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| Students Speak Toolkit > III. Appendices > Appendix F. Facilitator Training Materials > Special tips for counselors |
Counselors have a natural tendency to want to "fix things" or help students with problems. While serving in the facilitator capacity, however, it is best for counselors to ignore these urges. We know finding the right line between empathetic listening and beginning to offer assistance on the spot may be incredibly difficult, but it will make a difference in the credibility of your focus groups if you stay in the role of neutral facilitator for the length of each session. Additionally, except in extreme or critical situations, counselors should not follow up on personal issues that come up during the focus groups, since facilitators are supposed to treat the content of focus group conversations as confidential, leaving all comments in the room. Counselors absolutely should not call student participants into their office later to discuss something expressed during the focus group and should not take it upon themselves to tell the principal, teachers, or other counselors about any reports of disturbing behavior. Here are more dos and don'ts:
| DO | DON'T |
| Maintain neutrality while listening to students. | Turn into machines - some warmth and caring about students is always appropriate. |
| Avoid standard counseling techniques in focus group setting. It is not a place students have agreed to come for counseling, nor have their parents given permission for counseling. | Offer a solution to students' problems or concerns. |
| If you spot an acute problem that was previously hidden, make a mental note (but not an obvious written one) to check up on a particular student after the focus group in a way that is separate and distinct from it. | Suggest to a student that s/he stay after the focus group for a few minutes, or in any other way treat a particular student as anything other than a focus group participant. |
Counselor-facilitator behavior to discourage:
Student participant: "My bus driver and bus monitor yell at kids all the time and call them names."
Counselor (as facilitator): "That sounds like a terrible situation. Maybe you should talk to the principal, or have your parents call the superintendent's office."
Counselor-facilitator behavior to encourage:
Student participant: "My bus driver and bus monitor yell at kids all the time and call them names."
Counselor (as facilitator): "Hmmm. What about the rest of you? What happens when you are on the bus?"
Though counselors may have a personal relationship with some of the students participating in the focus groups, they must be careful not to show any preference toward those students. If you smile broadly while one student in particular is speaking, be sure to smile and nod with enthusiasm for each comment. Likewise, if you say, "Thanks so much for that comment" to one student, be sure you repeat this when other students speak. It is best to be enthusiastic about the fact that students are participating, and not about the value or quality of one or more students' ideas.
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