Facilitating Dialogue and Connection:

Building Trust and Community in Youth Settings​

SEE DATES & LOCATIONS

What's on offer?

This training is designed to equip educators and youth facilitators with the skills and confidence to lead more inclusive, safe, and nurturing group spaces. By focusing on trauma-informed practices and the art of ‘council’ (a listening circle practice), participants learn to foster a culture where young people feel truly seen, heard, and valued. 

The 1-day training introduces relational tools that deepen trust, promote community, and amplify youth voice, helping to lay the groundwork for genuine connection and psychological safety in youth settings. Our practice is guided by the tradition of The Ways of Council that has grown out of The Ojai Foundation lineage.

Throughout the day, participants will engage in experiential learning to develop a toolkit of group exercises and facilitation techniques grounded in empathy, active listening, and compassion.

By the end of the training, you’ll be equipped to create safer, more connected spaces that empower youth voices and support authentic, compassionate communication. You’ll leave with new tools to build trust and a supportive community, encouraging deeper relationships and emotional resilience among young people.

“Since doing the training with The Visionaries, circle practices have become key a communication device at all levels of our organisation. They have helped us to build trust between each other and we've been able to address challenging issues in a respectful way, creating the right conditions and space to truly listen to each other and find ways forward. It's a very simple yet powerful practice which I would recommend all to adopt.”
Nicole Nicole Van den EijndeDirector, Global Generation
“The training has reminded me of my own inherent nature and to receive others more fully as they are. The safety of the group allowed me to speak more fully and openly from the heart. I feel that I am more settled as well as energised. I feel a greater sense of trust and belonging.”
EmmaHeadteacher
"This training has been a healing and regenerative day, and has guided me in new ways to hold space for openness and vulnerability. It has been wonderful to learn from the wisdom of Max and Nikki”
JamesHistory Teacher
“If you feel ‘revolutionising education’ is your mission, if you want to feel a member of a healthy, caring and just ecosystem, take this course. Bellissimo!“
CinziaTeacher
“The space created for the training felt authentic to its core. The depth and interactive nature of the training helped me to feel comfortable enough to fully 'show up' and get the most out of the experience. Not only can I see how well this can work for secondary students and young adults, but I'm also excited by the possibilities for primary and the early years! I can't wait to get started and to see the impact on not only the children, but also those of us that work with and support them.”
AndiPrimary Headteacher
“I found the whole day really powerful, particularly modelling a listneing circle and how they can support young people. If you want a different approach to engaging with your teams & young people, sign up for this training.”
AlisaYouth facilitator

What to expect

  • Introduction to Trauma-Informed Practices
    Discover approaches that support participants in recognising and addressing the emotional needs within youth spaces, creating a foundation of trust and respect.
  • Practice holding ‘Council’
    Learn the principles of council as a listening circle, a powerful method for encouraging open dialogue, fostering mutual understanding, and building connections across group members.
  • Overcoming Common Barriers
    Learn how to meet people where they are at, perhaps when there’s limited emotional literacy, a culture of harmful communication, or a lack of ‘buy in’ amongst participants.
  • Facilitation Techniques for Inclusive Communication
    Learn practical skills and group exercises that encourage open and courageous expression. You’ll leave with creative techniques that enable inclusive dialogue, including icebreakers, warm ups, talking prompts, drama games, good openings and endings, enabling every participant to feel safe to express themselves and contribute to the community.
  • Tools for Building Psychological Safety
    Explore exercises and considerations about the setting you work to reinforce a shared sense of safety and belonging, allowing young people to engage authentically and openly within group settings.
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Your Facilitators

nikki profile

Nikki Levitan

Nikki is a home educating mother, an integral coach, facilitator, wellbeing and trauma-informed practitioner and forest school leader. In her spare time you will find her dancing or playing in the woods with children. Nikki’s craft is creating meaningful and safe spaces for people to come as they are, and together to remember old ways; sitting around fires, in circles exploring big life questions through ritual. She has been working with young people and educators over the last 20 years, supporting their wellbeing and personal development through nature connection, developing their agency and self discovery. Her dedicated work with young people focuses on teaching emotional wellbeing, mental health, embodied leadership and positive psychology.

Nikki is the co-founder of The Visionaries. Her last few years have been dedicated to supporting young people experiencing grief, challenging the societal tendencies to turn away from death. She recently joined the The FireFly project team, supporting proactive grief education and creating grief aware and grief welcome spaces.

https://www.nikkilevitan.com/

max profile

Max Girardeau

Max is an eco-systemic educator, working with and in service of Life. He is passionate about the power of sitting in circle, as it reconnects us to ancient wisdom about how to be human and reignites the oral tradition of passing on wisdom through generations.

