Child protection

The method can be successfully used to prevent family crises and the removal of children from families in at-risk families. It provides quick, intensive, easy-to-understand help for parents who are very insecure or barely able to fulfill their role as parents.

Video training is also useful in strengthening family relationships, especially when a child is coming home from a children’s home or is placed in a new foster or adoptive family. It can effectively help to develop the relational skills of professionals working with children in the child protection system process, closely linked to their day-to-day practice.

Children’s and Mother’s Homes

In several children’s and mother’s homes in the Netherlands, VIG is an important tool of professional work. In these institutions, it is used not only to analyze the relationship between carers and children (mothers), but also to improve the work of a team working with a group of children. It is a good way of combining the work done in the children’s home and in the child’s original family environment in order to ensure that the child is returned home as soon as possible.

Care for the elderly

 Not only in the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, but now also in Hungary, the method is being used successfully in elderly care.

It can be used in adult social care institutions to improve the relationship between carer and cared-for persons, to humanize care work and to develop an individualized attitude to caring.

It can also be recommended to carers and other professionals in institutions working with elderly and sick people,

• who are not yet sufficiently experienced in their field and are open to further learning,
• who wish to develop better, more harmonious relationships with their carers,
• who are not aware of the reasons for their carer’s problematic behavior (e.g. difficulty making friends, communication difficulties, not following their carer, etc.),
• who want to better coordinate their work.

Adult Social Care

VIG provides services in adult social care for the following target groups:

• For employees working in subsidized housing;
• Supporting professionals working with people with disabilities, psycho-social disabilities (psychiatric patients), and people with addictions;
• For residents and staff of nursing-care institutions;
• For professionals working with people with dementia.

The goal: intensive behavior modification within the institution.
The affected areas:

• Increasing the effectiveness of work with residents whose behavior differs from the average and/or who are difficult to manage in groups, and who have differing/high support needs;
• Finding more optimal support pathways for employees/leaders through the active involvement of the employee/leader;
• Effective resolution of recurring conflict situations between resident–employee, employee–employee, employee–leader, and leader–leader;
• Managing feelings of being stuck or ineffective in caregiving/leadership work;
• Supporting the discovery of an adaptive level of supported decision-making and self-determination through the reorganization of schemas.

The method is about developing the quality of relationships. It targets the needs of those participating in community inclusion, as well as the interaction itself as a channel for transferring knowledge, and supports the reorganization of individual cognitive schemas underlying individual communication patterns. The method develops sensitivity to the needs of the other party. It helps the professional recognize and become aware of their own needs, thereby ensuring that the needs of the supported person remain in focus alongside support and the transfer of knowledge. The analysis of interactions takes place in three strategic areas, within the matrix of the three basic needs: relationship–competence–autonomy. The method specifically focuses on reorganizing thinking schemas (care or support, serving vs. helping toward independence, etc.), helping to recognize responsible self-determination. It helps the caregiver/leader redefine their own role in the interest of a new organizational culture. (For example: “I am not a caregiver, but a master teacher?” Quote: Évi, the caregiver.)

 

The method places special focus on making the interaction patterns of residents/caregivers/leaders conscious through the following aspects:

• Do the caregiver/leader accept the initiatives of the resident/co-worker? Do they give confirmation of this?
• How and with what tools do they do this?
• To what extent is responsive attention present in their work?
• Is there a real relationship between the parties? Or do the needs of one party shift the focus away from the needs of the other?
• What is their relationship with the group, and what is it like with each individual?
• How often does the person concerned provide reinforcing and adaptive feedback?
• Can they be addressed, do they direct when they need to direct? Do they allow the cared-for person to “direct” them toward their needs?
• Are the instructions given to the other party precise, short, and understandable?
• Do we truly help when they need help?
• What communication pattern characterizes the behavior of the participants? Where is reinforcing awareness needed, and where are supportive modifications needed in communication patterns?
• Is communication with difficult residents/colleagues supportive or controlling?
• Is the person concerned capable of gaining and maintaining attention? How and with what tools?

 

What makes VIG innovative and unique in this support process?
Its innovation lies in the fact that it provides adaptive help on an individual level while applying a systems approach, and this is visible through film clips and images, which make both the blockage and the direction of change concrete and tangible. It is short-term, intensive, and generates emotions. The power of images and slow-motion scenes is great.

