One of the projects I support, Keeping it personal, has recently moved into a phase with a series of co-production workshops involving people with dementia, carers, key workers, nurses, social workers and project managers. One of the first challenges I faced as a facilitator, was how to help the group come together and collaborate as equals in expertise and input.
I wanted to create a great ice breaker which allowed people to get to know each other and disclose things about themselves that reflect who they are, their interests and loves, and move the focus away from work- or organisation related subjects. A secondary motivation was to let the outputs influence the development of other elements of the workshops. ย To create a glue in more ways than one.
In true Scandinavian style I took a literal approach to the task. Maddy helped me develop some large handheld cardboard mirrors that would allow for A4 sheets of paper to be inserted into the area which normally be the mirror, the part that reflects. Now it hold questions that relate to us all โ favourite ever teacher, best holiday memory, favourite song, etcโฆ
Through conversation with other workshop members everyone has opportunities to share, relate and learn through the exploration of types of experiences they have in common. So far we have created a playlist of the workshop members favourite songs, and we can map the places in the world that they hold dear to their heart.
Itโs very straight-forward. It is also incredibly effective in bringing people together as people and acts as a useful starting point to how they together shape new approaches in the sector.
-Rikke