Seminar “Contact person for a teenager at risk” was held from October 11th to 13th for professionals of educational institutions and contact persons.
The first day of the seminar was aimed at getting to know the participants since there were new people at the seminar who are just starting volunteering in our organization. There were also representatives of educational institutions from different regions, who were also not familiar with most of the participants in the event. In the second part of the first day, the participants were introduced to the “Contact person” model of work, but the main emphasis was placed on the work of contact persons with adolescents in conflict with the law. This model includes not only volunteers who provide support and work with adolescents, but also contact specialists - people who work in the field of education, but are ready to become friends for children. On the first day, much attention was paid to the functionality of this model, who is included in it, what qualities a mentor should have, and much more.
On the second day, all the participants were divided into groups, where they talked about the image of a contact person, and the rest of the groups learned to express criticism, praise; ask questions and supplement the speaking group. This was a good practical exercise for all the participants, as when communicating with adolescents, it is not always possible to correctly pose a question, make a short resume, and sometimes, specialists or volunteers are not ready to hear criticism from adolescents. It was not only a good theoretical, but also a practical task. After the mentioned task, the focus was placed on working with adolescents in one-to-one conversation – how to communicate with them, what to pay attention to when s/he is not ready to speak or in a bad mood, what mistakes are often made in communicating with children, etc.
All participants were divided into different groups, each was given an assignment on which the most pressing problems of adolescents were written. And all the participants discussed these problems and tried to find a way out, with the participation of a contact person, accompanied by a specialist who works with a teenager. All this knowledge will be useful in further joint work with children for specialists and volunteers. After group discussion, all participants were able to discuss the problems and ways out of it. The work was not only exciting but also useful for everyone, they could learn something new in the work of specialists, contact persons and employees of closed institutions, there was a beneficial exchange of information and practical work with adolescents.
On the last day, the results of not only the entire seminar were summed up, but also the “Contact person” model of work, that is what was new and useful in work, how contact persons will cooperate with specialists, how they can help, and much more. The work of the social-pedagogical centers and cooperation with them aroused particular interest among the volunteers. Colleagues who work there shared their experience, forms and methods of working with adolescents in conflict with the law and expressed their desire to have a contact friend in their region.