Facilitation Guide: Lowering Our Shields | Saturday, September 2, 2023 6-8 pm
Note: It is more than okay and encouraged that you have this facilitation guide in front of you when your group is in your Lowering Our Shields session!
Location and set up:
• Find a location on lower campus
o You should not be close enough to another group to the point where you are able to hear them talking
o Select a spot that is out of the way of any walking routes to avoid interruption from groups that are done sooner than yours.
• Sit in a circle in which everyone can see each other and place the lantern switched on in the center
• Ask that everyone put their phones on Do Not Disturb to avoid any interruptions
Materials needed:
• Lantern
• A timer (phone or watch) *use chimes timer noise*
Session Guide and Instructions:
• Lowering our Shields presentation mini debrief: Take an opportunity to connect with your group about the full group session in which Lowering Our Shields was introduced and O-Team members shared their stories.
o Consider asking your Baby Falcs thoughts on any of the following questions to prompt responses:
▪ Was there anything that resonated with you from the stories that were shared on stage?
▪ What is something you admired about those who shared their stories?
▪ After being in that session, what are your expectations or feelings about doing this ourselves?
▪ Why might you think we do this during our Orientation program?
• Explain O-Group Lowering Our Shields:
o Explain the goals, meaning, importance, and purpose of Lowering Our Shields: Feel free to pull from any of the talking points below or speak to it in your own way!
▪ Lowering Our Shields is a way to embrace vulnerability, be more open with one another, share our lived experiences, and as a result, develop stronger and truer connections.
▪ Tonight, you may learn something about someone that you may not have otherwise known unless they were given this space and support to share their story. Be the person who gives others the space and opportunity for their story to be heard and their identity celebrated.
▪ Oftentimes we can be quick to make snap judgements of the people around us before giving them chance and learning about them and their story. We hope that in being a part of this session today, we start our Bentley journey off on the right foot, setting a precedent for how we approach our interactions and relationships at Bentley in beyond. Everyone’s story deserves to be listened to and valued. We are going to do
that for each other today and hope you will carry this into your relationships with your peers during your time at Bentley.
o Explain the use and meaning of the lantern
▪ The lantern symbolizes a group member’s turn to share their story. Please pass it to the person next to you, after your 2 minutes finishes
▪ By the lantern starting and ending in the center of the circle, it symbolizes all of us sharing in this experience and all fueling the fire of storytelling and connection
o Share the Lowering Our Shields prompt
▪ Prompt: “What is one of your stories of social connection?”
• To further prompt thinking, you can ask, “What impact did this have on you, and the way you see and experience the world?”
o How the session will work (walk through this with your group)
▪ You (OL) will get up to get the lantern from the middle of the circle
▪ You (OL) will share your story
▪ You will ask if someone would like to volunteer to go first. If not, you will check in with one of the baby falcs next to you to see if they are comfortable going next.
▪ After the first baby falc, the lantern will be passed around the circle clockwise
▪ Each person will have 2 minutes to share. Once the 2 minutes is up, a timer will go off on your phone, signaling to wrap up your turn.
▪ If it gets to your turn and you do not want to share, the group will take two minutes in silence as a moment of reflection. To signal that you do not want to share, please say to the group, “Please take 2 minutes of silence”.
▪ The last person who shares will return the lantern to the middle of the circle
o Confidential resources
▪ Feel free to read right from this script to your Baby Falcs at this time
• “I hope you’re able to share stories that push you into the courage zone, but that you also feel you’re ready to offer our group. Part of my role as your OL is to offer support for any situations that arise; however, I also want to be clear that I’m not a confidential outlet. In some instances, I may connect you with a staff person at Bentley to make sure you’re aware of the resources available to you. These staff members work on our campus to make sure all of us have a safe, successful college experience. Additionally, if at any point during this activity you feel like you might want to speak with a staff person, we have some staff available. These staff can be accessed at the Bentley Arena, and the Orientation Assistants can help bring you there and please note that if you ever want to connect with a staff member even after hours, you can call university police and they will be able to get the staff member on duty for that evening.”
o Encouragements
▪ Yes, this is a safe space, but also a brave space. Encourage your Baby Falcs to be as vulnerable as they are comfortable with but also challenge them to step into their brave space.
o Ask if anyone has any questions
o Give group 2 minutes to collect their thoughts
▪ Set a timer for two minutes, when the alarm goes off, share that you will begin with sharing your story.
• Begin the session and share your own story: (3 Min)
o Grab the lantern from the middle of the circle
o The story you choose to share can be the same or a different story than you shared during our Lowering our Shields in training within our families. Choose what you are most comfortable with!
