NAFCM Webinar: Facilitating Large Community Groups

Facilitating Large Community Groups

Updated with Workplace Bullying, Race, & Livable Communities Experiences

*Register*:	Register Now! [NAFCM members register for FREE; non-member registration fee is $25.]
Date & Time:	Thursday, February 27, 2014, from 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm EDT.
Presenters:	Catherine Tornbom
Short Description:	The Center for Community Dialogue, a program of Our Family Services, and NAFCM Member recently shared their experience facilitating a state-wide conversation on mental heath in Arizona and they continue to utilize their facilitation services in dynamic, innovative ways. The Center for Community Dialogue will share their recent experiences with a workplace bullying forum, a region-wide discussion in Tucson on becoming a livable community involving government planners, builders, service professionals, and community members, a well as Project Hoodie: A conversation on race for high school and college students. Further, a forum will be provided for NAFCM members to ask questions about how to provide similar services to their community or to share their own facilitation experiences. The Center for Community Dialogue emerged from a tragedy and a 30+ year history of community mediation. For the past year, the Center has been growing their reputation within Tucson as well as state-wide, as the go-to resource for large community forums, ranging from 60 people up to 200 (and can handle up to 500). The Center has a corps of experienced mediators, circle facilitators, and general facilitators who have been trained and are skilled in neutral facilitation. The Center’s process for engaging community members with difficult topics is simple yet highly effective and they have facilitated diverse topics such as sex trafficking, Jewish-Palestinian issues, conversations on race related to the Trayvon Martin case; focus groups for a college plan, and others. The Center for Community Dialogue will now bring this experience and skills to the NAFCM membership.
Learning Objectives:	1. Growing the skill set of volunteers. 2. Becoming an indispensable partner to the community 3. Determining and refining the method(s) for Community Dialogues
Presenters' Bios:	Catherine Tornbom is a mediator and organization consultant with over 30 years of experience. She is currently the Manager for the Center for Community Dialogue, a program of Our Family Services, in Tucson, Arizona. The Center’s purpose is to help Southern Arizonans talk about challenging issues in a skilled, civil and respectful way. She oversees a range of dialogue and alternative dispute resolution services. Among the services are Public Forums, Mediation and Eldercare Mediation, Circles Process facilitation, Group Conflict Facilitation, and strategic planning facilitation. She teaches the Basic 42-hour Mediation Course, the ElderCare Mediation Course, Group Facilitation, and has developed trainings for Mentor Mediators and facilitating groups in conflict. She also offers trainings on the Circles Process Level 1 and 2 and creates personalized trainings on effective collaboration methods for leadership and team effectiveness. Skilled and experienced volunteers are key to the success of the Mediation and Circles Program and she is responsible for their ongoing development and training. Catherine has studied and taught Aikido, a martial art renowned for its peaceful resolution to conflict for over 35 years, and brings that awareness into her work. She is completing her doctoral dissertation in organization development.