Country: Ukraine
Title of project: Holding the training for the Donetsk social workers, physicians and volunteers on the American social services and programs provided for children and youth being troubled physically, mentally and behaviourally and their families by the representatives of the American partner organization – the Pressley Ridge School (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) - aiming at introduction of the like programs on the basis of the Donetsk Family Centre.
Project dates: September 20 – September 24, 2004
Grant amount: 4515$
Cost Share: 6820$
Total Amount Spent: 11335$
Planned Project Activities and Timeline
First month of the project
- preparation by the professionals of the Pressley Ridge School of the methodic materials for the training
- preparation of the program of the training and coordination of it with the American colleagues
Second month of the project
- sending the methodical materials to Ukraine, translation of them
- final selecting the participants of the training and sending them the letters of invitation
- creation of the model booklet of the methodical materials for the participants of the training, copying
Third month of the project holding the training
Forth month of the project
- spreading of the booklet with the methodic materials among the organizations working with the troubled children and youth and their families in Donetsk and Donetsk region aiming at broad introduction of the American programs of assistance to the target group of population
- starting to hold trainings for future trainers (in fact this part of the project is not limited by the month period of time, but at least a year)
September 20, 2004 – Workshop 1 – Morning session
· United States Child Welfare System
1. Welcome and personal introductions of trainers and participants
2. Introduction to the 5 day program
§ Our understanding of The Family Center goals
§ Pressley Ridge capacity and role in assisting our Ukrainian partners to meet their goals
§ Outline of topics to be covered by training program
§ Structure for workshops 1 – 3
§ Structure for workshops 4 – 5
§ Housekeeping (daily schedule, breaks, use of interpreters, etc.)
3. U.S.A. System of care for children & families
§ Organization of government agencies, featuring departments of child welfare, developmental disabilities and mental health
§ Scope of services for children – responsibilities of DHHS
§ Budget for American child welfare system (comparison with other federal agencies)
§ Facts/statistics: client numbers and demographics, comparisons with Ukrainian population.
§ Questions & discussion
4. Pressley Ridge’s place within the U.S. system of care
§ Non-profit government contractor
§ Relationship to funders, referral entities, clients and the community
§ Pressley Ridge mission as it relates to the system of care
§ Questions & discussion
September 20, 2004 – Workshop 1 – Afternoon session
· All about Pressley Ridge
1. Review using Experiential Activity: Understanding the United States child welfare system
2. Reckoning With Rainbows video
3. Pressley Ridge organizational mission and values
4. Scope of service and programs
§ Four Service Lines – Education/Day Treatment, Home-Based Services, Treatment Foster Care and Residential Treatment
§ Regional programming – Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland/Delaware/Washington D.C., and West Virginia/Virginia
§ The Pressley Ridge Institute – Research, Consultation, Training and Service Development.
5. Clients: Who are our children and families?
6. Outcomes measurement and program evaluation overview
7. Operational management structure
8. Financial profile – annual performance summary
9. Questions & discussion
September 21, 2004 – Workshop 2 – Morning session
· Re-EDucation: a theoretical framework
1. Nicholas Hobbs and some historical context
2. Principles of Re-ED
3. Experiential Activity: Finding Re-ED in all that we do
4. The Teacher/Counselor
5. Re-ED principles in action: Mario’s Story
6. Questions & discussion
7. Contemporary Re-ED: Building an evidence base
· Re-ED validation efforts & hierarchy of research questions
· THE BIG QUESTION: Does Re-ED make a difference in the lives of kids and families?
