YOUTH NEED US TO LISTEN.
Facilitator Training
To be in relationship successfully takes practice and skill. Our Teen Talking Circle Facilitator Trainings are a transformative journey through research-based education, clear systems and immersive, experiential practice. We have been training Circle Facilitators for decades on how to communicate with depth of connection, navigate triggers from their own teen years, create sacred space, hold a circle and accelerate mutual growth for participants. Youth learn to take the skills they learn in circle outside circle into all their relationships; with parents, teachers, friends, and in their communities.
TTC offers an Introductory 4-day Teen Talking Circle Facilitator Training, as well as more advanced trainings, multiple times a year. Anyone can facilitate a circle if they have the desire and are willing to do their own work. Our participants have included: therapists, mentors, counselors, parents, coaches, teachers, and youth serving organization leaders.
The skills and practices of circle, learned in our workshops and trainings, can be used by anyone, anywhere at anytime. When we realize how simple and rewarding it is to build real connection, we can’t help but practice these skills everywhere we go.
circling methodology
Our methods integrate both ancient wisdoms and traditions and modern learning and approaches. As an organization, we respond to the rapidly changing conditions of our world with practiced tools for connection and healing.
We begin by researching the best communication tools available for growth and development. In circle, we cultivate a connected, confidential, and inclusive space. In the presence of peers, one is seen for the truth of who they are and learns to deeply empathize with others. We can see and respect differing points of view, even if we do not agree.
Our faculty are highly-trained seasoned professionals. We guide each circle through a proven process of communication. Conflict is not avoided, instead used precisely and effectively to expand our own perspective. Growth, deep connection and healing are the result.
We offer personalized Group & Business Training
Teen Talking Circle Facilitator Trainings offer education and practice in leading safe, welcoming Circles. Learn how to access deep connection to yourself, employees, coworkers, and others. Learn practices of transformative communication and deep listening.
"If children feel safe, they take risks, ask questions, make mistakes, learn to trust, share their feelings, and grow.”
- Alfie Kohn
The “Complete the Circle” 2019-2020 Cohort Summer Training
TTC training was a delicious and tangible way to learn basic yet radical skills of communication and listening that have been lost to so many of us through colonization and other means of suppression. It is a joyous celebration of our innate wisdom, and the ability we all have to hold one other and empower one another to build a better world.
Hannah Blankenship, 2024 Training Alumni
Over the past 25 years, we have trained hundreds of teen talking circle facilitators. Our trainings, workshops and retreats prepare you to start and lead successful teen talking circles in your community -- or lead a circle of any age group or constellation. Once you have completed our Facilitator Trainings and have successfully run teen circles, you will be eligible for listing in our Directory.
Upcoming Facilitator Trainings
Trainings are subject to change. If you would like to schedule a private training for your organization or group of 6 or more, or receive the latest information, please email info@teentalkingcircles.org
Trainings
Looking for our Facilitator Training Manual? Click here!
2019 Level II Cohort - Facilitated by Program Director Heather Wolf and Founder Linda Wolf with participants from NYC, Utah, and Washington State
Level i: Open The Circle
Level One is a 28-hour virtual or in-person Facilitation training that lays the foundation for circle creation and communication. It is an opportunity to learn from the ground up how to start and run a Teen Talking Circle in your community, school, or youth serving organization.
You will learn the principles, history and guiding values undergirding our philosophy and mission. You’ll gain an understanding of how to establish a circle, interest participants, and teach the basic processes and skills.
The basic training is designed to be deeply experiential and concretely educational. Through sharing your story about your own teen years you’ll identify the issues and challenges you still carry from them that would affect your role as a facilitator.
You will learn how to create safe space, set agreements, and model effective speaking and listening practices that nurture compassion, acceptance, understanding, introspection, conflict resolution and so many other necessities needed for thriving relationships. You’ll understand the value of role modeling important human skills, such as being able to sit in the fire of discomfort, explore the shadow side of ourselves, and celebrate our gifts and challenges. Through this process, you will hone your intuitive skills as well as your leadership skills.
By understanding and practicing the latest in the field of human development, you will strengthen your competency at holding the kind of transformational space which is healing and essential for young people to expand their perspectives, nurture their self-esteem, and create healthy relationships, as well as inspire them to realize their path to fully realizing their gifts, strengths, and capacities as human beings.
“This experience was worth every penny for me. I found it deeply therapeutic, and I feel different in distinct ways that I’m proud of and excited about.” - Annie Hillier
Level ii : Deepen the Circle
Level Two allows you to take the practices you’ve learned in Level One to a much deeper level of personal growth.
Over the past twenty-six years of running teen circles and facilitator trainings, we have learned that in order to successfully lead a teen circle, an adult facilitator needs to do their own work. Getting unstuck from systemic paradigms that affect our capacities to create evolutionary relationships and express our full humanity changes our lives. This takes courage and work to shift our consciousness and behavior. In Level Two, we delve deeply inside ourselves.
A teenager will only go as far as the facilitator can go in terms of listening and holding whatever they are going through. By doing your own work on the issues you carry from your own teen years, you become an effective facilitator.
We all need to practice the skills we teach in teen talking circles — compassionate listening, reflection, presence, the ability to “sit in the fire,” be real, tell the truth, and resource our capacities that foster thriving and sustainable relationships.
All of us are in the same boat, teens and adults alike — we all live in the same world with the same meta issues. We all have to do our own work in order to walk our talk.
The Level Two Training is the place we get to do the work we must do in order to be that kind of adult in the world.
After both the Level One and Level Two training you will be paired with a member of your training cohort for continued support and practice.
Complete the Circle : Become a Trainer
Looking for more ways to enrich your community and bring more Circles to the world? Become a Trainer with TTC through our “Complete the Circle” Training program.
The CTC Program is a one year intensive for seasoned circle facilitators looking to join the TTC organization as independently hired TTC Facilitator Training Leaders. Upon completion, graduates will be able to confidently lead Teen Talking Circle Level I trainings anywhere in the world.
Qualifying candidates work closely with our leadership to delve deeply into the advanced repertoire of TTC methodology, expanding upon the teachings of Lvl I & II, while nurturing self-confidence and leadership skills.
If you are currently a TTC trained facilitator and have a minimum one year running Circles, contact us to apply to be part of the 2022 “Complete the Circle” Trainer Program!