Facilitation Services
Workshops, Trainings, and Multi-Day Sessions
Rooted in the art of improvisation and grounded in artist-scholar research, my facilitation services combine creative practice, critical inquiry, and embodied learning to address the unique challenges groups face. Whether you’re looking to deepen collaboration, navigate relational dynamics, or foster creative problem-solving, these custom workshops are designed to meet the specific needs of academic, community, and professional contexts. Participants leave with tools and insights that encourage reflection, strengthen connection, and inspire relational transformation.
Relational Improvisation: Exploring Connection and Interdependence
Workshops that use improvisation principles (not performance) to help groups explore how they connect, collaborate, and adapt. These sessions create space for reflection and growth, allowing participants to gain new insights into how they relate to one another and work together.
Workshops designed to:
- Make visible the relational dynamics within groups and teams.
- Encourage exploration of interdependence and responsiveness.
- Strengthen group cohesion, adaptability, and shared accountability through creative, non-performance-based exercises.
Academic groups, community organizations, businesses, and other teams or collectives looking to:
- Reflect on how they work together.
- Build stronger connections and communication.
- Foster collaboration and responsiveness in uncertain or dynamic contexts.
These workshops create opportunities for groups to pause, reflect, and gain a deeper understanding of their relational dynamics. Participants often leave with:
- A heightened awareness of how they interact and co-create meaning.
- Greater clarity around relational strengths and areas for growth.
- Practical tools for navigating challenges and working more effectively as a team.
- Hospital Social Workers: Designed a session exploring how responsiveness and adaptability shape relational practice.
- Working Women’s Community Centre Staff Training: Facilitated a workshop enhancing collaborative decision-making through improvisation.
- Nellie’s Shelter for Women: Led a 6-week workshop series building trust, confidence, and shared leadership.
Embodied Explorations of Power, Presence, and Representation
Workshops that use experiential and improvisational exercises to help groups reflect on and engage with power dynamics, accessibility, and representation. These sessions foster critical reflection and open up new possibilities for addressing systemic and interpersonal challenges.
Workshops designed to:
- Encourage participants to examine their personal and systemic responses to power, privilege, and representation.
- Build awareness of how these dynamics shape relationships, decision-making, and engagement.
- Provide creative and embodied approaches to reflect on accessibility, inclusivity, and shared accountability.
Educators, researchers, social workers, community leaders, creatives, and any groups looking to:
- Deepen their understanding of how power and representation operate in their work and communities.
- Reflect critically on their roles and responsibilities in creating more equitable spaces.
- Develop strategies for fostering accessibility, inclusivity, and relational accountability.
These workshops create intentional spaces for participants to critically reflect on power and representation in their personal and professional lives. Outcomes often include:
- A deeper understanding of how power dynamics shape relationships and processes.
- Practical tools for addressing inequities and fostering inclusivity in their work.
- Greater confidence in navigating complex issues related to privilege, accessibility, and representation.
- Bad Dog Theatre Faculty Training: Developed curriculum addressing intersectional oppression in classrooms and communities.
- Toronto Metropolitan University Undergraduate Student Workshops: Facilitated reflective exercises on power and representation in group work and working with communities.
Improvisation to Enhance Research Practices
Workshops designed for academic faculty and graduate students to explore how relational and embodied approaches can deepen research practices. Through reflective and creative exercises, participants gain tools to navigate power dynamics, foster equitable engagement, and approach research with greater intention and awareness.
Workshops that help participants:
- Reflect on the relational and ethical dimensions of research practices.
- Explore how improvisational techniques can enhance adaptability, responsiveness, and collaboration.
- Build tools for addressing power dynamics and fostering equitable engagement in research relationships.
- Develop a greater sense of presence and intentionality in research processes.
Academic faculty and graduate students who are:
- Engaged in research that involves community or interdisciplinary collaborations.
- Interested in integrating relational and creative approaches into their research practices.
- Looking to strengthen the reflective and ethical dimensions of their work.
These workshops create intentional spaces for participants to critically reflect on power and representation in their personal and professional lives. Outcomes often include:
- A deeper understanding of how power dynamics shape relationships and processes.
- Practical tools for addressing inequities and fostering inclusivity in their work.
- Greater confidence in navigating complex issues related to privilege, accessibility, and representation.
- McMaster University Workshops for PhD Research Students: Led multiple sessions on relational awareness and the role of interdependence in qualitative research.
- Laurier University Workshops for Social Work Researchers: Facilitated workshops exploring power dynamics and equitable engagement in research practices.
"I invited Cathy to facilitate workshops in two of my courses: at the undergraduate and the graduate levels. Both times, I was impressed with Cathy's breadth of knowledge on improv and how it related to social work and specifically social justice concerns. As importantly, Cathy's well honed facilitation style put participants at ease as they explored experientially issues such as participation, trust building, and relationship development, among other key aspects of community practice. Equally commendable is Cathy's ability to share her knowledge and the workshop content in a way that is accessible to a diverse group of students from multiple disciplines, as my courses included students from creative arts disciplines and from the helping professions. I look forward to having Cathy in my classes again as the students felt her presence to be energizing, and thought provoking!"
-Samantha Wehbi, Professor; School of Social Work, Toronto Metropolitan University
"I have nothing but praise for Cathy and the work that she does - she created a welcoming environment that allowed me and the participants to be more vulnerable and explore important topics and approaches that are conducive to enhancing wellness and confidence. Cathy’s workshop provided me the opportunity to explore how to relate to myself and others more holistically. Cathy is a kind, patient, wise and intuitive individual. Her facilitation skills are superior and impressive - her ability to work with diversity, and various personal and interpersonal challenges is exceptional. Thank you, Cathy for the wonderful and life-changing experience!"
-Gio Iaconno, Assistant Professor; School of Social Work, University of Connecticut
Inclusive Practice
Over the past twelve years, Delve In has facilitated workshops with a wide range of groups and has learned a great deal about what is needed to set projects up well and to facilitate them such that people learn well from them. This includes paying careful attention at the outset to the range of ways people move around; I ask about disabilities and attend to this in exercise design; I create opportunities for people to participate by reflecting rather than doing if they wish; and I am attentive to ways this work might scare people or be hard for them and I have found ways to address this. Continuously learning how to create inclusive practices is vital to the work of Delve In.
At the core of my facilitation practice is a commitment to:
Relational Inquiry
Creating spaces where participants can explore their roles and responses in relational dynamics.
Embodied Practice
Using improvisation as a tool for discovery and reflection, rather than performance.
Creative Engagement
Centering artistic methods that encourage deep, transformative exploration.
My workshops and training sessions are designed to foster awareness, interdependence, and meaningful connection. The focus is always on co-creating an experience that prioritizes reflection and transformation, allowing participants to leave with insights they can carry forward into their work and lives.
Let’s Create Something Tailored to Your Group’s Needs
All of my facilitation services are designed in collaboration with you, ensuring they align with your goals and context. Whether you’re looking for a one-time workshop, an in-depth training, or a multi-day retreat, we’ll work together to create a transformative experience.