· Measuring Re-ED: A framework for assessing and agency’s level of Re-EDness
· Model fidelity
· Measuring model fidelity
· Re-ED best practices
8. Re-ED as the heart of an organization
9. Questions & discussion
September 21, 2004 – Workshop 2 – Afternoon session
· Development of a clinical model: PRYDE Therapeutic Foster Care
1. Review homework reading
2. Articulating core values and practice principles
3. Identifying strategies and interventions to carry out the principles
4. Developing clinical protocols and consistent operating policies/procedures
5. Selecting quality performance indicators of success
6. Setting formidable benchmarks
7. Collecting data and measuring outcomes
8. Questions & discussion
9. Experiential Activity: Creating your own clinical model
10. Managing the PRYDE model
11. Replicating the PRYDE model
12. 2004 treatment results
13. Questions & discussion
September 22, 2004 – Workshop 3 – Morning session
· Pressley Ridge at Ohiopyle: A Therapeutic Wilderness School
1. Review homework reading
2. Pressley Ridge at Ohiopyle video
3. About the program – location, kid demographics, length of stay, etc.
4. Campbell Loughmiller and the treatment milieu
5. Experiential Activity: Positive Peer Culture
6. Core program components:
· External structure/regular routine
· Evaluation based on predetermined criteria
· Democratic group context
· Emphasis on cause and effect
· Natural consequences
· Unobtrusive supervision
§ Ensured competence
§ Tangible to abstract processes
§ Integrating academic and treatment issues
§ Strong adult/child relationship
§ Humanistic intervention
§ Immediate problem solving
§ Adult directed peer accountability
7. Questions & discussion
September 22, 2004 – Workshop 3 – Afternoon session
· Measuring success of our treatment relationships
1. Review homework reading
2. What is a Therapeutic Alliance?
3. Premises of Therapeutic and Working alliances
Therapeutic Alliance:
§ Perception of emotional bond
§ Agreement on treatment goals
§ Agreement on tasks needed to reach goals
§ Perception of openness and truthfulness in the relationship
Working Alliance:
§ Collaboration
§ Communication
§ Agreement on goals of treatment
§ Support and mutual problem-solving
4. Relationships
5. Why study Therapeutic Alliance and Working Alliance?
6. Research findings
7. Understanding resistance within the therapeutic relationship
8. Youth and adult perceptions of the therapeutic relationship
9. Association between Therapeutic Alliance and youth functioning
10. Questions & discussion
September 23, 2004 – Workshop 4 – Morning session
Parenting disabled and troubled children
· Understanding behavior
1. Welcome to parent participants and brief personal introductions
2. Introduction to Pressley Ridge and training outline for next two days
3. A poem: Welcome to Holland
4. Attitudes and expectations
5. Raising special children – Characteristics of children with disabilities
§ Intensity
§ Persistence
§ Sensitivity
§ Perceptiveness
§ Adaptability
§ Regularity
§ Energy
§ First Reaction
§ Mood
6. Discussion about a parent’s experience of discovering their child’s disability and about persistent parenting challenges
September 23, 2004 – Workshop 4 – Afternoon session
Parenting disabled and troubled children
· Afternoon Session – Understanding behavior (continued)
1. Brain function and biological processes of children with ADHD, learning disabilities and other developmental challenges.
2. Behavioral and emotional challenges for children and parents.
3. Experiential activity: I have a learning disability
4. Basic concepts of behavior management:
§ Principles of reinforcement and consequencing
§ Consistency
5. Questions and discussion
6. Advocacy for your child
7. Help me to Learn! : a letter to my teachers
8. Experiential activity: Help me to learn
9. Questions & discussion
September 25, 2004 – Workshop 5 – Morning session
Parenting disabled and troubled children
· Responding to the special needs of your child
1. Review homework reading
2. Treatment is Teaching/Teaching is Treatment
§ Behavior is learned
§ People teach people
§ ABC’s of behavior analysis
3. Basic counseling and behavior management techniques
§ Active listening
§ I-feel messages
§ Skill teaching
4. Basic counseling and behavior management techniques (continued)
§ Negotiation
§ Positive discipline strategies
5. Questions and discussion
September 25, 2004 – Workshop 5 – Afternoon session
Parenting disabled and troubled children
· Taking care of the caregiver
1. A Poem: You and I
2. Experiential Activity: Wait a Minute!
3. Challenging Children, Overwhelmed Parents
§ Impact of your own feelings
§ Emotional Self-Assessment
§ When fear takes control – managing your overwhelm
§ Creating a “holding” environment
4. Questions and discussion
5. Review of Behavior Management Strategies
6. Formation of a Parent Support Group
7. Questions and discussion
8. Prayer for Children
The training was conducted by Lisa Ott, MSW, LCSW-C, Director of Project Development and Luke McDonough, Program Director for Delaware, both with almost 20 years of experience working with troubled and troubling children at Pressley Ridge. Andrea Gruber, the Director of Pressley Ridge’s Central and East European Operations also participated in the training. In addition, B. Scott Finnell, Pressley Ridge’s President and CEO also visited the training and spent time with the participants.