It focuses on the relevant problem of the parties involved, seeking answers to their own questions instead of introducing external solution methods. Therefore, it supports autonomous decision-making and develops competence. By applying the philosophy of empowerment, it primarily starts from making successful interaction patterns conscious. Through the help of images, we provide reinforcing feedback on the impact these have on others.

An important tool of the method is empowerment. It works with activation methods; it does not compensate and does not provide external solution patterns or methods. It encourages the professional (caregiver, leader) to seek answers to their own questions through their own competencies.

The power of visual scenes is enormous. With the help of images, slowing down an interaction, stepping through images, making visible and analyzing the effect of our behavior on the other party reorganizes the existing skill set of those involved into well-functioning patterns. As a result, the caregiver/leader also experiences their own competence and autonomy, while their relationship with their “clients”/co-workers improves. The method places positives and strengths into focus, paying attention to making the person their own model. Highlighting the positive pattern and analyzing its effect reinforces the desired behavior and replaces unwanted behavior without the need for confrontation.

The method works with the parties and not instead of them. It respects the culture of individuals. Because of their added value, the methods can be effectively used and applied in the new service structure as well as during preparation for it.

 

Elements of sustainability

Lawfulness: The preparation of conditions is preceded by written declarations from the participants/guardians, containing several categories and choices regarding usage. Those involved may withdraw their decision regarding participation or presentation at any time. (This has never happened during my practice so far.) The participants receive invitations to every presentation, allowing them to follow the process.

Quality: The recordings and supervisions are carried out by a specially trained professional, as is the presentation within the institution. However, the video interaction guider can prepare a willing and sensitive employee of the institution for presentation, thus allowing the materials to be used in internal training and the knowledge to continue spreading. The selection of films suitable for presentation, however, is the responsibility and right of the video interaction guider/organizational developer, in accordance with the written agreement made with the parties. Completing method-specific training would serve the hope of service centers that they could continuously support their colleagues after community relocation and during the establishment of the new organizational culture. Agreement: By seeking grant funding together with the training organization, they initiate the preparation of interested colleagues.

Effectiveness: Its impact can be extended to a wide audience through films presented at professional forums within the institution, even if they do not have specially trained trainers. (In one specific case, we worked with three caregivers and one leader. The films were presented at several institutional forums: leaders, case managers. On every occasion, we ensured reflection and dialogue between those appearing in the film and the group viewing them. Through this level of knowledge-sharing, we generated dialogue and were able to broadly involve professionals from the affected fields and all case managers.) Therefore, its usefulness and sustainability are ensured by the fact that the application of the method’s results is demonstrably not tied to one or two individuals. With professional presentation, the film remains an excellent knowledge-sharing document.

Fairness: Precisely because it involves everyone concerned, its impact multiplies. Upon request, we develop the adaptation process of the given methodological model. We undertake cooperation in the development of a complex methodological program package together with the institution.

Effectiveness of results: How can the effectiveness of implementation in practice be checked and evaluated?
The change is immediately visible in the subsequent recordings following film supervision. The change in performance is immediately measurable because we proceed along agreed work points, that is, goals. The feedback film-analysis supervision is also filmed, making the reorganization of schemas instantly visible and rendering the paradigm shift tangible. Its mental hygiene function can also be followed in the images, as we move from uncertainty toward competent and autonomous decision-making. (“What kind of professional do you think I am?” – the uncertainty of Évi during the first interview. Closing: “Now everything feels different. I am much better.”)

For example, with the modification of the caregiver role perception (“master teacher”), self-development almost automatically begins: the need for self-reflection and self-development emerges. Support becomes important, replacing the controlling and caregiving mindset. Even while trying out the new supportive approach, participants are reinforced in believing that they are capable of constructively handling their own blockages and no longer begin the support process for residents with “a sense of inevitable ineffectiveness.” For this, they receive examples, help, and continuous support from the professional, modeling the kind of functioning expected from them in their daily work with residents. Positive and successful interaction with others has a reinforcing effect because the individual becomes their own model. This creates joy in performance.

During the preparation of case managers, we also watch the filmed change process in the group, like presenting change in an aquarium situation, supporting knowledge-sharing within the system. (Based on the films, personal experiences trigger a circle of reflections within the group even among those who did not directly participate in the film supervision. It is excellently suited for understanding and experientially processing the content of a new organizational culture organized around shared values. “My film is still playing in my head today, even when I am not working with Gábor – the resident. I did not even know I knew so much or that I had such abilities. This is a very good feeling.” – cries. Case of Heni, employee working with Gábor.)

 

Contact person: Bartha Éva, email: barthaeva1224@gmail.com