Scribe/Convener: Sue Praill
E 101 12:15:00
Attendees: Rachel Kolb, Anna Woelk, Aaron Hagmaier, Russ Leinback, Dathan Young
We went through the steps for creating a safe space for speaking and listening:
1. An opening ceremony to denote the specialness of the space
2. Introduction and check-in round
3. Explanation of workings of a Circle, the Keeper and the Talking piece; only one person is invited to speak while everyone else is invited to listen.
4. Creation of guidelines or “rules” for safe speaking (honesty, respect, compassion etc)
5. Personal storytelling where participants talk about themselves, perhaps in response to a question posed by the Keeper of the Circle. Emphasis on this relationship building stage. The stage is then set to consider the “difficult issue” on the agenda or problem solving task.
6. Due to shortage of time we ended with a quick round about the usefulness of this format. The participants all felt that they could use this format in various settings.
7. We ended with a closing ceremony
Contact Sue Praill at the Fairfield Center
No specific action items came out of the discussion, but I plan to reach as many people as possible about the benefits of using Circles