The actual outcome of the project and future steps.
As the result of implementation of the project we have 36 persons ready to work with and help the troubled kids and youth on the basis of the American programs in the Donetsk region. They obtained knowledge on the principles and practical experience of assistance to the target group of kids and youth and their families and already started using the gained skills in their practical work. Working 5 days a week they provide services for at least 10 patients daily, which equals to 1800 persons weekly; taking into consideration the fact that the improvement of a young patient’s state benefits his family (at least 2 additional persons), the number of people benefited by the project goes up to 5400 every week. Besides, every trained worker can train a group of 10 professionals every 3 months. Holding such trainings aiming at spreading the American experience in our region is planned for the next year. Only a part of the training participants has necessary conditions for holding such seminars, but still at least one half of them (20 persons) are ready to hold seminars for their colleagues on the studied American programs (the next year it will be 20 trainers x 10 persons x 4 times = 800 new trainers). All this trained staff will be able to use the American type of programs in their work and serve their patients, which gives us 800 x 10 patients x 20 days per month = 160000 persons benefiting from the project.
We plan to organize the work of the Family Center according to the principles of the studied Re-ED methods; to hold seminars, at which the participants of the training are to teach other social workers, physicians, psychologists and psychiatrists, representatives of the NGOs of our region working with our target group the gained knowledge for it to be used in practical work with troubled youth. It seems to us a good idea to present the materials of the training on the site of our organization alongside with the contact information helping the interested organizations and persons to establish contacts and to cooperate, to develop common projects and to exchange the experience.
In addition to the on-site training in Donetsk, based on our long-term partnership with Pressley Ridge, 3 of the training participants are invited to the US to spend a 6-12 months training at Pressley Ridge. The purpose of the training of these individuals is for them to become “master trainers” who upon return will provide more training in the city, do direct work with troubled children and youth, and their families, and coordinate the work of professionals using the American method.
How did the project benefit multiple alumni?
9 of our alumni having taken part in the training are physicians (2), social workers (2) and members of the NGOs engaged in the activities aiming at assisting the troubled kids and families (5). They gained new knowledge and practical skills in the field and improved professionally and now provide better services to the target group. Inna Movchan and Yurii Stratovich employ the American principles of work with the troubled youth and kids, which fact helps them in their career progress; Lyudmyla Kevlova plans to prepare a booklet for the social workers of Donetsk to spread the principles of Pressley Ridge among her colleagues; the rest being engaged in the correction work with troubled kids and their families started using the new experience in their activities.
Was the project an overall success?
I consider the project was a great success – it is proved by evaluations given by the participants of the training immediately after holding it, when they were full of impressions – and by their numerous calls. First of all the problem touched upon is really urgent for our city, and the people involved in solving it used to put up their hearts into their activities, seeking every opportunity to find the better ways of doing their work. We were very careful selecting the interested participants and the training showed that the choice was good, as all the participants were very active and worked as an excellent team. The main reason of the training being a success is the highest professionalism of our trainers and their thoroughness in preparation for the training. They did a great job working at the contents of the materials and managed to create a unique atmosphere from the very beginning of the training.
List any anticipated professional collaboration resulting from this project.
The training was held as a part of the already existing partnership project between the two sister cities – Donetsk and Pittsburgh – which implies the creation of the Family Center in Donetsk assisting variously troubled children, adolescents and their families on the basis of the American programs. The Pressley Ridge Institute as the American partner and the Donetsk City Council, charitable funds and several NGOs as the Ukrainian partners are in the process of creating the Center. The city authorities provided the center with a building and staff – and Pressley Ridge assists in professional training of the workers as described above.
