Choose one useful focus. Prepare your people. Rehearse before inviting participants.
Preparation guide · Edition 0.3-review. Times are planning estimates. Public samples and this guide do not authorise delivery; review evidence and written permission remain required.
Start with the right audience
Together for Practices
Choose a useful starting point
Choose a practical learning goal and what the client wants to keep private.
Rehearse a practitioner introduction and a 20–25 minute self-directed activity. Agree what, if anything, comes back to a session.
Suitability is a practitioner decision. The learning resources do not replace assessment, counselling or a support plan.
Accountable role: Programme coordinator and proposed facilitator
Select the series that matches the people taking part. Staff learning and community participant learning have different purposes; do not combine them simply to fill a group.
Read the first module and name its practical purpose in one sentence. Decide whether a short individual conversation, supported learning or a group is appropriate.
Check adult audience, facilitator places, distinct participant allowance, delivery window and one-organisation scope against the proposed licence. Agree who holds the delivery decision.
Keep this evidence
Selected series, module and format
Accountable coordinator and facilitator role
Written scope and release status confirmed
Pause if: The intended audience, permissions or review status is unclear. A planning checklist does not authorise a licence or a pilot.
STEP 2 · 20–30 minutes
Prepare access and choice before inviting anyone
Accountable role: Coordinator with local access and support leads
Prepare readable paper and spoken options alongside the selected digital format. Check language needs, transport, data costs, care responsibilities and access to a quiet space.
Write an invitation explaining purpose, estimated time, the freedom to pass or stop, confidentiality limits and the local support route. For community participants, declining must not affect service eligibility.
For staff and volunteers, arrange paid or otherwise agreed work time and a route for concerns outside the immediate manager. Do not ask for health histories or personal disclosures.
Record who can receive a support request, who is available as backup and how the organisation handles an immediate safety concern.
Keep this evidence
Invitation checked against the setting
Paper or spoken alternative ready
Support route and backup verified with the responsible role
Pause if: A person would need to disclose private information, use inaccessible technology or agree to attend to retain services.
STEP 3 · 45–60 minutes
Rehearse the first session with a colleague
Accountable role: Named facilitator and an observer
Use the actual first module, its fictional example and one worksheet. Have the colleague act as a participant using a fictional situation, not their own history.
Practise a five-minute welcome covering purpose, choice, breaks, privacy and support. Explain one activity in ordinary language and test a paper or spoken alternative.
Rehearse someone passing, misunderstanding an instruction or needing a pause. Practise the handoff to local support without turning the group into counselling.
Close with one optional next step and a review date. Let the observer record confusing instructions, time overruns and access barriers. Repeat the difficult portion after revision.
Keep this evidence
Module and version rehearsed
Preparation and rehearsal minutes recorded
Observer findings and revised instructions
Pause and escalation handoff demonstrated
Pause if: The facilitator cannot explain the activity, offer choice or use the support route without extra help. Arrange further preparation and rehearse again.
STEP 4 · 15–20 minutes
Make a documented go or hold decision
Accountable role: Organisation delivery lead and Four Pillars Together as agreed
Check the actual clinical and educational, cultural and accessibility review evidence for the series and intended setting. A tick without a reviewer, date, findings and resolution is not evidence.
For a developmental pilot, agree the written pilot protocol and permissions separately. A pilot can inform revision; it must not be described as a reviewed general release.
Confirm named facilitators, local routes, access arrangements, written licence or pilot terms and resource version. Record unresolved issues with an owner and date.
Keep this evidence
Recorded approval authority and permitted scope
Review findings and open issues
Written pilot or licence agreement
Version issued for this delivery
Pause if: Any required review, written permission, access arrangement or safeguarding route remains unresolved. Completing this guide never activates sales or participant access.
STEP 5 · 45-minute group, or the selected module’s stated individual time
Run a small first delivery and record what changed
Accountable role: Facilitator and coordinator
Use the agreed invitation and session guide. Offer fictional examples, breaks and a way to pass. Collect no private worksheets for evaluation.
