Forming Workshop Notes

Attendees: Frances, Rachel, Elise, Elise S., Mike, Amber Workshop addressed forming and we began by considering the questions volunteers have when joining a new group/team. The questions that were generated are as follows: What is the purpose of this meeting? What exactly will I have to do? What resources are available to me? What can I learn from this? Who ARE these people? How will this group work? How will this group work together? Who can I go to for questions? Does anyone share my... (concerns)? Following this, we further explored our own concerns as new participants to a team and saw reflected in these concerns the concerns of all those new to a group. The concerns included: Will I like them/ will they like me How do I interact with them? Are they weird/creepy? Do we have anything in common? What can I expect? Can I trust this group? Do I trust in the work/trust in non-judgment? Am I safe? In the process of this workshop, the RfD participants were able to experience first hand the group forming process as the group present that evening was a new one.