Besides, there is a plan to spread the activities of the Family Center to Gorlovka, creating a branch of it in this city.
General Summary/Conclusion
Solving the problems of children and youth is the task of greatest importance, as the younger generation is our future. Both our countries do their best to help those youngsters who need special care. Each country has accumulated its own experience, and the exchange can be very useful for everybody. Our task is to protect the rights of every child and to provide him or her for the opportunity to be equal in rights, to be valuable member of society. Together it is easier for us to find ways of helping our children. Besides, such events as the held training help us to understand the peculiarities of social structure and cultural traditions and make it easier for us the creation of civil society in Ukraine.
Materials:Pressley Ridge: detailed information about the school assisting troubled and troubling children and youth in their special needs (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania):ReEd: description of the philosophy and methods of work employed in the Pressley Ridge: Information and advice for the parents having troubled kids: Description of one of the programs of assistance for troubled children and youth: Information about the therapeutic school in wilderness:
- part 1 (22Mb, PowerPoint)
- part 2 (22Mb, PowerPoint)
- part 3 (1.3Mb, PowerPoint)
- part 4 (1.7Mb, PowerPoint)
- part 5 (18Mb, PowerPoint)
Donetsk
One of the urgent problems of our city is the strained situation with senior schoolchildren and persons just graduated from schools belonging to the category of troubled youth. Mostly they are either orphans or kids from poor and unfavorable families who need social adaptation and special care of adults.
Our NGO “Community Initiatives” with the assistance of other Donetsk public organizations, alumni volunteers, Peace Corps Volunteers and the members of the English Speaking Club working in the framework of the Donetsk Window on America Center does its best to control the group of such youngsters and help them in developing positive viewpoint, skills of communication, ability to work in the team, their talent for leadership.
The majority of the controlled group of youngsters has health, psychological and behavioral problem and need training in social adaptation. On the other hand, they have many positive qualities like generosity, devotion, creative abilities.
Our task was to stimulate their inclination to seeking new knowledge, their wish to communicate with friendly disposed adults and equals in age, to teach them working in the team for achieving mutually significant goal, to feel pleasure of appreciated common work and participation in the life of community.
The idea of holding an event for our target group with the assistance of volunteers and the young people themselves was thought over for several months. We decided that the best form of the event would be the three-staged undertaking, giving the chances to everybody - taking into the account their interests, abilities and inclinations.
First of all, we tried to attract the members of the group to preparation of the event simultaneously developing their skills to look for the information in the Internet and their creative abilities and their knowledge of English. At the meeting of the group we discussed some general ideas of the universe being the common home for all kinds of creatures, the Solar system and the Earth being the home of the humankind, problems of war and peace, of the value of human life and positive sides of friendship and mutual support, of doing things together, working in the team to the benefit of community, etc. We suggested them to participate in the project, in which they can prove (in the form of a role game) the importance of cooperation. To begin with, the following tasks were given: 1) to find the information in the Internet about the signs of the Zodiac and planets of the Solar system with illustrations of each sign; 2) to compose short verses - puzzles about them both in Russian and English. The group coped with the assignment successfully. Here are some examples of their work:
Pisces - Рыбы
We swim and float in the sky among the stars.
The luckiest fisher isn’t able to catch us!
Плывем, резвимся в небе среди звезд –
Рыбак удачливый, поймай-ка нас за хвост!
Aries – Овен
I bear a crown of spiraling horns,
And ready for fighting against legions.
Увенчан короной закрученных рожек,
Я драться готов против множества множеств.
Sagittarius – Стрелец
I am the never-missing shot and hunter,
And standing in my way, you mind: I never blunder!
Я бью без промаха, мне равных нет в стрельбе,
Коль встанешь на пути – узнаешь на себе!
Neptune – Нептун
Both in the depth of space, far from the Sun – I am the Lord of oceans and seas.
And on the Earth, in oceans, I run Waves serve me as the lovely noble steeds
В пространстве темном, от светила в удаленье,
И в глубине земного океана Владыке океанов и морей,
Назначено мне вечное правленье – Мне служат волны в качестве коней!