After delivery, record preparation time, delivery time, support questions, observed access barriers and practical changes needed. Keep participant details out of the implementation record.
Offer brief voluntary usefulness and access feedback through the agreed local process. Agree one organisational improvement with an owner and review date.
Keep this evidence
Actual timings and operational issues
Access adjustments made and remaining barriers
Action owner and review date
Pause if: Unexpected distress, unsafe disclosure or an unresolved access barrier requires a pause under the organisation’s own procedures. Do not continue simply to complete a module.
STEP 6 · 20–30 minutes
Improve before repeating
Accountable role: Coordinator, facilitator and relevant local leads
Compare delivery with the rehearsal record: which instructions needed extra explanation, how much support was needed and which access options were used?
Review agreed actions at 30, 60 and 90 days where useful. Distinguish a completed worksheet from an implemented change to support or working conditions.
Record approved adaptations and the version used. Share non-identifying resource issues with Four Pillars Together through the agreed support route.
Keep this evidence
Revision log with owner and date
Implemented actions with evidence
Next delivery decision
Pause if: A repeated problem has no owner or workaround. Pause the affected activity and resolve it before another cohort.
LEARN FROM A SMALL, AGREED PILOT
Test the delivery, then improve it.
The proposed A$299 pilot covers one organisation, one series, up to 20 adults, two facilitators and a 12-week window. It assesses delivery feasibility and resource usefulness. It is not a clinical effectiveness study.
Agree the developmental pilot
Before invitation
Use one organisation, one series, one cohort of up to 20 adults and two named facilitators within the proposed 12-week window. Scope and any annual-upgrade credit must be agreed in writing.
Identify the purpose as delivery feasibility and resource improvement. Specify which review steps are complete, which remain open and who has authority to permit this limited pilot.
Agree feedback questions, optional participation, support boundaries, local safeguarding, data access and retention before collecting anything. Set local success criteria in advance rather than inventing them after delivery.
Evidence to record
Written pilot scope and authority
Version and review record
Feedback and data handling plan
Record the baseline before extra coaching
Preparation and first rehearsal
Record facilitator preparation minutes and the number attempting the first-session rehearsal. Record how many completed the agreed rehearsal without additional guidance, using counts and a denominator.
Log support requests by operational category and minutes spent resolving them. Separate resource questions from access, implementation and safeguarding issues.
Record access barriers found, proposed adjustments and unresolved barriers. Use fictional situations; no participant names, diagnoses or private answers belong in this log.
Evidence to record
Preparation minutes per facilitator
Unaided rehearsals completed / attempted
Support requests and resolution time
Barrier and adjustment register
Deliver the agreed six-module cycle
Within the 12-week window, at an agreed pace
Use the organisation’s own facilitators and support procedures. Record version, format, session duration and departures from the plan without identifying participants.
Offer optional feedback about clarity, usefulness, access and a practical next step. Record invited participants and responses separately so a high rating from a few people is not mistaken for broad acceptance.
Track organisational actions as agreed, implemented and reviewed, with accountable roles and evidence. Do not infer symptom improvement or clinical effectiveness from these counts.
Evidence to record
Delivery timings and format
Invited / attended / feedback response counts, where safe
Actions agreed / implemented / reviewed
Open access and support issues
Review and decide what happens next
End of pilot, with optional 30-, 60- and 90-day action reviews
Compare preparation, unaided facilitation, support demand and access findings with the baseline. Note differences in version, audience or format that prevent a fair comparison.
Suppress feedback summaries when there are fewer than five responses or the context could identify a respondent. Five responses alone never guarantee anonymity. Avoid small subgroup reports.
Record what to keep, revise, test again or stop. An annual licence needs its own written agreement and completed release conditions; a positive pilot does not automatically activate it.
Four PillarsTOGETHER