In practice much will depend on the skills of the facilitator and his or her ability to enable difficult issues and individual circle members frustrations to be aired in a constructive way. We are certainly aware that some facilitators have felt the need to convene a circle meeting without the focus child present. This has usually occurred when things appear to be going badly, the efforts of circle members are felt to be having little effect on identified issues and it is felt that they would benefit from a chance to offload some of their frustrations. This may be a helpful step to take if the alternative is the demise of the circle, but if you are finding that you are having frequent circle meetings without the focus child then you have strayed way off track and are no longer facilitating a circle of friends . The work does involve risks.
Human relationships involve risks.
The risks of doing nothing or of staying with tried and tested methods seem to us much greater. Remember circles of friends can actually stop children been excluded or segregated. As we have already made clear exclusion and segregation are likely to be highly damaging experiences for the individual concerned. This may be caused by senior members of staff or by colleagues and has a variety of motivations. Sabotage can occur in all innocence as a result of chaotic planning, or arise from a lack of understanding of the circle of friends process.