Table 1.

Living well participant and peer facilitator example quotes regarding group facilitation and dynamics

1. Group atmosphere

a. Positive/ Warm

- P14: [B]y going to those classes and being with my peers, and the two ladies were wonderful. They were the type of ladies that you can talk to. They weren’t mechanical, you know… So it affects how I interact with you, you know. I’m a free spirit… And they made me feel comfortable. They made me feel comfortable in my own skin, you know.

b. Respectful/Everyone equal

- P6: What I liked about it, when we had our first group, they said, everybody in here, they wanted us to be respectful. That’s what I liked about the group. That’s what I liked about the facilitators. And I never did have a situation when I was there, and my concern was everybody was just respectful… And it was great.

- P9: We had one guy in the group… you couldn’t understand nothing he said… And they never once made him feel uncomfortable. They really, really respected his position on where he was. That’s why it was so cool, because it drove me nuts! It drove me nuts. And then, and I think they kind of saw my frustration. And they started paraphrasing for me… It was like he had a translator, you know, so yeah.

c. Interactive/ Participatory

- P7: I was a little surprised by how much participation we had in the group. Now, a lot of the groups that they hold here it can be a real quiet room. A lot people don’t want to contribute to it.

- P8. …everybody was, you know, was able to contribute. You can be late and contribute. You can be early and contribute…. and definitely [the facilitators], they were constantly just getting people, all of us, just to open up, and say, you know open up and hear the good news… and it worked quite well. It worked quite well.

2. Diverse/ Complementary perspectives

- P3: You had [Peer] on one side. And you had [non-Peer] on the other side. So those were two different perspectives on what they’re going to throw out there to you. Whereas [non-Peer] might not understand, [Peer] would… You know, especially with the mental health issue. I mean, unless you’ve been there and done that, you don’t have a clue.

- F10: …having somebody with like book knowledge and lived knowledge, it’s great to combine the two together.

3. Teamwork

- P9: And another thing that I really liked was… how well the staff and the peer counselors worked together, I liked that. And one thing I’ve learned, when you have more than one presenter, often times they will leave the room while the other person is presenting… And they all attended, they all stayed for all the sessions and they worked together as a group. And sometimes I even saw them kind of overlapping each other… they got so comfortable where they started kind of just blending. But it was seamless.

- F4: So she knew kind of the ins and outs of everything that she was doing and if I had any questions I could go to her. And then it was nice just to be able to depend on someone if you got stuck in a group and you were like, uh, uh, what do I say.

A. Diverse/Complementary perspectives ←→ Teamwork

- P14: …they worked hand in hand. And it was really interesting….[B]ecause one of them had a lot of funny ha, ha humor. And the other one had sort of a dry humor. So they complemented each other.

- F4: And [the non-peer staff] were able to jump in or provide another voice at times. And I thought it was nice to share because I could go in depth on some of the things that are peer-related and other. And she could go to other things. So I was kind of dedicated to that as—and we split it about half and half… almost exactly—the modules in terms of what we presented.

B. Diverse/Complementary perspectives + Teamwork → Group atmosphere

- P15: One thing I liked, they each had each other’s backs, and it’s probably a good thing to have two of them… so they can tag-team on each other and pass it back and forth. So it wasn’t like dead silence… I think it’s good that they can pair up and keep going… They talked about certain discussions and not very personal ones, just good discussions, like just good comments and questions about some places they grew up, like nice things in the beginning before they got into the class…. They kind of talked well with each other. Then they would ask us how we were doing and relax us a bit before we got into it…

- P16: Having two people to actually run the group was helpful. They rely on each other a lot to go back and forth and they help us start talking by bringing things up first and then made myself more open to bring things out that was wrong that I was fighting.

4. Group pacing and management

- P12: Even those conversations that drift off …. It was efficiently used, I must say, from when it started, to when it finished…. There again, no matter how intricate or how intimate it got, personal, it was about the group, and the facilitators kept it contained within that, drift off a little bit, …but nonetheless, it stayed in the group. It stayed in the circle, on the subject. One subject might lead to another type of thing, and then we get right back on where we were, by, the facilitators did accommodate it.