Вершу его я рьяно, неустанно.
Jupiter – Юпитер
The fifth’s the mightiest ruler of the world
With brightest lightning and the thunderbolt/
Могуч, величия и гнева полный,
Я громовержец и метатель молний.
Venus – Венера
From age to age, for Earth and sky above
I’m eternal sign of Grace and Love.
Из века в век земле и небесам
Была я символом любови и красам.
They were ready for the next stage of the project – the party held in cooperation with the Peace Corps volunteers, Sally Regan and Judith Shannon, and our guest from Canada John Finnley, in which the alumni and members of the English speaking club took part on October 29, 2005. During the introductory part our foreign guests told about the national traditions of their countries, popular holidays and the ways of their celebration, in particular, about the traditions of the coming Halloween. The party was held as a masquerade, each person presenting a human being or a folklore creature, and the task was set for everybody to find friends, to form a team and to take part in the competition including a lot of funny games (every participant had a chance to win a prize – piece of information – for his or her team). The aim of the first team was to win the rhymed puzzles about the planets of the Solar system, to decipher them, to determine the planet, to find the picture of the planet and arrange them in the proper order. Another team did the same with the signs of Zodiac. The participants of the competitions had to use both their physical and mental abilities to the best. All the activities were developing, funny and aimed at the teams’ benefit (pictures appended).
The next – main – event took place on Sunday, November 6, 2005. It was held in the form of a costumed role game “The Autumn Ball of Friendship”. The plot was constructed as a kind of fairy tale. The participants have got the following information leaflet before the event:
The beginning of the 19th century.
A small town in the very heart of Europe – Scopia.
The castle of the old noble family.
The owner of the castle is an eccentric lady, people tell tales both about her and her abode. Often the castle looks deserted, though nobody saw the Countess leaving it. But sometimes the castle changes beyond recognition for several days: music and brightest light pour from the windows, countless carriages enter the gates. The Countess gives a ball.
This time the ball is given on the eve of Halloween, in the honor of the two nephews of the Countess having come to visit their aunt. The coming marry holiday affected the atmosphere in the castle – the ball is planned as a masquerade: all the invited guests introduce themselves telling their “real” names (say, Duke Orlov) and explaining their “image” (for example, Peter the Great).
As any ancient castle, our castle has long history, numerous legends, rich library, the family ghost and a lot of old mysterious and magic objects.
Every participant had to think over the personage he or she was going to perform, to find information about the period, country and conditions of life characteristic for the image, to create its “legend”, or background story, to make a costume for himself, and I would like to stress that having very limited means the young people were really creative. All of them were informed that their personages meant to be prominent and talented figures of different spheres of life of the period: politicians, personages from books, military men, bankers, poets, musicians, etc. They are able to make decisions and realize them. It was the most important idea for the kids: in their everyday life they often suffer because of their vulnerability and failure to change negative life situation. (Some of them have to live with alcoholic parents (the boy on the photo # 18, Dima, two years ago stayed homeless because of his drunken dad having burned their house to ashes), some have problems at school (like the trio on photo # 21), some are jobless (Pavel, photo # 22), one of the boys has committed a crime and spent several months in the prison, now jobless, his mother being imprisoned for killing his step-father). That is why it is very important for them to feel own significance, to develop the ability of making decisions and of realizing their plans. But they need to be taught and trained to do it. The role modeling is a very useful means for this. During the events and trainings we create a model of certain situation and show the young people how to solve the problem, to behave, to contact with other people, to control their emotions and how to get rid of aggression.
Coming to the ball they introduced themselves to the owner of the castle, and were asked to enter their names into the guest-book. Even this trifle element was pleasant and entertaining for all. They enjoyed writing down their “grand” names, and every entry was written inventively.
