ABSTRACT
Even when a contract has spelled out the agreed aims and ground rules of the group, the role of the facilitator in a staff support group is more ambiguous and harder to de®ne than in other kinds of group. There are good reasons for this. In groups where membership changes from session to session continuity and consistency are harder to achieve. The needs of the group and the appropriate style of facilitation may also change from one session to the next. The ¯exibility that is a strength of staff support groups, as we described in Chapter 1, also introduces more possibilities for the facilitator's role. And there is an important element in the role of the facilitator that is outside the group itself, and has to do with the meaning of the group's existence and survival for staff and for the organisation.
