104: Building Our Circle of Friends (in-person)

Session 1a
Title: Session Openers
Description: This is your three-part formula for starting each of the 12 sessions in this course, DETS 104.
Objective:
participants build comfort with one another as a learning group
participants see the big picture, where this course is going

Session 1b
Title: Smile-Greet-Freeze
Description: Participants practice smiling, greeting, making eye contact while they encounter new people each day.
Objectives:
• experience using skills needed for first meeting people
• notice the difference between engaging others when greeting them, and not doing so

Session 1c
title: Puzzle Pieces
Description: Participants match their puzzle pieces with those of others to create words about friendship, then discuss.
Objectives:
• participants have the chance to think a little more deeply about aspects of friendship, and what it takes to be successful at making friends
• participants work together to solve a puzzle

Session 2a:
Title: Conversation Starters
Description: Participants use some provided ideas to practice starting light social conversations
Objectives:
• experience starting a simple conversation after greeting someone
• notice what’s involved in starting a conversation

Session 2b.
title: Write a Friendship Poem
Description: Participants arrange powerful and positive words and phrases to create poems that reflect the communities they want to help build and live in.
Objectives
• To engage participants to dream of a community without negative attitudes and barriers.
• Participants practice naming the power of self-advocacy.
• Participants practice working together on a common goal.

Session 3a:
title: Walk Stop Talk
Description: Individuals zigzag randomly throughout the room, stopping on cue to pair up and practice small talk on easy safe topics.
Objectives:
• lots of practice on small talk,
• experience how small talk goes back and forth between two people, not one person dominating

Session 3b:
title: Two More Questions
Description: Participants play musical chairs to pair up and practice the skill of asking follow-up questions to keep a light conversation going.
Objectives:
• experience asking questions to show interest in the other person
• learn how to repeat back what people say as a way to keep a conversation going
Session 4a:
title: Picture What You Love

Description: People silently look over a number of photos, choose one that shows something about them, what they like to do, and talk about how friends are often folks that like to do the same things we do.
Objectives:
• Participants notice and name what activities they like
• Participants compare their interests to those of others
• Participants connect their interests to the idea of making friends with similar interests

Session 4b.
title: Visible/Invisible
Description: Participants decorate a worksheet to describe parts of them that are easily seen by others, and parts more private, then consider what that means for making friends.
Objectives:
• understand parts of yourself that are well known, and parts hidden
• understand that others have parts well known and parts hidden

Session 5a:
title: Rights That Help You Make Friends
Description: Participants use mini-posters, based on the Supreme Court Olmstead Decision, to tell each other about rights that help people with disabilities make friends.

Objectives
• become familiar with some key rights of integration
• experience telling others about rights and how they connect to friendships
Session 5b
Title: More greeting practice. Revisit DETS 104 Session 01b Smile Greet Freeze for more practice.
Description: Participants practice smiling, greeting, making eye contact while they encounter new people each day.
Objectives:
• experience using skills needed for first meeting people
• notice the difference between engaging others when greeting them, and not doing so
Optional: Close with a Song: Choose a song to close every session, something familiar to everyone like “You’ve Got a Friend.” Then sing the same song each week.

Session 6:
title: Barriers to Making Friends
Description: Participants talk about the consequences if you don’t have Olmstead Rights, and create skits to show how that lack affects your friendships.
Objectives:
• participants make connection lack of rights to friendship difficulties
• participants embody their understanding by creating skits together

Session 7a
title: Rights Help Friendships
Description: Participants talk about which integration rights (Olmstead) are most important in their life, and create skits to show how that right supports someone trying to make friends.
Objectives
• participants make between rights of integration and their own life
• participants embody their understanding of the power of these rights by creating skits together to show how friendships might be supported by rights
Might you hurt others when you are being assertive? Might you hurt others if you are being aggressive?

Session 7b
title: More Small Talk. Reprise DETS 104: Session 2a, Conversation starters for more practice.
Description: Participants use some provided ideas to practice starting light social conversations
Objectives:
• experience starting a simple conversation after greeting someone
• notice what’s involved in starting a conversation
Optional: Close with a Song: Choose a song to close every session, something familiar to everyone like “You’ve Got a Friend.” Then sing the same song each week.

Session 8
title: Make a Friendship Poster.
Description: Participants make a “friendship poster” featuring their own photo and the right they feel strongest about.
Objectives:
• continue to connect the rights of integration with your own life and experience and friendships
• practice at expressing yourself, and showing that to others.
Session 9a
title: Try Something New
Description: Each person choose one activity they’d like to try for the first time.
Objectives:
• build new relationships by trying something new in the community
• see yourself as evolving, able to change and grow
Session 9b
title: More Walk Stop Talk: Reprise DETS 104: Session 3a for more
title: Walk Stop Talk
Description: Individuals zigzag randomly throughout the room, stopping on cue to pair up and practice small talk on easy safe topics.
Objectives:
• lots of practice on small talk,
• experience how small talk goes back and forth between two people, not one person dominating

Optional: Close with a Song: Choose a song to close every session, something familiar to everyone like “You’ve Got a Friend.” Then sing the same song each week.

Session 10a
Title: Your Personal Starter
Description: Participants practice using conversation starters, then each develops one on a topic they care about, to practice in their daily life, at home and out in the community.
Objectives:
• participants develop something they can use in the community
• assignment get’s people interacting with new people in their lives.
Session 10b
title: More Questions: repeat session DETS 104: Session 3b Two More Questions for more practice.
title: Two More Questions
Description: Participants play musical chairs to pair up and practice the skill of asking follow-up questions to keep a light conversation going.
Objectives:
• experience asking questions to show interest in the other person
• learn how to repeat back what people say as a way to keep a conversation going
Optional: Close with a Song: Choose a song to close every session, something familiar to everyone like “You’ve Got a Friend.” Then sing the same song each week.

Session 11a
title: Let’s Play Games.
Description: Participants play UNO as a way to practice connecting with others, social chit chat, other new skills.
Objectives:
• give folks yet another way to practice new skills of building friendships, connecting with others
• learn a simple game you can play with others in your life
Session 11b
title: Preview Closing Ceremony.
Description: Give participants a sense of the final session, what to expect.
Objectives: help participants be successful at social connecting next session, by knowing what to expect
Optional: Close with a Song: Choose a song to close every session, something familiar to everyone like “You’ve Got a Friend.” Then sing the same song each week.

Session 12
title: Closing Ceremony
Description: Closing ceremony to review the new learnings and to recognize graduates with ritual and certificates.

Objectives:
• Celebrate the completion of this 12-session course
• Raise community awareness of what we are doing