When I finished the low and high elements training, I felt like I'd just tried drinking from a fire hose.

Rules, safety principles, and mantras bopped around my head like a hoard of fifth graders in a bouncy castle. Behind the chaos was a deeper fear: Am I actually ready to hold space for such growth? In the interest of speaking to this inner doubt, I wrote this article to help us all reflect on what we experienced and learned during both trainings.

Let's start broad: What are we trying to do as Challenge Course Facilitators?

Out there, our group seems to just be hobbling around on metal and wood contraptions, playing strange games, and regressing to our monkey days. But here's what they're really doing:

• Building connections
• Developing team dynamics
• Learning emotional intelligence
• Aligning toward a shared vision

In a post-Covid world filled with social isolation, there's never been a more important time for this work. I've already seen and heard countless individuals changed through our actions. People have confronted limiting self-beliefs. People have navigated team gender stereotypes. People have cried.

To be honest, our role in this process is partially to disrupt. We find holes for growth and then lodge some sticks in em. But we must never forget to act with kindness, safety, and play in mind. We're a curious band of homo sapiens spinning together on a small blue rock, held gently by gravity. For just a moment, amidst leaves rustling and branches creaking, let's savor that simple wonder—and have fun.

It's important we emphasize our role as facilitator, NOT teacher. No shade on teachers—both my parents chose that noble suffering—but they're usually the answer-givers, not the chaos-embracers. Where teachers give turn-by-turn directions facilitators hand out a map, a compass, and grin as participants wander off the path.

Facilitators understand conflating information with experience is a mistake. We could tell people how they should grow. But it wouldn't have the emotional glue to stick. Experiences from facilitation are what create that emotional glue.

With that being said, let's go through how to facilitate a program from start to finish. I'm going to write this assuming you're a Level 1 facilitator as I believe that's what most of us are aiming for. Keep in mind that this is the way I would structure a program after learning from high and low elements. It might change, and it's absolutely not the way you have to instruct your program. Of course, my structure is oBVioUsLy the best one, so you'd be during yourself a disservice, but it's your choice.

Facilitating A Program From Start To Finish

Opening Of The Program (30-45 Minutes)

A few days before the program, the lead facilitator will reach out to us and tell us the game plan: the schedule for the day, the group we're having, and our role in the process. We get to avoid all the logistical work! Ha ha.

I encourage you during this stage to think about how specifically to facilitate that group, and conveniently, there are past logs of programs on the CTLC website (almost as if they want you to use them). Every group is different. Facilitating elementary students is different from facilitating Undergrads is different from facilitating Graduate students. Perhaps you'll prepare to simplify some of the low elements you do. Or you'll skip to a particularly challenging high element. Or you'll spend more time on get-to-know-you activities since none of the group know each other. Sometimes, the client will include specific group goals, which is invaluable for our facilitation.

The day of the program remember to check the weather. Don't show up in Crocs and a t-shirt unless your idea of ​​a good time includes frostbite. This is Ithaca. Show up an hour early and help the lead facilitator set up. This might mean putting out chairs, preparing waivers, setting up snacks, etc.

Around 10-15 minutes before the start time of the program, begin introducing yourself to people who show up. This time is invaluable for creating that first spark of connection, which can build toward a flame later on. Don't worry, you don't have to talk about the underlying meaning of our nature on this planet; just a simple hi, how are you feeling from 1-10 today or something else is good. Remember their name—not because you must, but because, to them, hearing their own name spoken might be the small kindness that stays with them the rest of the week.

Putting out a game or activity like counting the squares or the nine-dot problem we did in class can be a fun pastime for any introvert who doesn't feel like talking.

Once the whole group is together, you can introduce yourself, the program's purpose, and your role as a disruptor, as I wrote above. Once you've introduced yourself, have everyone else introduce themselves. You can tailor this intro to you, but it might look like this:

1. Name
2. Variable questions like: favorite outdoor activity, their personality as a fruit, whatever
3. Goal for the day

Once this is done, I think it would be valuable to align the group on a shared mantra to get in the right headspace. Matthew gifted us a mantra that's sticky enough to tattoo: have fun, play safe, lean in.

What does this mean for the group?

Firstly, have fun.

Yes, some of them are forced to be here, perhaps don't even want to be here. But while we're here, we might as well have fun. We rarely get a chance to play and shed the mask of "being a proper adult." Now is our chance to do so.

Secondly, play safe.

Nothing is more important than physical and psychological safety on the course. I'm not a philosopher, but last I checked, dead people can't grow. If we or our group members EVER feel unsafe, we should do something about it immediately. This is especially true on highs, where danger is much more real. That means no open-toed shoes, erratic behavior, and anything else in the CTLC manual.

Thirdly, lean in.

People get as much out of the program as they put in. We can provide the seeds for transformation, but if our participants don't water them, nothing will grow.

Once the group knows this mantra, you can make some sort of ritual agreement. Perhaps everyone puts their hands into the circle and raises them in hurrah. Whatever floats your boat.

To expand on our point about safety, we can explain two essential COE principles: challenge by choice and comfort zones. You might ask the participants what they believe these terms mean to build rapport, and, as Matthew did for our training, have them walk through an exercise in comfort zones by moving between three different regions of comfort as various statements are brought up.

Then it's time to sign waivers, ugh! The reason I think it would be better to sign them after this whole process is people know what they're getting out of the program. It feels strange to have them do this annoying busy work first. But it's up to you.

