Activists' Community

Hi.

I am the head manager of a residential treatment home for children/young persons with very severe emotional, social, learning and behaviour difficulties. The children are between 6 and 12 years old at the time of admittance, and at the present time we have children from 9 to 15 years of age living with us. We have two wards with at present 5 children in each (normally there would be 7) the youngest - up to 13 years - in one and the older - from 13 years - in the other.
Many of the children are very violent when frustrated (for various reasons e.g. their demands are not met immediately, when in conflict with their friends and the carers, when sad or angry with their parents). Examples are: Threatening with acts of extreme violence (killing, smashing faces, breaking bones, finding and coming after the families and so on), kicking, biting, hitting, scratching, throwing diverse objects, thrashing furniture and so on.

We have been studying Haim Omers work on NVR and also the papers about NVR in residential settings but none of us have taken any course yet.
We have made a collective statement of not wanting to participate in any violent act (knowing, that sometimes we are forced to hold a child to prevent it from further violence) and this has already brought about some good changes. But we want to move on.
Sadly I can't find a course or lecture in Denmark that we can attend, so I'm trying out some other ways to go.

This includes finding persons in this line of work who want to exchange experiences with us and finding workshops we can attend - if there are any.

So anyone out there who wants to talk or write with us is very welcome indeed!

Our residential home is situated in the capital area of Denmark.

Best regards
Susanne Snej

Hello Susanne,
My name is Michal Herbsman, and i'm a psychologist working at the Parent's counseling unit in Israel and also our International training coordinator. I'm pleased to see your interest in NVR and I'll be happy to give you some ideas of how you can continue.

First of all, our team offers workshops and conferences in Europe and you are welcome to join. Our next one starts next week in Holland, it includes a training followed by a conference (http://www.newauthority.net/data/cntfiles/178_.pdf).

Another possibility is that you can contact some individuals and organizations in Denmark that have already implemented NVR in their work. If you visit the Communities page in N.A.N.I, under Denmark you will find a list of these organizations (http://www.newauthority.net/forums/denmark-home.aspx)

Lastly, our team also provides in-house training, which our customized training, matched to meet your specific needs and address the specific needs of the population you work with. If you'd like more information or have any questions, please feel free to contact me at michal@newauthority.net

Sincerely,
Michal Herbsman

Hey,
I attended the conference in Dordrecht last week. I was inspired by all the lectures. But especially by the one Michal gave about younger children.
I work in a residential setting. We try to help children from 6 to 18 years old. In our unit we aid children from 6 till 13.

The empowerment our workers (wards, educators) feel thanks to NA is amazing. But it still just feels like a start at the beginning.

In Belgium I would like the bring basic workers from residential settings together. To talk about NA, to exchange ideas, experiences. I hope to accomplice this by the end of this year.
In the meantime we continue experimentation and testing. The input of specialists such as Idan, Michal and others are needed.

From this perspective I would like to ask the following questions:
-Is it possible to get online-supervision to?
-It would be great to have a visit from Israel. But I fear this is not financially viable for our institution. Perhaps it can be feasible after or during another visit?
-May we put texts from your lectures on the forum?

With kind regards,

Jules
jules.schoubben@pandora.be

Hello Jules,
Its great to hear that you enjoyed the conference and I'm very pleased you enjoyed the lecture.
As for having more input and direction from the trainers here in Israel you have a few options.

- You can always use the forums to ask questions, and if you'd like we could also open a closed forum for your organization.

- We also offer on-line supervision (via Skype). If you'd like more details (as to cost and procedure), just contact me via email at michal@newauthority.net

- In the course of the next 6-8 months some of us (trainers from Israel) will come again to Holland and/or Belgium (we will know the exact dates in the next few weeks). We also offer In-house trainings, where we are in contact with you as to the kind of work you do, and then (depending on your needs), we can come from one to three days and give you a customized training. IF that is something that you'd be interested in, you can contact me (or Idan) and we can discuss possible dates.
- Lastly, you can use any of the material from the site. It is part of our vision (and philosophy) of community and transparency. So spread the word!

If you have any more questions, please feel free to contact me.
Best Regards,
Michal