facilitation

A group of young people sitting in a park like area, listening to a woman in a pink shirt speak, with informational display boards in the background, and a fence, building, and clear blue sky behind them.

Co-facilitating a place-based indigenous histories field trip for Tennessee high school students; pictured here with Elder Melba Checote Eads (Mvskoke) as we visted an ancestral site, now the Sounds baseball stadium.

  • Facilitation serves as a way to be in discussion with one another, to share and exchange knowledge, to let new information arise from a familiar group, to deepen relationships across similarity and difference, and sometimes, to touch subjects that we tend to shy away from. 


    As a facilitator, I hold the role of shaping a space, creating a container, and staying attuned to what needs to move throughout our time together. In some instances, this looks like a more directive approach when there are clear learning goals desired. In other cases, this looks like much more listening, as I work carefully to hear from the voices in the room. 

    • Group facilitation at conferences and/or community gatherings 

    • Group facilitation for organizations seeking stakeholder and/or community input 

    • Group facilitation with adult learners in the subject areas of cross-class dialogue, managerial class/owning class/inheritor caucused dialogue, personal storytelling, land-based story, history, and connection, settler descendant inquiry and re-connection to land, land-based connection with peoples across race, culture, and lineage 

    • Group facilitation with youth/young adult learners in the subject areas of expansive histories which include connection to place and people across time, food systems and culinary arts, regenerative economics 

    • Creating a grounding container for easeful, and difficult, dialogue to take place 

    • Holding the container for our shared time together

    • Providing resources afterwards if needed 

    • Debriefing with you afterwards to understand what worked, and what did not

  • “Our work with Lathram Berry provided our Global Studies Concentration students with a meaningful lens into Indigenous communities and perspectives. As a facilitator, Lathram led with humility and empathy, modeling for my students how to approach the study of culture with respect and care. Her deep knowledge and insight were strongly connected to the goals of our Global Program and created a consistent throughline for our conversations throughout the year. Lathram is a thoughtful collaborator, an attentive listener, and a strong leader in this important work.”

    —Leigh Roberts, Director of Global Studies, Battle Ground Academy