Max is a co-founder of The Visionaries, a trained Wilderness Guide, a Mountain Leader and Trauma Informed Schools Practitioner. He has been sitting in circle for over a decade, and has been holding therapeutic spaces for adults and young people alike, in the classroom and in the wild, for over 8 years.

Max is a strategic advisor to the National Trust on inclusive nature experiences and is a proud Bio-Leadership Fellow. In his spare time he facilitates a men’s group and gets out into the hills running, walking, foraging and climbing.

Upcoming Dates & Locations

Please get in touch with us if you would like to request this training in your organisation.

Our Sliding Scale

We use a sliding scale to widen access to our work and ensure all can benefit, regardless of their financial position.

Financial injustice is baked into the fabric of our economy and means that those we most want to benefit from our work often struggle with the cost. That’s why we use a sliding scale, alongside fundraising for bursaries. We never want finances to be a barrier to working with us.

How it works

We have two pricing systems, one for organisations and one for individuals. The standard price tickets reflect the true cost of delivering our programmes. We offer tickets higher than this for those who are in the privileged position of being able to pay-it-forward. We also offer subsidised and bursary tickets for those who need financial support.

Please be mindful that if you purchase a ticket at the lowest end of the scale when you can truthfully afford a higher ticket price, you are limiting access to those who truly need a bursary place.

FOR YOUTH ORGANISATIONS & SCHOOLS (3 TIERS)

  • Supporter (independent fee-paying schools and organisations earning £100k+ a year – this price also widens access for those on lower income)
  • Standard (for non-fee paying schools, organisations earning between £20-100k a year – this price reflects the true cost of delivering our services)
  • Subsidised (for schools rated ‘requires improvement’ and ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, for organisations earning under £20k a year)

FOR INDIVIDUALS (4 TIERS)

We don’t ask you to prove your income or share any financial information. Instead we trust you to be a good person, and support others by practising honesty. You can choose from up to four ticket prices on our sliding scale, which is adapted from The Sliding Scale: A Tool For Economic Justice created by Alexis J. Cunningfolk.

  • Abundant – for those who can pay-it-forward
  • Standard – for those at the higher end of our sliding scale and can pay the true cost of the service
  • Subsidised – for those in the middle of our sliding scale
  • Bursary – for those at the bottom end of our sliding scale (please contact us to request a bursary place as these are limited per event)

SUPPORTER

This is a good range to choose if some these are true for you:

  • I never struggle to meet my basic needs*
  • I own my home or property OR I rent a higher-end property
  • I own a car
  • I am employed OR I do not need to work to meet my needs
  • I have access to savings
  • I have expendable income**
  • I regularly buy new items
  • I can easily afford more than one holiday a year

STANDARD

This is a good range to choose if some these are true for you:

  • I am comfortably able to meet all of my basic needs*
  • I may have some debt but it doesn’t prohibit the attainment of basic needs*
  • I own my home or property OR I rent a higher-end property
  • I own a car
  • I am employed OR I do not need to work to meet my needs
  • I have access to savings
  • I have expendable income**
  • I can afford to buy new items
  • I can afford an annual holiday, or to take time off work

 

 

SUBSIDISED

This is a good range to choose if some these are true for you:

  • I may stress about meeting my basic needs but still regularly achieve them*
  • I may have some debt but it does not prohibit my attainment of basic needs*
  • I rent a mid-level flat/property and have stable housing
  • I own or lease a car
  • I am employed
  • I might have access to financial savings
  • I have expendable income**
  • I am able to buy some new and second hand items
  • I take a holiday annually or every few years without financial burden

 

BURSARY

This is a good range to choose if some these are true for you:

  • I frequently stress about meeting basic needs + don’t always achieve them*
  • I have debt and it sometimes prohibits me from meeting my basic needs*
  • I rent a lower-end flat/property or have unstable housing
  • I do not have a car or access to a car
  • I am unemployed or underemployed
  • I qualify for government assistance
  • I have no access to savings
  • I have no or very limited expendable income**
  • I rarely buy new items because I’m unable to afford them
  • I cannot afford a holiday or to take time off without financial burden

 

Definitions

  • *Basic needs: access to food, safety, shelter/housing, privacy and transportation
  • **Expendable income: might mean you’re able to buy a coffee from a café, go to the cinema, buy new clothes, books etc.