Assistant model after Willem Kleine Schaars

The assistance model according to Willem Kleine Schaars (WKS) is a care concept, in the sense of a team model, from the field of handicapped assistance , the aim of which is independent care above all, but not only in inpatient living areas. A first publication on the method appeared in 1992 in Dutch.

The model is used not only in the Netherlands, but also in Belgium, as well as in several institutions in German-speaking countries. Kleine Schaars considers his method in its further development to be a universal model under which many different methods can be used. The model is meanwhile also practiced in psychiatric facilities, in old people's and nursing homes, in child and youth welfare and in primary and secondary schools.

target

In the context of global efforts for inclusion and the paradigm shift in assistance for the disabled, according to which disability is seen primarily as a social problem constructed by attitudes in society, the WKS model pursues the goal of becoming independent through a person-centered approach . In the care, the focus should be on the individual, which initiates a process in which the supervisor in particular has to learn to let go.

Every person has a framework in which he can shape his life according to his possibilities. If this is chosen too large by the supervisors, it will be overwhelmed. If it becomes too narrow, so that it restricts, this represents an underchallenge or overprotection. The limits of independence are exceeded when supervisors use their own values ​​as a yardstick. "When someone says they feel overprotected or patronized, they are always telling the truth."

It is not denied that the responsibility to avoid excessive demands always rests with the person who should provide the support, because they always have more options than the supported person.

The side effect of delegating personal responsibility and directing one's own life back to those being looked after can also be the saving of care time, as has been shown in individual cases in various video observations as part of the coaching for the method; There are processes that functioned better independently by a group of home residents in the absence of caregivers than when they were present.

application

The basic attitude of the carers towards the clients largely corresponds to the client-centered psychotherapy according to Carl Rogers, or rather his humanistic view of man.

Kleine Schaars describes various aspects that play a special role when working with his concept, some of which will be explained here, starting with the most relevant:

The roles of those involved

Based on the basic assumption that it is an insoluble conflict for those working in education to have understanding and empathy at the same time and yet to be the one who has to regulate or solve problems, these two roles are separated. In addition, each client is assigned an everyday companion and a process companion .

Roles in the assistant model according to Willem Kleine Schaars.
black arrows: primary interaction, red: secondary interaction

The everyday companion knows the client and provides practical support in all daily activities (the primary interaction ) as far as necessary. He also knows the possibilities of self-employment and makes arrangements. The role of the process facilitator, on the other hand, is to support the communication between everyday companion and client, but not to express his own opinion. He observes the relationship between client and everyday companion and can be used by both to hear or reflect problems in keeping to the agreements made, whereby he does not deal with the solution, but leaves it with the participants (the secondary interaction ).

All other team members act as supporters in adhering to the agreements made between the everyday companion and the client. The everyday companion can give the team clear orders and coordinate its tasks. Conversely, the supporters give feedback if there are problems with agreements.

Feedback

Since the process facilitator does not have the task of solving the client's problems and the everyday companion should develop the framework together with the client, but also protect the framework in which he can live and expand his self-determination, mutual feedback between the participants is necessary. In the interests of the client, the work of the everyday companion is checked by the team, but also by the process facilitator. Everyday companions, on the other hand, recognize more easily when process companions unconsciously allow their own values ​​and norms to flow into the conversation with the client - so that these are then reported back to the everyday companion via the client (instead of their own values).

The clear definition of the tasks should also make it easier for other team members to leave the development processes of the clients, who are also supposed to support them, to other colleagues (the process and everyday companion).

Video recordings

The use of video recordings is recommended because on the one hand this enables particularly objective observations and on the other hand it can document the behavior and reactions of the clients in the absence of the supervisor. However, Kleine Schaars points out that the personal limits of employees and clients must be observed here.

Work with loved ones

When working with relatives of people with disabilities who live in a home, the process facilitator can be given the role of mediating between the everyday companion and the client's parents, as well as between the client and his parents. Since the process of detachment of the child from its parents can be made more difficult due to the already difficult adoption process, this can also support the increasing independence of a home resident with intellectual disabilities, but in relation to their parents.

Consequences for the organization

"Caterpillar model" of the organization according to WKS
black: gives an account.
Green: checking
red: actively listening without evaluating

The implementation of the concept in larger institutions also has consequences for the organization, because "The starting point of the WKS model is that every person retains control over his life as comprehensively as possible". That is why all levels must be trained, whereby personal responsibility and support are also the focus with regard to employees . Management should therefore not solve the problems of their employees, but rather ask what the teams need to tackle problems or tasks. (Compare with the term of competence management .)

Just as the everyday companion has the task of checking whether the framework for his independent action is neither too big nor too small, a team coordinator has to define the framework for the employees in which they can solve their tasks themselves. Accordingly, a division manager must define the framework for their independence from several team coordinators, so that the principle continues in the entire management behavior of an organization.

