LESS?

Film-maker CJ Barton interviewed people with lived experience of homelessness, sharing their stories with us, through the medium of film.

To help foster reflective discussions with your friends, peers or colleagues, we have prepared a discussion guide, which includes some suggested questions. You can also find further information and resources on inclusion health at the bottom of the page.

You are free to show this film at your training events, under our CreativeCommons licence.

Some suggestions to help with hosting a viewing and reflective discussion:

• Duration: the film is 12 minutes long, so allow for some time for discussion afterwards
• Technology: if using MS Teams, Zoom or other virtual meeting, remember to share your computer sound so that the audio isn't compromised. If audio or WiFi is an issue, we recommend you share a link of the video and encourage everyone to go on mute to view the film individually and then return for the discussion.
• Trigger warning: let people know in advance of the session that the film contains sensitive themes of depression and suicide, so please take caution if this could be potentially triggering.

The purpose of this discussion guide is to provide you with some tips and advice which you may find useful in facilitating a discussion following viewing of the film. It includes how to manage challenging or conflicting opinions and questions to use within your discussion groups.

Here are some suggested questions that you can use to facilitate a discussion. Feel free to choose any that you feel will work well. These could also be used for self-reflection.

• How did this film make you feel?
• Do you have any thoughts you'd like to share?
• In what ways might this changed your attitude or perceptions?
• How might we change our practice towards people experiencing homelessness?
• What could get in the way?
• What might we be afraid when interacting with people experiencing homelessness?
• How might we go about gaining someone's trust in order to be able to help them?
• Could you share any instances of compassionate or effective care for people experiencing homelessness ?
• What are you going to take away from this discussion?
• Is there anything practical you can do to address these problems in your area of work?

Using Sli.do or similar for sharing ideas can also work well.

Additional tips on managing any difficult questions/discussions

Facilitating a discussion on sensitive issues such as mental health, exclusion, trauma, or suicide can be emotionally charged, particularly if friends/peers/colleagues have differing views and perspectives. However, it's important to have these conversations and that they are managed with consideration to avoid perpetuating negative feelings, stereotypes or creating rifts between people.

The following points may be useful to consider when facilitating a difficult discussion:

• Avoid placing blame: content about discrimination against a specific cohort can often result in people feeling resentment and/or blame. If the conversation becomes confrontational over who is to blame, try to guide the conversation toward how the group is made to feel as a result of the content. This way, it's focused on responses and feelings rather than judgement.
• Avoid filling dead air: allow people to gather their thoughts following the viewing, the themes within the film can be potentially overwhelming. People may open up and be vulnerable so it's important to avoid cutting people off as much as possible to allow them to talk freely.
• Finish on a positive: try to finish the meeting focusing on a potential solution or action that the group can take to help discriminated or excluded groups such as people experiencing homelessnes.

• There are lots of inclusion health resources on the Pathway website
• An introduction to Working With People and Communities course on FutureLearn
• Discover more courses on inclusion health
• The Queen's Nursing Insititute homeless health resources
• Transformation Partners in Health and Care (formerly Health London Partnership) homeless health resources
• NHS statutory guidance on Working in Partnership with People and Communities
• #StartWithPeople network on NHS Future (a network for people interested in engagement and participation in the NHS and wider health community)