Major crises, like what we are experiencing currently with COVID-19 globally, impacts every aspect of our lives. It has challenged us and our communities in ways we are still coming to understand, and will continue to challenge us for years to come. We will be changed forever as a result.
In our roles as engagement practitioners, it is crucial we are sensitive to the changes and feelings our participants may have undergone or are currently feeling during this time.
The impact of a crisis
Any crisis brings with it both danger and opportunity – which in turn brings both fear and excitement. Many people have shared with us that they have felt this rollercoaster of emotions throughout this pandemic.
Social isolation, loneliness or loss of connection
Political upheaval and discontent
A sense of overwhelm from the social burden
Some obvious dangers and fear triggers include:
Presence of a new and unknown virus
Fear of death/sickness
Loss of work
Heightened presence of policing
These triggers can cause feelings of emotional overwhelm, insecurity, sadness, anger and a sense of lack of control.
Heightened focus on leadership and trust in government
Time to slow down and reflect – ‘the great pause’
Increased work opportunities for some sectors
New skills learnt and adapted
Opportunities include:
Solutions found to ‘intractable problems’
e.g. homelessnessSocial needs of people are being met
e.g. people checking in on neighboursReduced impact on the environment with decreased consumption and reduced carbon dioxide emissions
Now we are many months into the pandemic, a common response is fatigue, general exhaustion and anxiety. Many people report living with heightened levels of emotion at this time.
There is a process of crisis
This crisis model suggests that it is helpful for people to face the reality of a traumatic event, but it is common in the first instance for people to go into denial. This includes denying the existence of the pandemic or its significance. The initial reactions may cover all the physical, emotional and spiritual elements.
People tend to either see the situation as a danger or an opportunity. If people perceive a danger approaching them, this can effectively trigger or continue the trauma. If people see opportunity, they start to move into personal and community rebuilding.
It is important to understand the level of emotion during a crisis. In November in Melbourne, many people report still being in a very heightened state of emotion. In other words, they are still experiencing depleting feelings - those that see ‘danger’ before them.
In other Australian states the emotion levels will have started to come down as people are able to move around their community and feel they are through the worst of it - even if life has not returned to completely ‘normal’.
After a crisis such as this, it is also usual for people to experience bonding then de-bonding with other members of their community:
Bonding (or a state of fusion) happens as people come together to face the situation. During this time, there is likely to be high energy, mutual help, and a sense of belonging to a group facing the same traumatic event.
Debonding happens over time as different problems and situations emerge and as the crisis continues or starts to recede. This may include people in different geographic areas being treated differently. During this time there is a greater risk of division and conflict between different groups.
What does this mean for us as facilitators?
As facilitators, our role is to help participants make sense of complex topics, and provide a format or space for them to share their thoughts and ideas. Working with people emerging from a crisis presents new challenges to our traditional roles - not only are we dealing with people living with varied states of heightened emotions that most have never experienced before, but we are also all being forced to learn new technology and tools to help participants engage, which can present barriers to participation for some community members.
Four top tips to keep in mind when facilitating during times of massive change:
It is important to understand what can help people during these times, and there are some practical ways we can help our participants during engagement sessions. Our four top tips are:
1. Be aware of the varied emotional states of the people and groups we are interacting with
Acknowledge the diversity of feelings people may be experiencing at the start of a session - even just briefly. This ‘levels the playing field’ and enables people to be themselves. As facilitators, we have also gone through change and need to be aware of our own state of anxiety or other emotions. During this time, it’s important to have a self-care regime that enables us to remain as balanced as possible when facilitating, to work with participants who may be more emotional than usual.
2. Consider using approaches that bring down the emotion
We can do this through providing people with some level of autonomy and providing a forward plan. If they are fearful of engaging or participating through the use of technology and online tools, try to find ways to make them feel more comfortable. We have found offering extra additional technical support for participants prior to sessions helpful, to ensure they feel confident and ready to participate.
3. Provide spaces for people to tell their stories of the event
Ask yourself how can I bring this into my engagement planning in a simple way? Allowing people to validate their different experiences and changes they may have undergone during this time can help participants to feel more confident and comfortable in sharing during the rest of the session.
4. Build community
Start deliberate bonding and re-bonding activities through a focus on the question: ‘what do we need to do to keep communities bonded?’. Building a community online and in a short space of time can be incredibly challenging. Most people are used to being in rooms together to work out issues and engage on topics. It is therefore important we design processes that give space to conversation and the building of connections.
This article was written based on a presentation provided by MosaicLab director Nicole Hunter, drawing on the frameworks of the Global Facilitator Services Corp, Dr Rob Gordon and Dr. Peter Sandman.
Nicole has an extensive background in disaster management having worked with communities post floods, during and after anthrax outbreaks, landfill methane gas leaks, thunderstorm asthma events and multiple large-scale fires.
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