▪ Keep in mind that the level of vulnerability you show in the story you choose to share may likely influence those of your group members.
o Choose a calm alarm noise to set your two-minute timer with and begin.
o After you share, ask if there is a volunteer who would like to go first. If not, check in with one of the people sitting next to you and pass whoever is going first the lantern.
• Baby Falcs share their stories: (2 min X number of baby falcs in your group)
o Show signs of engaged listening. Some ways to do this include...
▪ Focus your attention on who is sharing, regardless of if they are making eye contact
▪ Nod your head if you understand or something that they said resonates with you
o Be mindful of the alarm sound you utilize for your timer, and plan for a more pleasing sound (e.g.chimes).
▪ If students are not able to hear the alarm and continue sharing, consider subtle ways you can indicate that they should wrap up their story. Some options include hand signals (putting up an index finger) or verbalizing that they have a few seconds left to share.
o Wait until the last Baby Falc finishes sharing and gets up to put the lantern back in the middle of the circle.
• Sharing appreciation and reflections: (2 min)
o Thank your group
o Ask your group to give quiet snaps for everyone, in acknowledgement of all that they had the courage and vulnerability to share.
o Share any personal thoughts, words of gratitude, etc. without commenting directly on any of the content that people shared
o Open the circle for baby falcs’ reflections. Consider prompting thoughts with the following questions:
▪ How connected did you feel to our group members prior to this experience as opposed to after Lowering our Shields? Why do you think that is?
▪ How can we carry the type of experience we had just now into your Bentley experience and beyond?
▪ What did you learn from this experience?
• Re-share resources: (1 min)
o Cube of the Bentley Arena
▪ Several staff resources are available in the Cube of the Bentley Arena where we began our session. This includes staff who are confidential resources.
o University Police
▪ Available after hours and can connect you with a staff member that is on call at any point while you are at Bentley.
o Offer yourself as a resource and support if they would like to talk/connect further, reminding Baby Falcs, however, that you are not a confidential resource
• Stepping out of the session: (2 Min)
o Lessons leave, stories stay
▪ The stories that people have vulnerable and courageous enough to share in this space will stay in this space, however the impact that listening to each person has on you should leave this space and be carried and influence you experience outside of this space.
▪ As a responsible employee if anything that was shared requires you to report up to a staff member, you have a duty to do so
o How we are moving forward as a community
▪ As we explored in the beginning, there is so much power in storytelling and embracing our identities. Carry this into your interactions with your peers to create a community full of more empathy and connectedness, everyone deserves to be listened to and understood.
o (Optional) Breathing exercise- if you feel this would be appropriate, valued, and bring comfort to your group after your Lowering Our Shields experience together.
▪ Offer to your group to have everyone close their eyes or focus their gaze off into the distance if they do not want to close their eyes.
▪ Take 1 deep breath in and out as a group, verbalizing, “let’s take one deep breath in, pause, and out”
▪ After the first deep breath, ask your group, as you take your second deep breath, to thank themselves and the people sitting with you around this circle for being brave, for being vulnerable, and for lowering their shield. Breathe in all the support, empathy, and connection around you, and breathe out any of your anxieties, fears, or overwhelming emotions.
▪ Take your 3rd and final deep breath as a group, verbalizing, “one more deep breath in, pause, and out”
o Thank your group
o Share that you all are going to walk up to the Student Center for evening activities
▪ O-Groups are expected to..
• Walk completely silent the entire way to the STU in order to be respectful and mindful of other groups who are still in their session.
• Walk as far away from other group sessions happening to respect the privacy and environment of people sharing their stories.
Additional Notes & Tips:
• When opening the circle for any type of sharing, if your group is on the quieter side or no one is raising their hand to respond...
o Have them turn to the person next to them to share their thoughts and then ask again.
o Consider thinking of your own responses to the questions to be able to share your ideas to get people thinking more.
• It is possible that one or more of your baby falcs will share something that you need to report to a professional staff member in order to take care of the wellness and safety of that student. If this is the case, please connect with your StuCo or OA and they can connect/connect you to the appropriate pro staff member
o Please remember to only report up in order to respect the privacy of your student
o If you are unsure about whether or not
• There is no expectation that you comment directly on any of the stories and/or content of the stories that your baby falcs shared; However, if a Baby Falc wants to continue talking to you, below are some tips for navigating personal or difficult conversations. (Adapted from Yaro Fong-Olivares, Director of Bentley’s Center for Women and Business’s workshop on navigating difficult conversations)
o Use reflective language, language that your Baby Falc uses
o Speak with kindness and care
o Be present in the moment, attuned to the emotions and conversation
o Validate and affirm their feelings and thoughts, using language such as,
▪ Thank you for sharing that with me
▪ I am so sorry that you experienced that or impacted you that way
o Actively listen, show that you are engaged to what they are saying
o Encourage them to take care of themselves