Final Project & Exam

Final Project: Six-Week Group Plan & Practice Facilitation

Bring the course together by planning a six-week Christ-centered recovery group and leading a 20-minute practice group with classmates. Everything may be handwritten. Your plan may be for a group inside a facility or in a church or community setting; both are graded equally. During your practice facilitation, classmates will share on light prompts or speak as composite people; no one is required to disclose personal history. Do not include details of crimes, cases, victims, co-defendants, other residents, staff, or facility security.

Requirements

• Group Purpose and Setting: who the group is for (setting and gender), its purpose with Scripture, and how it connects to The Restoration Path
• Guidelines and Opening Script: the Safe Circle Guidelines in your own words, the limits of confidentiality, and a blank for your reporting duties
• Six Session Outlines: for each week, a Restoration Path theme, a KJV verse, a five-minute teaching summary, two sharing prompts, and closing words
• Safety and Referral Plan: when to get help, staff or chaplain inside, 911 and 988 outside, overdose response with naloxone, the tolerance warning after release, respect for medication for addiction treatment, and a referral list with blanks for local resources
• Difficult Moments and Co-Leading: short responses for a dominating member, a crisis disclosure, an attendee who appears intoxicated, and conflict; co-leader roles; debrief questions
• Leader Self-Care: your support, rest rhythm, and permission to step back
• Practice Facilitation (20 minutes): welcome and prayer, guidelines, Scripture and short teaching, a sharing round, and a closing, led with a classmate as co-leader if possible
• Facilitation Self-Evaluation (one page): what went well, what you would change, how you followed the guidelines, how you kept the space safe, and one growth goal

Timeline

• Module 4: draft the sharing prompts you will use
• Modules 5–7: draft the safety, difficult moments, co-leading, and self-care sections
• Module 8: rehearse, lead your 20-minute practice facilitation, write your self-evaluation, and submit the plan

Grading Rubrics

Every rubric uses the same four levels. Your instructor will mark the level that best matches your work for each row and add a short comment.

Module Assignment Rubric

Total possible: 16 points.

Reflection Journal Rubric

Journals are graded on effort and reflection, never on spelling, grammar, or the details of a personal story.

Total possible: 16 points.

Participation Rubric

Scored at the end of each module. Average the eight scores for the Attendance & Participation grade.

Total possible: 16 points.

Final Project Rubric: Six-Week Group Plan & Practice Facilitation

Total possible: 20 points.

Small Group Leader's Quick Guide

Keep this guide with your important papers after release.

The Safe Circle Guidelines

• ☐ 1. What is shared here stays here, within clear limits
• ☐ 2. Speak for yourself: use I
• ☐ 3. One voice at a time: no cross-talk
• ☐ 4. Listen, don't fix: no advice or rescuing
• ☐ 5. Share the time: about ___ minutes each
• ☐ 6. Keep it clean and general: no graphic details, no glorifying
• ☐ 7. Passing is always okay
• ☐ 8. Point to Christ, not to faults

Limits of Confidentiality

• ☐ Risk of suicide or self-harm
• ☐ Risk of harm to someone else
• ☐ Abuse or neglect of a child, elderly person, or vulnerable adult
• ☐ A medical emergency, including a possible overdose
• ☐ Anything facility rules require staff to know
• ☐ My reporting duties (ask my supervisor): _______________________________
• ☐ Never promise I won't tell anyone

Simple Meeting Flow

The Restoration Path

When to Get Help Immediately

• ☐ Any talk of suicide or self-harm
• ☐ Any talk of harming someone else
• ☐ Abuse or someone in danger
• ☐ A possible overdose or any medical emergency, including withdrawal
• ☐ Inside a facility: go to staff or the chaplain right away
• ☐ Outside: call 911 for emergencies; call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, U.S.)
• ☐ One co-leader stays with the person; the other cares for the group

Overdose and Medical Safety

• ☐ Signs: very hard to wake, slow or no breathing, blue or gray lips
• ☐ Call 911, give naloxone if available, follow the dispatcher, stay with her
• ☐ Tolerance drops after time without use; risk is higher after release
• ☐ Withdrawal can be medically dangerous; seek medical care
• ☐ Medication for addiction treatment is legitimate medical care; never advise on medication
• ☐ Never let someone who seems impaired drive

Gentle Calming Steps

• ☐ Offer a choice: breathe together, step out, or sit quietly
• ☐ Breathe in slowly, then breathe out even more slowly
• ☐ Feel your feet on the floor and the chair supporting you
• ☐ Name five things you can see
• ☐ Pray a short prayer: Lord, You are near
• ☐ Calming is always gentle, never painful

Group Stages

After-Meeting Debrief

• ☐ What went well?
• ☐ What concerns do we have?
• ☐ Does anyone need follow-up or referral?
• ☐ Is anything required to be reported or passed to staff?
• ☐ How are we, the leaders, doing?

My Support and Local Resources

My supervisor or chaplain (by role): _______________________________

My own recovery group or accountability partner: _______________________________

Licensed counselors and treatment programs: _______________________________

Medical care and where to get naloxone: _______________________________

Recovery groups for warm handoffs: _______________________________

Other local resources (verify with a case manager): _______________________________

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.— Philippians 1:6 (KJV)