Last Monday 29th April, the Provincial Federation of Associations of People with Physical and Organic Disabilities of Seville, in alliance with the Catalan entity Support Girona, has carried out a training seminar for 12 collaborators of our provincial entity on issues related to conflict mediation, and at the same time, the presentation of a tool whose purpose is to facilitate professionals to obtain, prioritise and analyse different variables that influence the emergence of conflicts.
This training was given by Mr. Sergi Martínez Blanco, facilitator at the service of the Catalan entity, who on this occasion has carried out the virtual training within the framework of the European project E-Youth. For Martínez Blanco, ‘the final objective is to facilitate a diagnosis, which has a direct impact on the effectiveness of subsequent interventions’.
Likewise, the trainer states that ‘in the dimension of any conflict, it is fundamental that the professional must understand how to construct a good diagnosis, where the experiences and perspectives contributed by each of the parties involved should be taken into account, and from there, begin to construct any subsequent element, such as intervention plans’.
On the other hand, in the development of the seminar, topics related to the importance of knowing, in addition to the causes of a conflict, the emotional reactions of the people involved, emotional projections and coping styles have been addressed.
At the same time, the use and implementation of systematic observation as a key element for an adequate intervention in the mediation of a conflict has been presented during the training.
It is important to highlight that during the implementation phases of the European E-Youth project, work has been carried out permanently to facilitate the work of the professional’s diagnosis, developing a tool that creates the necessary conditions so that the time dedicated to each user is a quality time.
This tool incorporates as an innovative element the use of graphic materials that improve the participation and understanding of the whole analysis process for both the user and the professional. In this way, both will be able to visualise at all times the needs, objectives, available resources and where the sources of conflict are, while maintaining a constructive dialogue.
Finally, it should be noted that both the tool and the attached methodology will be tested over the next month by some of our social workers who attended the seminar in order to subsequently leave feedback that can guide us towards the improvement of certain aspects, whether in the quality and quantity of the training given or in the interface of the diagnostic tool.
