Introduction to Anti-Oppressive Facilitation & Group Work

Anti-oppressive facilitation is more than a set of techniques, it's a relational, embodied practice rooted in justice, accountability, and a commitment to reduce harm in group dynamics. This introductory training offers a grounded, accessible pathway into the core principles of anti-oppressive group work for facilitators, educators, counsellors/psychotherapists, community organisers, and anyone who leads spaces where people gather, learn, and make meaning together.

Over the course of this training, participants will explore the foundations of power, privilege, and social location as they show up in group dynamics. We will examine how systemic oppression, colonialism, ableism, cisheteropatriarchy, classism etc. shape communication patterns, conflict, decision making, and emotional safety in groups.

This training integrates trauma competency and somatic approaches, recognising that facilitation is not only intellectual work, but it is also an embodied process. Participants will engage in a mixture of short lectures, small group activities, reflective exercises, and skills-based practice to build confidence in navigating complexity and mitigating harm.

Learning outcomes

• Identifying and describing core concepts of anti-oppressive practice and how they shape group dynamics.
• Recognising patterns of harm that emerge in facilitated spaces (e.g. domination, marginalisation, tone policing, microaggressions) and finding strategies for interrupting these patterns in real time.
• Practicing facilitation techniques that support shared power, collaborative decision making, and accountability within groups.
• Understanding social location and positionality, and evaluate how these influence facilitation style, authority, and potential gaps in awareness in group work.
• Responding to conflict or harm using anti-oppressive principles and practices, including repair-orientated communication, de-escalation, and collective problem-solving.
• Integrating anti-oppressive values into the design, delivery, and evaluation of group sessions.

Facilitator - Kim Loliya (they/she)

Kim is a trauma psychotherapist and supervisor trained in African-Centred and Western approaches offered through an anti-oppressive, justice-based lens. Their practice specialises in working at the intersection of marginalisations, with the intention of individual and collective liberation. As Director of Black Psychotherapy, Kim leads on operations, and develops education and community engagement programmes within the service. Outside of their clinical role, Kim teaches pluralistic psychotherapy and lectures on postgraduate programmes, and they research Afrofuturism and other speculative practices as creative tools for resistance and expansion.