C. Diverse/ Complimentary perspectives + Teamwork → Group pacing/ Management

- P7: …you got to have one facilitator to run the group, and to have a peer facilitator to help egg the group along, you know, and get some participation out of the group members and all. So I think you need both of them.

- F10: Because we come and practice every Monday and, pretty much, we’ve got it down…. there are some places, which even though it’s in the book, that says, “This is where the peer can make a comment about this.” … I found that she fits better, and there are other places outside of that that I fit better. Sometimes [non-Peer] looks at me and she says, “Well, [Peer], I think you might want to field this one,” and it’s nice to have that balance with what we’re teaching.

D. Group pacing/Management → Group atmosphere

- P12: And the facilitators were great in leading us into that discussion. So, you know, where everybody wasn’t just sitting around and, you know, just keeping what they were thinking in their head. They were great in leading us into where we can get it out there, you know. Everybody got a good idea by the time it was over with, and that’s with any particular situation… it was a smooth flow.

5. Group size

- P9: I think more than eight or nine would be, maybe 10 would be too much, but two or three is not enough… You know, you don’t want 100 people. But you don’t want two people either. And sometimes our groups was only two people.

- P16: …it was nice to have a small group. It didn’t have to be three. Maybe six or eight.

E. Group size → Group Atmosphere

- P18: Well it was good because, like I say, for me there were never more than six people…. [I]t gave everyone a chance to get involved and…some of the groups in [mental health program] are so large that it was a challenge for everyone to actually feel relaxed and sharing….[T]hat was definitely the opposite, there was more than ample time and I felt relaxed.

6. Self-disclosure

- P18: [Peer] spent a bit of time sharing with the group… Because she applied some of the techniques to her own life. And how… those techniques helped her. And she did bring up the fact that there’s an opportunity here for you.

F. Self-disclosure → Group atmosphere

- P9: I’ve learned over the years that a lot of times the people who are supposed to be teaching you about stuff, don’t have a clue, or insight, about what you should be doing, or how your life got to this point or whatever. … [Peer] brought some very, very, very personal anecdotes to the class that she didn’t have to. And that really made the group a more cohesive group, because she ripped a veil, for lack of a better word, she ripped a veil and allowed us to kind of open ourselves up because she put her stuff on the table too.

- P16: [Peer] helped… by the things he would say about himself and his problem. He had back problems and he had some mental problems. He had stuff. Would instantly group us altogether as a group…

7. Social learning

- P2: Yeah, I thought it was great, especially learning from other people, yeah… How they deal with their mental health and physical health, and things that they do, you know, that helped me, that kind of stuff.

- P17: Sometimes it was a situation I was in. And that person had already been through it … and they mentioned something they did or experience that came out of it. And I said, oh wow, I could try that, too…. And that’s the really good part about the program is that everybody’s together – it’s individual but it’s also collective. So we can learn from each other. From the facilitator, also from each veteran, each of the veterans, and our network also.

G. Group atmosphere→ Social learning

- P17: Yeah, we were all very engaged because they made it interesting. And they made it so that we tried these things. If it didn’t work out for us… They didn’t kill you because you didn’t do it right or you didn’t work it out all the way. And if you almost made it and fell short, you’d just – you’d just be like I tried, I’ll try again next week. Persistence. You see?… Everyone had a chance to participate and like I said you hear so much that’s familiar… from each veteran… he’s saying something that you thought about or you heard before so you’re laughing. And that’s how this program ran.

H. Self-disclosure → Social learning

- P19: But you know some people go in there [group] with a little lack of confidence and self-esteem and you know they’re a little bit reserved. So when … you have a peer like that, they’re discussing things, it kind of opens them up a little bit more…. [Peer] would, every, every, every discussion that was started, the first example was always [Peer]. Okay? So he gave us his example to relate it to what we were talking about, whether it was getting more physical or eating better or whatever. And then they started around the table. So I think that helped out a lot.

Quotations are arranged and labeled according to the lettered and numbered elements of Fig. 1. Living Well participants and peer facilitators were numbered 1 through 19. Group participants are noted with a “P” and peer facilitators are noted with an “F”