1.1 Welcome on Board

Thank you for joining The Resilient Mind Team as a Training Course Facilitator!

In this Manual, you will learn about:

• the overall TRM game concept and how to play it
• tasks you and your players will have to do before, during and after each game
• the TRM mobile app and how it helps players get the most out of this training
• the mentoring objectives
• and how to successfully facilitate an online game session with 9 people.

1.2 Overview of the licencing of a Facilitator

On completion of the Facilitators Contract with TRM the following training items will be carried out:

1. The Facilitator becomes familiar with this manual and competent with each section
2. The Facilitator undergoes 3 1-hour Zoom training sessions with TRM
3. The Facilitator in training attends 7 weekly group sessions as a participant
4. The Facilitator sells 9 seats and facilitates the game under supervision
5. The Facilitator becomes licenced and receives in-person game kit and access to all online tools to facilitate game independently.

1.3 Resilience Training Primary Objectives

With Facilitator’s help and guidance during this 10-week programme,(7 weekly game sessions and 10 weeks of assignments) participants will be introduced to 9 Traits of Resilience so that they can experience reduced stress.

The 9 Traits of Resilience are:

1. Know your stressors
2. Unlearning
3. Front row relationships
4. Self-care
5. Healthy desires & expectations
6. Adjust your beliefs
7. Change & accept
8. Problem solving skills
9. Spirituality

In this training course, we will focus more on enabling participants to gain awareness of their top 2 stressors, create goals to reduce them by learning effective and healthy calming skills and developing supportive front row relationships. These traits are the foundational elements of resilience.

Our experience of over 20 years of clinical mental health work has shown that:

• Neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to reorganize itself, makes it possible to change existing patterns of thought and emotion and experience reduced stress
• Group sessions are one of the most empowering environments to bring about change
• 8 Characteristics of Playing hard empower and accelerate new levels of awareness and behavior change
  • Courage it’s required to confront the unhealthy functions of your psychology
  • Humility Positions people into learning
  • Curiosity helps an individual explore their perceptions and what is behind it
  • Honesty promotes engagement with the byproduct being vulnerability
  • Vulnerability provides the opportunity for two people to deeply engage (IN-TO-ME-SEE)
  • Self-awareness is prerequisite to make any positive changes
  • Engagement with the Group empowers confidence
  • Empathy creates safety in the group
• It takes constant learning and experiences of being challenged in an accountable environment to begin the process of changing existing patterns of responding to stress.

Learn more about our science and our work at: www.theresilientmind.life/our_science

The mentor supports participants via email, cell phone or video conference which ever they choose over the 10 weeks period)

The facilitator’s task over 7 weeks is to:

• The facilitator’s role is to lead each game session and to model the playing hard characteristics as each person takes 2 turns each. Additionally, they keep the game pace to meet the 1.5 hr schedule and help people when they get stuck
• Each focus on their top 2 stressors which makes up most of their stress and set goals to manage each stressors and measure progress with accountability and support from the group mentor.

1.4 What you must do to be a successful facilitator

Here is our take how you can be successful as a facilitator in this Training Program:

• Understand how to use the Zoom technology
• Understand each game space activity
• Be the person who best exhibits the 7 characteristics of playing hard
• Encourage and validate the participants
• Be humble, talk little, let the game lead the way
• Be prepared to help people who get stuck so they don’t feel awkward
• Pace the game appropriately to end exactly at the 90 minute mark
• Start the game exactly on time and ask participants to be 5 to 10 minutes early
• Ensure the rules to the game are followed

2. GETTING PLAYERS ON BOARD

2.1  Promoting the game to a population

This course is designed for 9+1 players (including the facilitator) and we cannot start a group with less than 8 people. So, the very first task is to get players on board by promoting the course.

We have created a brochure with the benefits of The Resilient Mind Training Program that is to be sent to your prospective participants.

Those who are interested can register for the program at our website: www.theresilientmind.life located in the top right corner of home page.

IMPORTANT: this game is not for everyone. A huge portion of the North American population suffers from a stressed life, however, not everyone is ready for the change that this game can create. This Training Program requires a substantial amount of effort and commitment and willingness to change change(an open mindset verses a fixed mindset). Not everyone is ready in their current situation for this. They might be later on, though.

Only those who understand the commitment and the activities can register and participate in this Training Program. During the registration process, applicants will fill out a Readiness to change Test.
This test helps the applicants decide whether this course is for them right now, or not. (The test will not determine whether the applicant can or cannot register, it has only informative purposes. The applicant has to decide to apply.)

2.2 Registration and payment

All registration and payment for online and in person gamification can be done on our website: www.theresilientmind.life by clicking on Resilient Mind Registration in the top menu.

