills
• Solution-Focused Questions
• Coaching Skills