Write and Read Here: an Appreciative Enquiry- Building a Bibliotherapy Tool Kit

Write and Read Here: an appreciative enquiry- Building a Bibliotherapy Tool Kit

Programme for Friday 3rd October 2014

Bibliotherapy is the creative and practical use of reading and writing for well-being! Books, stories and poems invite readers to explore their inner and outer worlds. From the depths of struggle, grief or despair to the peaks of joy, accomplishment and hope the reader / writer can and does travel. Accompanying and facilitating another is, therefore, something to be done with care. Words have power! Those that use writing, literary resources, reading and story-gathering in their work need to give thoughtful consideration to the perspectives, tools, and implications of their work with words.

In this consultation day, participants will be asked to help in building a bibliotherapy tool kit AND in heightening their own self-awareness in using literary tools.

9:30 - Registration and coffee etc.

10:00 - Welcome and overview of the day: Ann Wales NHS Education for Scotland, Programme Director for Knowledge Management & Larry Butler, Convener, Lapidus Scotland (Creative Writing and Reading for Well-being)

10:20 - Brief facilitated discussion about the use of bibliotherapy tools and participant expectations for the day - Ted Bowman and the whole group

10:30 - Large group demonstration - one of the team (an experience involving the whole group, followed by commentary by the facilitator, following by brief comments by participants. The experience will include large group activities AND dyads or triads…all to demonstrate bibliotherapy with groups of 20 or more). Discussion follows.

11:15 – Ann Wales – Bibliotherapy, Knowledge into Action with Q&A

11: 40 - Experiences – 4 or 5 small groups of 6 to 9 people . The focus in this group is that a skilled facilitator (Margot Henderson, Maureen Sangster, Helen Lamb and Larry Butler) share how they plan for facilitating. Key components are shared. Questions discussed. Group comes up with 5 – 10 other organizational “musts”.

12:30 Open Space AND LUNCH (buffet style)

Sites set up, some with facilitators, others with A1 paper and

markers. Registrants are to mill about, stop and add suggestions, thoughts, tools, to these CORE facets of facilitation. Two sites will have a problem/question/challenge which registrants try to solve and offer advice. For those with facilitators, scribes should be present to capture notes.

Examples.

1) Do’s and Don’ts when facilitating

2) Choosing prompts – guidelines

3) Ground rules for groups

4) Care practices for facilitators

5) Co-leadership

6) Cultural considerations

7) Ethics

1:30 Bibliotherapy – A Potpourri of Examples – Ted Bowman

2:00 Break

2:15 Experiences – 4-5 small groups (one of the team) one of the team leads a “tried and true” experience for 20-25 minutes, followed by commentary by the facilitator, and then input from participants about tools used and those that could have been used.

3:15 Tea and continue Open Space

3:45 Closing session – gathering inputs about the tool kit

4:30 End

With this flow, participants would experience (1) 1 large group facilitation, prompts, commentary and discussion; (2) 2 small group prompts, facilitation, commentary and discussion; (3) an Open Space process related to the use of tools; comments; (4) context and examples from Ted Bowman; and (5) opportunities for input into the emerging toolkit throughout the day.