Results & outputs of Multipolis workshop: Malmö (SE) 2006

Looking at the some hundreds readers of Multipolis sessions outputs, it seems they are of some interest.

I am on the way for the workshop during the FEANTSA conference in Bergamo on Friday 24 November.

On this path to Bergamo, I propose another witness of a workshop session that took place during the last international meeting of project CATCH Creative Approach To Combating Homelessness (Eu project co-funded by DG Social Affair n. VS/2002/010/J37 0/26). 

The workshop was held in Malmö (Sweeden) at the end of June 2006 with participants coming from various Eu countries.

The focus was on dissemination of good practises on the issue of fighting homelessness.

The role-plays & the following collective debate focused on the theme of the “representation of the dialogue occurring in the relation of care”, which was developed on different levels:

- the level of “dialogue between dimensions”:

• the professional dimension, in which everyone takes great care in order to avoid any esthetical discriminations, such as the ones based on the personal ranks & the way people look like
• the human dimension, in which previous experiences & prejudices grow the risk to categorize the person-in-need into some sort of stereotyped visions of the professionals see during the relation of care

- the level of “dialogue between importance”:

- in a professional dimension, professionals are all aware of the existence of differences in measuring what it’s “important”, what a priority is, how the perceptions are different between professionals & individuals-in-need

- in the role-player dimension, the participants referred the experience of a difference:

•  on the professional side, the participants strongly experienced the
  
  need to concentrate on the relational disposable elements to try to focus what are the necessities of the individuals-in-need

• on the case-study side, the participants had the clear evidence that the person simply has needs that ask to be satisfied

- the level of “dialogue between knowledge & responsibility”:

- some participants referred that «…it’s much different to know something, to know a part about something, or to exist as what others perceive & know as “something”… »

- the group focused on this aspect, which have been developed in the Watzlawick’s quote: «… it’s slightly different to know a language & to know something about a language… »

- even with the difficulties bound to fact that participants refer to various countries with different welfare models, there were evidence of the responsibility of professional in keeping the door open on different possibilities:

• is my intervention “called out” by the real necessities of the person-in-needs?
• is my intervention “called out” by my usual working habits, inculding personal unkown rank?
• is my intervention “called out” by any “institutional needs/ranks” (ie: welfare cuts)?
• is my intervention “called out” by my own ideas, guess & prejudices about what I figure that the person might need?
• is my intervention “called out” «…because I’m fed-up with emergencies…» ?

- the level of “expression of the inexpressible”, focusing on the importance of non-verbal communications:

• during the act of playing our interventions of care, the participants experienced that not always they have time or are used to take
  
  into the right importance what our bodies talks…

 A personal thank goes to Sofia & Annette for the pictures

 
More outputs to come ... including the one of the FEANTSA workshop on Friday 24 November in Bergamo