Facilitator Spotlight: Samantha Streibl

Every Voicebox session is led by one of our expert facilitators, recruited specifically because we feel young people can trust them. Not because they're trying to be cool or act like a friend, but because they show up as real, grounded adults who genuinely care.

This month, we sat down with facilitator Samantha Streibl to chat about how she approaches her work with young people around complex and challenging topics in a safe and fun way.

What led you to work in facilitation?

Most of my career has been based in sexual and reproductive rights. I started out in international development, working across women’s and children’s rights in different parts of the world.

Alongside programme delivery roles, I was always facilitating - working with groups to explore big and often complex topics. Over time, I realised that, while the cause has always mattered deeply to me, it was the facilitation itself that lit me up.

When Covid hit, I took the leap into becoming a full-time trainer and facilitator. I’ve now been doing this for six years and I’m an accredited Relationships and Sex Educator, working with young people across England, Scotland and Wales, as well as with organisations on workplace culture, social justice and topics like menstruation and sexual harassment at work.

What I love most is creating spaces where people can think differently, challenge assumptions and grow - whether that’s in a classroom of teenagers or a team of colleagues.

What specific skills or experiences do you feel make you effective in the room?

I’m very comfortable sitting with discomfort, and I think that really matters in the kinds of conversations I facilitate. The topics I work on can be personal, political and sometimes confronting.

It’s natural for people to feel challenged and I try to help the group stay with it and get curious about where that feeling is coming from. In my experience, that’s where the real learning and shift happens.

How would you describe your facilitation style in 3 words?

Authentic. Unembarrassable. Fun.

What makes a 'successful' session for participants?

I think it truly starts with honesty. Young people can spot inauthenticity a mile off, and the quickest way to lose a room is to be insincere.

When you’re talking about emotive topics, you have to show up as yourself and be willing to engage with whatever comes up in the room. 

I don’t go in expecting to transform everything in an hour. My aim is to plant a seed - something that lingers and encourages them to keep thinking long after the session ends.

How do you create safe, inclusive spaces for young people?

I always begin by co-creating a group agreement so everyone has a shared understanding of what safety and respect look like in the room.

I’m clear about two core expectations from the start:

1. We treat each other with respect

2. You participate as much or as little as feels right for you. That means you’re welcome to take part in every discussion, or simply listen - both are valid ways of engaging.

We also talk openly about disagreement. It’s okay to disagree with each other, and with me, but we critique ideas, not people. That distinction makes a big difference.

I’ve found that when young people are given permission to disagree respectfully, they rise to it. The conversations become really thoughtful and genuinely exploratory. I also make sure there are different ways to contribute - whether that’s speaking aloud, writing something down, or asking me to share a point anonymously - so everyone has a way to take part that feels safe for them.

What’s been your most memorable facilitation experience?

One experience that stays with me was in a school I’d been working with throughout the year. On an earlier visit with a younger year group, the session had been incredibly challenging - the level of sexism, racism and homophobia in the room was some of the worst I’d experienced in a classroom.

A few months later, I returned to work with older students, and the contrast was unforgettable. The group of young men I met were thoughtful, they were respectful and they were deeply committed to equality. They spoke passionately about wanting better education on relationships and gender, and even asked how they could become educators themselves because they’d noticed a lack of male role models in that space.

Seeing that shift within the same school, in real time, reminded me that change does happen and that even when days feel hard, the work we do matters, and it works.

What do you hope participants take away from your sessions?

If they leave with nothing else, I hope they leave with a question that lingers: What would the world look like if everyone felt truly free to be themselves - and we actively celebrated one another for it?

What motivates you personally to do your work with Voicebox?

What I love about Voicebox, is that the work actively fills in some of the gaps we’ve left as a society.

For generations, boys have been handed a very narrow script about what it means to be a man - be strong, don’t show emotion etc - without ever being taught how to understand or process what they’re feeling. We see part of the harmful impact of this restrictive narrative when we look at the state of boys’ mental health and the ongoing reality of violence against women and girls. Voicebox is part of shifting that conversation towards healthier, more expansive versions of masculinity.

I’m proud to contribute to work that supports young people to be emotionally literate and authentically themselves, and to do that alongside a team who care deeply about getting it right.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone attending a workshop with you for the first time?

Come with an open mind - it probably won’t be what you’re expecting!

Find out more about Voicebox's workshops