Thankfully Maddie told us a way to sign waivers which doesn't make you want to bleach your eyes. Have each participant read out as much as they can of the waiver in a single breadth. Since you're already doing the boring safety signing, I would tack on some warnings about ticks (see what I did there), the bathroom, and any other miscellaneous things you feel necessary to discuss.

If you'reyour group doesn't know each other well, you can consider ending the openings before diving into the low elements with some "connection before content" because, as we learned, icebreakers usually conjure about as much enthusiasm as a call from the IRS. There's a whole bunch we learned but here were some of my favorites:

• People To People
  • High Five Partner
  • Low Five Partner
  • Fist bump Partner
• Umbutu
  • Find commonality
  • Competition
  • Biggest Fan
• Whampum

Once that's done it's finally time to move to the activities for the day!

Facilitating An Element (30-45 Minutes)

What element you do and when depends on the schedule and the group you're with. Some groups might know each other well, or not at all. Some might be comfortable with touch, or more antsy. Have these things inform which element you take them to.

While walking to the element, you might consider giving them a walk and talk to continue building a connection. From my experience, this is best when the group doesn't know each other, as with good friends, it can feel artificial. Out of all our walks and talks, I think my favorite was "what's something only someone close to you would know you're comfortable sharing." But there were many other great ones as well.

Once you're at an element we learned a useful acronym for opening it: NOISE.

• Name: the name of the element.
• Objective: the goal of the element. Consider adding your own story framing during this part and the next.
• Info: the rules for the element.
• Safety: important safety information for that element.
• Extra/questions: any other miscellaneous info and questions regarding that element from the group.

If it's the group's first time out there, I think, like Matthew, I'll take some time explaining the problem-solving steps. Unfortunately from my experience most groups have no idea how to deliberate amongst themselves effectively. Those steps are:

• Ask questions: allow the group to ask questions about the element to you.
• Brainstorm: freeform session for group to come up with any idea they can about how to navigate the element.
• Choose plan: group decides with plan to start with with varying thumbs up.
• Do: actually do the plan.
• Evaluate: see how the plan worked and go back to brainstorming.

You might consider asking them if there's a goal they would like to set before engaging in the element. This gives them something to aspire towards and gives them more autonomy over the experience.

Then, let them do the element. Especially if it's a high element, consider encouraging a particularly confident person to go first to empower the rest of the group to do their best. You're role during this process is to make sure they don't die, answer questions, and disrupt. This point of disruption is something I loved from Ben during the second day of training. We are here to spark growth. Sometimes, that requires forcing it.

For example, if one person is dominating the talking space, you might find a way to make them unable to talk in the activity. If you do this, you must be mindful of not overly hurting people's egos. For example, perhaps you say three random people can no longer talk because acid came up and sprayed their necks. Conveniently, one of those people might be the over-talker, but now they don't feel singled out. There are tons of other fun ways you might do this depending on the group like forcing people to communicate only with the numbers 1-10, not be able to see, adopt a role they're aren't used to, etc.

In addition, find a way to surprise. I noticed most of the elements had a twist towards the middle, meaningfully changing how it was done. This promotes much more engagement. Our brain is heavily evolved towards novelty because novel things are usually what kill us—that and small talk. In addition, people tend to remember the peaks and ends of an experience, and altering the activity in such a way can build a reliable peak into the element.

Depending on your schedule, you might begin reflections with or without success. Here are some of the reflections we learned:

• What, so what, now what
• Traffic Light
  • Red: what stopped us from continuing in our activity
  • Orange: what almost stopped us but didn't
  • Green: what propelled us forward
• That silly question ball

One thing to remember during reflections is to use positive feedback. As a Dutch person, nothing brings me more joy than bluntly outlining someone's flaws directly to their face. But we're in America, and we aren't here to break the wills of our participants. So, a positivity sandwich often works better. For those that don't know, that essentially means you give one positive thing, one negative thing, and then one positive thing. It's a sandwich!

One other thing to remember is your non-verbal cues. Neutral signals can actually be interpreted as hostile by some. So, as Ben said, try a Mona Lisa smile. If you're really feeling it, you can turn sideways as you look. Just don't wink...

Once reflections are over, move to the next element depending on schedule and rinse and repeat.

Ending A Program

When ending a program, you always want to consider how to finish on a high note. Importantly, that might mean ending thirty minutes before you expected. The group may have had a huge win on one of the elements. Don't try and cram in something for every last minute of time.

You might encourage participants to reflect on their day, what they learned, what they'd like to actionalize moving forward, etc. You can finish with a group sharing.

As people leave, take a moment to congratulate yourself. You just created a little more connection in a world filled with social isolation. You strengthened a team. You built emotional intelligence. And you aligned people towards a shared vision. That's incredible.

For around an hour after the program, you'll spend some time reflecting with the other facilitators. This is your opportunity to share highlights, talk about what went well, what could go better, what the group was like, and write down advice for future facilitators in a reflection sheet. You're participating in a part of something greater than yourself, a grand CTLC mission.

Remember, this is just my reflections from the training days. Transform your program based on how you want to facilitate. And use the CTLC guide manual as a reference sheet for all the things I didn't have time to talk about here.

Remember, each session changes you too. Take a moment to reflect—what surprised you? Where did you grow? As all of the experienced facilitators said. We don't do this for the money. We do it because it makes us and our participants better people.

So let's go make the world a better place.