C.A.R.E.

A Training of Trainers Intensive

Experience and Awareness at the Heart of Learning

C

ultivate using experience as learning

A

pply people-centered facilitation

R

efine your skills as a facilitator

E

xperience direct education

If you are a trainer, facilitator, organiser, or educator who cares about the impact of your work, cares about the experience of participants, or cares about values-based education and facilitation, this is for you!

This is your space, if you…

  • want to shape a participative and deep learning environment
  • recognise that traditional curriculum-based teaching is missing something
  • dream about gaining support through a training of trainers
  • sometimes doubt what you are doing as a trainer or facilitator
  • care deeply about challenging systems of oppression.

This training is aimed at those, with any level of experience, who want to grow their toolbox for leading groups and bring about real and integrated learning.

This is a unique training of trainers that centers direct education, developed by Training for Change. This approach challenges traditional education, confronting the beliefs, conflicts, and oppression that keep groups from being their most powerful.

How: intensive weekend retreat

When: Friday 2 – Sunday 4 October 2026

Where: Lila_Bunt (close to Köln, Germany)

Audio of Intro Text

Meet the Facilitators

Are you feeling it?

Read on for more!

As a participant, you will…

  • Develop a broader awareness of who you are as a facilitator
  • Learn adaptive training tools, principles of workshop design, skills for working with diversity, and how to use experiential education methods effectively
  • Have an opportunity to practice and take risks with these tools in a supportive environment.

(subject to change)

  • Friday afternoon/evening – 17:00 – 21:00 (dinner provided), 
  • Saturday – 9:00 – 21:00 (breakfast before session starts, lunch and dinner provided)
  • Sunday – 9:00 – 17:00 (breakfast before session starts, lunch provided)

To be able to create the best learning experience possible, we only allow attendance for the entire intensive.

This intensive might include a up-to 12 hours day, with regular breaks (short and longer)  throughout, depending on the group process.

To assess this, we bring a range of tools that foster awareness of where the group is and what the group’s needs are. We also encourage participants to take care of oneself and take responsibility for their needs to stay present for learning.

Core to the methodology is participation, bringing in your own experience and learning by doing. As we encourage risk-taking and doing something new, a range of emotions can come up. For participants to be able to stay and learn from their own experience, the role for us, as facilitators, is to create a supportive training environment.

If you have any more detailed questions about the format, please contact us.

The price is determined by the cost of the venue, a facilitation fee, and workshop materials.

The fee includes all meals during the workshop and lodging for two nights at the wonderful venue of Lila_Bunt close to Köln, Germany

– Single rooms (5 available) – 350 €

– Double rooms (6 available) (sharing with up to one other person) – 295 €

– Triple rooms (4 available) (sharing with up to two other people) – 250 €

Lila_Bunt offers solidarity pricing (if you have debts, if traveling is not something you take for granted, when there is less money at the end of the month, when you are structurally marginalized in society). If you would need a reduced rate, please indicate this in the application form and together with Lila_Bunt we can work this out as we will have to take the overall income into account

Follow the links below to check-out this amazing venue

https://lilabunt.de/ueber-lila-bunt

https://lilabunt.de/english

The format we follow is reliant on participatory engagement, which includes movement-based activities. These activities could include: walking, stretching, jumping, and moving arms, legs, and the body around. We will do our best to adjust activities, as needed, to meet the needs of our participants. We also encourage you to note in the application any mobility-related needs you might have.

Our training sessions will be held in the seminar rooms at Lila_Bunt. These rooms include mats, seating cushions, and possibly hard back chairs. You can view the images here: https://lilabunt.de/haus-und-barrieren 

Please let us know if you have seating accessibility needs or requests.

We will not be using projectors or screens during the duration of the intensive.

Our desire is that the space is accessible for those with health concerns, please indicate in the application form any needs you might have, so we can determine our ability to support you.

Lila_Bunt Access information:

“Unfortunately, lila_bunt is not entirely accessible to everyone. There are both visible barriers and some that might not be obvious at first glance.

We do have a wheelchair-friendly single room with a private bathroom and a nursing care bed on the first floor, suitable for wheelchairs up to 80cm wide. The inner courtyard, dining area, and seminar rooms are also accessible with a wheelchair. However, the other rooms and the library are on the upper floor, which requires using stairs. Plus, the garden paths are not paved, which might make it difficult for wheelchair users.

We offer a meditation room in the garden, providing a peaceful retreat where you can relax alone or with support if needed.

We understand that our current setup might not meet everyone’s needs. We’re committed to improving accessibility in the future.”

Training for Change defines direct education as:

https://www.trainingforchange.org/about/

“Direct Education is about liberation and empowerment.

Unlike traditional education, which gives all the expertise to textbooks and teachers, Direct Education invites the wisdom of people’s own experience.

The approach is group centered. We build upon group dynamics in the training room and people’s own experience to introduce new content and help the group access their own wisdom. This deepens learning in the training and also cultivates resources for people to access long after the training is over.

Group training and facilitation skills are key to powerful organizing and movement building. These skills develop leadership, strengthen decision-making, shape strategies, and build the capacities needed to organize for justice.”

Direct Education was developed by George Lakey, the co-founder of Training for Change (based in Philadelphia, US). The practice builds strongly on popular education traditions (Paolo Freire, Ella Baker), it integrates perspectives developed by movements against sexism, racism, and the other forms of oppression, and incorporates lessons from humanistic psychology on group learning and transformation such as Process work

Applications open: Sunday 14th June

Applications close: Sunday 19th of July 00:00 CET

Acceptances sent: First week of August

You will receive confirmation of receipt of your application. We will inform everyone whether they have a spot or not into the C.A.R.E. Intensive.

We want to honor that many will need time to book their travel and accommodations to the intensive, so our aim is to notify accepted participants with two months notice.

Our acceptance process is guided by a commitment to a diverse group. Therefore we hope for and encourage applications from anyone who carries a marginalised identity or identities.

If filling out the application form is a barrier for you, we offer the option to call us and share your responses, and we will fill out the form with you.

If we find that the majority of applicants are part of a dominant identity, then after we send out acceptance emails, we will reach-out directly to participants of marginalised identities, to discuss.

Apply below or click the link here:

C.A.R.E Training of Trainers Intensive Application

Ready to Apply?

Apply below or click the link here:

C.A.R.E Training of Trainers Intensive Application

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