After the pompous beginning of the ball, in which all the guests demonstrated the perfect acting and aristocratic manners, the plot stipulated horrible mishap striking the castle and its inhabitants, and the common task was to find the way out. All the people in the castle were locked inside, and awful death awaited them if they fail to unite their efforts for the mutual benefit. It was not the easy task for such bright individuals with absolutely different interests and aspirations, but working hard, picking up fragments of information, struggling against hostile treacherous forces (skillfully performed by our volunteers: Egyptian queen (Larisa Sayevich), the Countess (Galyna Chupryna, photo # 13), Dark Hunter and his wife (# 9), Mr. Vidock (# 7, Maxim Merkulov, the volunteer physical trainer of the group), the Librarian in the Mask (# 14, Roman Sidorchenko, psychologist) they managed to create the team, which overcame all the hardships and reached the long-awaited freedom.
Over 65 persons took part in the events in total: 12 volunteers, 7 of them – ECA alumni, the rest being young people belonging to the controlled group of variously troubled youth. I consider that everybody benefited from such activities, both volunteers and alumni, who have got excellent practical professional training in working with psychological stain young clients, and the target group – as they raised their self-appraisal, found out that the communication is not so very difficult if both sides show good will, mastered the skill of the team work. The community have got the benefit too, as social tension created by aggressive behavior of the youngsters in the surrounding environment was lessened sufficiently.
Because of the special character of our target group and considering our event to be the group psychotherapeutic attempt, we decided not to invite journalists unknown for the kids and not to give information about the event in the mass media.
The alumni and volunteers were attracted by contacting those of them, who might be interested in this type of activities, by telephone and suggesting them to participate and, besides, by advertising the coming event in the Donetsk IATP center.
The main goals of the event were training the target group of youngsters in social and psychological adaptation, teaching them to communicate with adults and equals in age, to work in the team, to raise their self-appraisal, to help them in finding the best way of behavior in an unexpected situation, to ease the tension they suffer and to assist in getting rid of aggression they accumulate after real life failures, using the form of role game. On the other hand we aimed at developing their positive qualities, showing our appraisal for their good behavior, giving them the feeling that they have a very special big family, ready to support them in any case. Living under rather severe conditions, they appreciate attention, and pleasure of receiving small gifts and prizes, and tasty things. I consider our goals were achieved as we managed to popularize the idea of cooperation and support of all nations and all people, exchange of information between the participants and establishing new friendly relations; we coped with the task of psychological relief of the target group, as during the last two weeks, according to the information from their relatives and teachers, their behavior sufficiently improved and they became more tolerant; and according to the participants themselves, they liked the event very much, and ask to make such trainings regular in the future.
The disappointing thing for me was the fact that we had to subdivide the planned one big event into two halves, the Peace Corps volunteers not being able to take part in the second part because of them having been summoned to Kiev to the main office for an important meeting.
As for the follow-on activities, we plan to go on working with our group of youth on the basis of the American principle of REEDucation, holding various trainings, helping them in crisis situations, arranging events for them and attracting youth to various types of activities useful for the community.
As usual, the process of preparatory common work was my favorite part. It is a pleasure for me to stir enthusiasm in kids and step by step to gain their trust.
It will be good to train our group of young people to be trainers for the younger generation in the Donetsk orphanage, and the next year to hold a big role game for the kids in this institution with the help of our group’s members. To my mind, this project is worth while realizing.
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Project: Virtual Trip around the Countries of European Union – holding the cycle of sittings of English Speaking Club based on the information about the countries of the European Union, their geography, economy, policy, national peculiarities, culture, attracting the volunteers having visited the countries of the European Union and prepared presentations on their trips.
Period: 2007
Project: Perfection of translators’ / interpreters’ skills -
holding the cycle of seminars – trainings for translators / interpreters
30.09.2009 – Skills and practices of translators’ / interpreters’ activities
25.10.2009 – Effective usage of computer in translators’ / interpreters’ activities. Part 1 22.11.2009 – Effective usage of computer in translators’ / interpreters’ activities. Part 2
27.03.2010 – Ethics and standards of translators’ / interpreters’ activities
Period: 2009 – 2010
The given project is realized by the trainers of the NGO “Donetsk regional association of translators / interpreters” on the volunteer basis
