Facilitator Qualifications
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The quality of facilitators has a direct impact on the level of involvement and understanding of participants in any training. This is especially true for Living Well Iowa programs. Peer support and mentoring play a critical role in the development of trust, and in the ultimate success of these programs.

The term certified facilitator implies a certain level of expertise in conducting training activities. A Living Well Iowa facilitator must be able to:

• Conduct effective training

• Maintain the flow and enthusiasm of the workshop

• Modify the curriculum based on the needs of participants

• Act as a resource for participants

• Recruit potential participants

• Act as a host agency’s lead contact with participants

If this individual is the “lead facilitator” for a class, then he or she is also responsible for arranging training (in coordination with the host organization) and handling the inevitable problems that arise during a class.

LWI facilitators must have basic knowledge in many areas, including:

• Health and wellness

• Disability rights

• Local, state and federal resources

In addition, certified facilitators at sponsored Living Well Iowa sites are responsible for research-related activities. They need to be well-organized, and have good follow-through skills.

Not everyone is cut out to be a facilitator. Applicants who are not successful at becoming certified facilitators may still train using Living Well Iowa curricula under the direct guidance and supervision of a certified Living Well facilitator.
They may also co-facilitate certain portions of the curriculum, based on their particular expertise or experience, or assist a certified facilitator in other ways.

In order to ensure the highest quality of facilitators, Living Well Iowa has adopted the criteria below. We recognize that not every facilitator will precisely reach every benchmark; however, applicants should meet the essential functions of each criterion, unless it has been waived by the project director.

Qualifications

LWI Certified Facilitators should:

1. Be persons with disabilities who have strong self-advocacy skills or persons who have sufficient knowledge of disability issues and disability culture.
   We believe that the personal experience of having disabilities provides an important perspective in being a LWD facilitator, and that this experience is not transferable. Therefore, we prefer at least one of the two facilitators in each Living Well class be a person with disabilities.
    

2. Use “people-first language.”
    

3. Be knowledgeable about, and able to inform others about, health and wellness issues related to people with disabilities:

   • Be comfortable talking about his or her own disabilities or talking about health issues experienced by people with disabilities

   • Have the capacity to answer basic questions about health and disability issues

   • Be able to provide basic information about entitlement programs and Iowa’s service delivery system

   • Know how to find local, state, and national resources and make referrals appropriately
      

4. Be well-organized, with good follow-through skills when tending to details

   • Have the capacity to coordinate all aspects of Living Well trainings, such as arranging logistics, doing outreach and marketing, conducting research activities, arranging local speakers or consultants

   • Be dependable and reliable

    

5. Exhibit a pleasant manner that fosters group learning

   • Be enthusiastic about the Living Well program and the curriculum

   • Be easy to understand

   • Connect with participants

   • Be assertive; not fluster easily

   • Value cultural diversity and respect people with different types of disabilities

    

6. Have prior experience with leading group training or teaching, or extensive prior leadership experience

   • Have the capacity to facilitate group discussion and peer interaction, such as maintaining the flow and direction of discussion, drawing out quiet participants, dealing with wrong answers
   • Be able to keep a group on task, interested, and involved

   • Be able to ask and answer questions appropriately

   • Have the capacity to deal appropriately with emergencies, and with inevitable technical and logistical difficulties

   • Have the capacity to deal effectively with challenging behaviors and difficult personalities

   • Have the capacity to modify activities in the curriculum to meet the needs of participants, such as finding and using supplemental materials, using participant examples, substituting role plays for discussion, sharing personal experience to make a point

   • Be willing to become very familiar with the Living Well program curricula

   • Be willing to take advantage of available support and facilitator training opportunities
      

7. Be willing to accept mentoring -- support from “peer facilitators” -- and to take part in training opportunities for skill enhancement.

These capacities may be enhanced through direct observation and specific suggestions for improvement, one-on-one skill-building sessions, train-the-trainer opportunities, program evaluation feedback, and additional information and training.