As a kind of process companion for the organization of the facility, a specially trained and certified "WKS coach" can accompany and support change processes. He makes sure

• whether the clients are increasingly able to determine their lives themselves and on the quality of the cooperation between everyday and process companions and team,
• whether different levels of support are represented in a balanced way among employees of a team,
• whether the framework conditions are suitable to accompany the clients respectfully. Since these were determined by a manager, the coach also supports his communication with the team coordinator.

criticism

As a team model, WKS is a method of service provision and does not serve as a needs assessment instrument, nor does it provide theory and practical guidance. It should be questioned whether the care model can be fully applied to people who, according to all developmental psychological knowledge, cannot grasp the difference between themselves and the environment or other people - and therefore also between everyday and process companions. People with very severe intellectual disabilities, whose personality development still corresponds to that of a three-month-old child, for example, will have great problems not only with this, but also with the articulation of their needs. An agreement with the everyday companion or a communicative reflection with the process companion should hardly be possible for them.

However, this does not reduce the advantage that a person-centered attitude is implemented as a topic and constantly kept awake by using the method in teams of very heterogeneous living groups . The fact that two employees pay attention to this in relation to a client also supports this, so that people with severe disabilities, as mentioned above, should undoubtedly benefit from it.

Experts consider supplementing the WKS model with pedagogical standards from other procedures (such as the design of care for people with disabilities ) to be very beneficial in practice. The inability of a client to express his or her needs can be compensated somewhat in this way, which prevents a subjective selection of the noteworthy aspects of care during observation by the process facilitator.

See also

• SIVUS method
• Pre-therapy
• social learning

literature

• Elena Kötzle: Assistance model according to Willem Kleine Schaars (WKS) - checking the effectiveness of WKS in helping the disabled. Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University Stuttgart, Faculty of Social Sciences, (Bachelor thesis) 2011, download (as of March 2, 2015)
• Willem Kleine Schaars: Start from your strengths and take people seriously. Curaviva (Switzerland) Download (as of March 1, 2015)
• Willem Kleine Schaars: Encounter with respect. dgvt-Verlag, Tübingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-87159-110-5 .
• Willem Kleine Schaars: Through equal rights to self-determination: Support people with intellectual disabilities in everyday life. Juventa-Verlag, Weinheim 2009, ISBN 978-3-7799-2051-9 .
• Willem Kleine Schaars, Marja Appel: Instructions for independence: How people with intellectual disabilities take responsibility for themselves. Beltz, Weinheim 2008, ISBN 978-3-7799-2001-4 .
• Marja Appel, Willem Kleine Schaars: Groeien naar gelijkwaardigheid: begeleiden van mensen in een tehuis. Nelissen, 1992, ISBN 90-244-1270-6 . (first publication on the method in Dutch)

Web links

• AKS Trainingen - Website of the WKS developer Willem Kleine Schaars

Individual evidence

1. ^ Willem Kleine Schaars: Encounter with respect. Tübingen 2010, p. 137.
2. ↑ Homepage AKS Training , list of institutions that use WKS (as of March 1, 2015).
3. ↑ As examples:
   • Homepage Werraland workshops Eschwege , Wohnstätten | Self-determined life (as of March 1, 2015)
   • Download "Insight" ( memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Magazine of Lebenshilfe Salzburg, "New method of accompaniment is being introduced in the living area", p. 4 (as of March 1, 2015) 
   • Download department concept “Pleasure Crafts” ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Technical orientation, Schloss Herdern (Switzerland), p. 2, from February 13, 2013 (status of the call: March 1, 2015) 
     
4. ^ Willem Kleine Schaars: Encounter with respect. Tübingen 2010, p. 12.
5. ^ Willem Kleine Schaars: Encounter with respect. Tübingen 2010, p. 77 ff.
6. ↑ InkluMat homepage , glossary (as of March 1, 2015).
7. ^ Willem Kleine Schaars: Encounter with respect. Tübingen 2010, p. 16.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Willem Kleine Schaars: Encounter with respect. Tübingen 2010, p. 18.
9. ^ Willem Kleine Schaars: Encounter with respect. Tübingen 2010, p. 89 f.
10. ↑ Elena Kötzle: assistance model according to Willem Kleine Schaars (WKS) - review of the effectiveness of WKS in helping the disabled. Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University Stuttgart, Faculty of Social Sciences, (Bachelor thesis) 2011, p. 32. (download) (as of March 3, 2015)
11. ^ Homepage Caritas living and workshops in the Archdiocese of Paderborn e. V. ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Interview with Peter Petereit (as of March 2, 2015).  
12. ^ Willem Kleine Schaars: Encounter with respect. Tübingen 2010, p. 49.
13. ^ Willem Kleine Schaars: Encounter with respect. Tübingen 2010, p. 49 f.
14. ^ Willem Kleine Schaars: Encounter with respect. Tübingen 2010, p. 70 f.
15. ^ Willem Kleine Schaars: Encounter with respect. Tübingen 2010, p. 72 f.
16. ^ Willem Kleine Schaars: Encounter with respect. Tübingen 2010, pp. 73-75.
17. ^ Willem Kleine Schaars: Encounter with respect. Tübingen, 2010, p. 106.
18. ↑ ^{a b} Willem Kleine Schaars: Encounter with respect. Tübingen 2010, p. 104.
19. ^ Willem Kleine Schaars: Encounter with respect. Tübingen 2010, p. 105.
20. ^ Willem Kleine Schaars: Encounter with respect. Tübingen 2010, p. 112.
21. ↑ M. Kief: Think, speak, act independently. Lecture on the comparison of GBM with WKS on the occasion of the 12th international POB & A / GBM user conference 2008 in the Diakonie Stetten. (download) ; (As of March 1, 2015)