Social workers and human service professionals can apply their skills and knowledge to fulfill various roles, including that of a facilitator. Facilitation provides human service specialists with opportunities for promoting positive change and assisting social group members with getting at the roots of their issues. This role incorporates the application of communication-related and subject matter knowledge to guide groups and keep meetings focused and purposeful.
Facilitation is profound and addresses the promotion of intra-group connections and fruitful discussions. The contexts might include policy change initiatives, providing the homeless or other vulnerable groups with support, or other instances of group work. Social workers’ role as facilitators might include participation in both offline and online group gatherings as leaders committed to achieving results for each member. In this context, the role is based on organizing group meetings and being partially responsible for how interpersonal communication is structured. As facilitators or co-facilitators, group leaders can intervene and make contributions to conversations to help their groups eliminate distractions from issues of interest and implement appropriate formats of communication (Kaye-Tzadok, 2021). Facilitators’ contributions as social group therapists in the era of technology also deserve attention. In connection with the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact, some facilitators report new responsibilities and aspects of their role, such as learning to maintain group engagement despite an unstable Internet connection (Kaye-Tzadok, 2021). Because of ongoing digitalization and the risks of infectious disease outbreaks, the scope of a facilitator’s role has been expanded recently to include tech-mediated facilitation and organizing social groups’ communication in online spaces.
On a final note, the role, as the term suggests, centers on facilitating communication and the gathering of social groups driven by an array of purposes and social issues. Co-facilitation can also be used during social group meetings, thus adding to the need to collaborate and distribute responsibilities properly to benefit social groups. Overall, facilitation includes guidance, eliciting equal participation, and assisting groups rather than imposing any opinions on participants.
Reference
Kaye-Tzadok, A. (2021). Human connection: Is it possible in the era of virtual groups and social distancing? One group worker’s journey through the COVID-19 pandemic. Social Work with Groups, 44(2), 132-138. Web.