As mentioned above, the objective of this registration is to ensure the prospect understands the game commitment and the activities during the Training Program.

Payment exceptions to this registration process will apply. Please contact techsupport@theresilientmind.life for further details.

3. BEFORE THE FIRST TRAINING SESSION

3.1 Players’ Pre-Course Activities

After registration, participants will first need to download The Resilient Mind app from the Google Play Store for Android phones. It requires Android 4.2 and above. For iPhone, you can find the app in the Apple Store

Note:  The app is called The ResilientMind without space. There is another app with the same name with space in the Play Store. Look for the colorful flower-like logo to find the correct app!

The Resilient Mind app in the Google Play Store

When opening the app, participants can sign in using the username and password they received in email upon registration. After login, you will see the Home Page with six options (see Screenshot below).
At the first time, only the Personal e-book will be available (middle-right icon on the Home Screen), all other options will be greyed out and locked until the e-book is read.

Screenshot: app login screen and Home Page

Participants are required to read through the Personal e-book about Resilience before the course begins without filling in any of the blank spaces. The e-book contains E-learning Activities like questions and writing exercises and it provides an overview of the 7 Traits of Resilience. These will be covered in the two weekly E-learning Activities. The whole concept of reading the book is to determine your top two stressors and set goals to reduce these stressors using the 7 Traits of Resilience. We will deep dive in all the exercises later on.

After they have read the e-book, all the app tools will unlock and they can browse and play with them.

The app is an important part of the whole Training Program. That’s where they will receive weekly
E-learning Activities, set goals and learn more about resilience (see separate chapter about the app).
Because of that, it is important for the participants to start getting familiar with the app prior to the Program.

4. HOW TO SETUP THE ONLINE TRAINING ENVIRONMENT

We use three different technologies in the same time during a Game Session:

• Zoom for online video conference
• The Resilient Mind website for the Game Board
• Mobile App for Scoring during the game

Why do we need a complex environment like this for the game? 

When playing the game in-person, the case is much easier: you sit together in the same room, set up the game board on a large table and start playing. Everyone is in the same place, everyone can talk to and see each other. Feedback is also simpler, players can provide in-person feedback and other encouraging thoughts face-to-face. This is not as effective in an online environment. But there are other advantages to online gaming.

First, we need the online Game Board. We made it available on a website that you can access via any browser from anywhere by simply logging in. No software download needed.

Secondly, we need a tool for talking and seeing each other. That would come handy if we could use the same website for that – however, creating a reliable video conference tool and embedding it into the website is a challenging and risky task as there are not many options that are both well-known, easy-to-use, easy-to-implement and reliable. So we decided to use Zoom, one of the most popular tools for online video conferences during the Game Sessions.

And Thirdly, scoring and messaging. We need to create space and opportunity for the players to give points and interact with each other in an easy way without disturbing the game. As the players are already familiar with the app by the beginning of the first session, and our goal is to make them engage with the app to learn more about resilience and do all the tasks, we decided to use the app as a remote control to give points during the game. We also want to keep these scores for later and show the Scoreboard during and after the game.

For messaging, initially we used Zoom, as it has a built-in chat feature. However, we found it important that players should be able to review the messages and comments they received during the game after the session, and to be able to chat with each other outside the sessions or even after the whole course. Hence, we are adding the messaging functionality to the app (in progress).

Let’s get into details with these tools!

4.1 Zoom for Video Conference

Zoom is one of the most popular and feature-rich tool for online video conferencing. It’s out of the scope of this document to make you familiar with all the features of Zoom, so let’s focus on the essentials that you need to know to be able to successfully facilitate this Online Training Program.
Learn more: https://zoom.us/resources

4.1.1 Installing Zoom and Joining a Meeting

While Zoom is easy to use, it is not a web-based application, meaning you have to download the app to your desktop or phone to be able to join a Zoom call. The good news is, Zoom made the installation process transparent and as easy as possible: when joining a call via a Zoom link the first time, the app will automatically install itself to your computer and start the call right away.

All participants will need a working webcam and proper audio equipment (mic and speakers or headphones) to join the call. Ask them in the meeting invite or in an introduction email to always test their webcam and audio after joining the call. If they have any trouble joining the call, they can contact techsupport@theresilientmind.life for tech support.

IMPORTANT: While Zoom allows you to join calls on your phone, make sure you and all the participants will join the call on their Mac or PC and not on their cell phones. That’s because they will need to see the whole game board on a larger screen during the session and they will use their phone app for scoring and messaging. All participants need two devices to join the Session (cell and a laptop/PC).

Watch here how to join a Zoom meeting.