The team of “Hope and Homes for Children – Bulgaria” Boryana Klimentova – Program Director, Kremena Stoyanova – National Counselor for Children’s Policies and Margarita Andreevska – District Coordinator for Vratsa District of “Hope and Homes for Children- Bulgaria” provided a training for specialists from the Family Type Centers for Disabled Children and Young People from 10.07 to 12.07.2018. The training was attended by directors of social services, managers, psychologists, social workers and other specialists from Blagoevgrad, Pernik, Kyustendil, Dupnitsa, Gotse Delchev and Bobov Dol.
During the presentation of the IMPACT program, the attention of the participants was focused on comprehensive and less restrictive approaches to children and young people with problematic behavior. In the process of presenting the humane and effective training program, the issues of institutionalization and specialized institutions, rights and rules, facts and opinions, affection and belonging, beliefs, values and relationships, violence, and why love matter were addressed. A functional analysis has been introduced to identify events that predict when and when probable behavior is not likely to occur. The scale of assessment of motivation created by Durand and Criminus as well as the ABC chronology were used by the participants to analyze the relationship between events from the environment and the problematic behavior of the person.
At the end of the training, participants were convinced that they often had to go “beyond the limits” to be as free as possible from the stereotyped notions of what people with special needs are and what they can or can not do, and that they can improve the responses of social service staff in crisis situations.
Control or support? The answer was unambiguous: support.
