Continuing education topics for BeFrienders

Click on the series title to go directly to the descriptions in that series. GROW Trainer Guides, which are available for purchase, are electronic files that include the information a program leader needs to conduct the training session, masters of participant handouts, and masters of overheads. The GROW Trainer Guides are sent to the purchaser via e-mail.

Prices for GROW Trainer Guides are subject to change.

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Skill Practice Series

Evaluating and Ending Relationships
The Power of Active Listening
Listening Skills Part 1: Attending and Following
Listening Skills Part 2: Responding With Understanding

New Insight Series

Dying and Death: A View From the Inside
Coping with Loss

Group Development Series

Checking the Pulse of Your Group

SKILL PRACTICE SERIES

Sessions in this series provide practice for topics first covered in candidate training.

Evaluating and Ending Relationships, $40.00

This important topic is an excellent -- and very important -- first choice for continuing education for BeFrienders. The GROW Trainer Guide is offered at a reduced price to introduce you to the entire collection of guides.

This session provides guidelines and role-plays for evaluating and ending BeFriender relationships. Participants examine what is "in their cup" about ending a relationship and discuss strategies for easing the transition that endings bring—for themselves and those they befriend. 2 hours.

As a result of this session, participants will be able to:

Effectively evaluate and end a BeFriender relationship.
Use mutuality to respond to the concerns of the person befriended about ending the relationship.
Prepare for ending a relationship by understanding what might fill their cup.

The Power of Active Listening, $40.00

Participants examine their beliefs about listening and being listeners and how their beliefs and behaviors impact their listening role. Through story, participants understand how to listen with their eyes and heart, as well as with their ears. 2 hours.

As a result of this session, participants will be able to:

Understand how their beliefs about listening affect their ability to listen.
Understand the impact of their behaviors and actions on their role as listeners.
Understand what those they befriend are saying beyond the words they use.

Listening Skills: Part 1, $40.00

Participants examine and practice attending and following, two of the active listening skills used in Level One mutuality. They learn how to be present with another, create a listening space, and embrace silence. Participants practice verbal and nonverbal encouragers and appropriate questions to help the storyteller reveal his or her world to the BeFriender. 2 hours.

As a result of this session, participants will be able to:

Build trust in the BeFriender relationship through more skillful use of Level One mutuality.
Create a listening space and embrace silence so that persons befriended can tell their stories at their own pace.
Gently draw the befriended person's story out through the use of verbal and nonverbal encouragers and appropriate questions.

Listening Skills Part 2, $40.00

Participants examine and practice the skills of responding with understanding. They learn how to respond to the emotions, meaning, and thoughts of storytellers. Skills are practiced using a visit that is included in the materials. 2 hours.

As a result of this session, participants will be able to:

Apply the concepts and skills of Level One mutuality to their BeFriender relationships.
Actively listen by responding from the storytellers’ perspective.
Use paraphrasing, reflection of inferred feelings, tentative openings, and summarizing when responding.

NEW INSIGHT SERIES

Sessions in this series enhance skills and knowledge for BeFrienders.

**Dying & Death: A View from the Inside (includes video "Just Ordinary Days" in DVD format*), $80.00**

*Please allow 2 weeks for delivery of the video

The session includes a 58-minute video that offers the personal stories of three people who share how they came to accept the fact that they are dying. Through these stories participants learn more about the journey toward death and how to support those who are dying. Participants learn how to approach and discuss sensitive issues about death. Letting go, acceptance, and spirituality also are explored. 2 hours.

As a result of this session, participants will be able to:

Reflect on the journey of death from perspectives of those dying.
Connect to their own thoughts and emotions about end-of-life issues.
Understand how to minister with the dying person.

**Coping with Loss (includes video "You're Never Over Love" in DVD format*), $80.00**

*Please allow 2 weeks for delivery of the video

The session includes a video that shares the stories of family, friends, and caregivers of a woman who had died three years before the video was made (Cindy, from the video "Just Ordinary Days" that accompanies the continuing education session "Dying & Death"). Participants see how responses to loss are hampered by myths and clichés. They also examine how relationships with those who have died are transformed as the grieving process unfolds. 2 hours.

As a result of this session, participants will be able to:

Understand the diversity of losses and the uniqueness of grief.
Recognize barriers to expressing grief.
Use the foundation principles to minister with those who grieve.
Encourage mourning and a transformation of the befriended person's relationship to what was lost.

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GROUP DEVELOPMENT SERIES

Sessions in this series develop and improve the effectiveness of the group.

Checking the Pulse of Your Group, $40.00

In this session, program leaders gather information from BeFrienders to evaluate how the group is working together and toward the mission of BeFriender Ministry. This session is recommended for annual use for program evaluation, as well as at times of transition or challenge. 2 hours.

As a result of this session, participants and program leaders will be able to:

Understand how the group is functioning.
Understand how the group is living the mission of BeFriender Ministry.
Identify possible actions to enable the group to grow and develop together.

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