Managing Challenging Conversations through Skilled Facilitation: Conflict Resolution Part II

Abstract: The ASBH has long endorsed the facilitation approach as the best model for ethics consultation yet many ethics consultants have not been trained in facilitation techniques. Empirical data show that the majority of US clinical ethicists hold group meetings with clinical staff, patients, and families as part of an ethics consult, even though many have not had formal training in group facilitation techniques. Having skill-based knowledge in the approaches to group interaction is especially important when tensions in the group are running high and members of the group are experiencing anger, frustration, burnout, or moral distress. This workshop will provide facilitation foundational training by teaching group management, strategies to manage difficult and contentious conversations among and between the clinical team, family members, and patients, and pitfalls to avoid that can cause a group meeting to fail. In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn how to effectively conducting complex, multi-party, and emotionally charged meetings with a diverse set of stakeholders. Careful attention will be paid to the issue of values-imposition and how to avoid it in consultation. Participants will master advanced facilitation through a combination of didactic presentations, question and response activities, and small group activities.
This 2-hour interactive workshop session will be organized around 6 key facilitation skills. For each skill, there will be a short didactic presentation of the technique, followed by an interactive all-group activity to achieve mastery. The final 15 minutes of the workshop will be reserved for a concluding Q&A session.