written by Susanna Lehtovaara
In our Annual Meeting 2021 we had three Social dynamics workshops together held by Kristel Logghe, Eva Rönkkö and Susanna Lehtovaara. These sessions were designed for the members to get to know each other better but also to have a bit more informal discussions about work in the field of intercultural elderly care.
During the sessions participants were divided into smaller breakout groups where they were able to discuss and share more with each other. All groups were given the same four questions concerning their experiences and passions about their work life and they were instructed to write their discussions and thoughts done on shared online workspace. You can find all that was written here: https://padlet.com/jadetoimintakeskus/ENIEC
The discussions were lively and interesting in all of the groups. Here are some insights to what ideas rose from the discussions.
- ENIEC members are passioned about their work and the enthusiasm arises from:
- enjoying the stories people tell,
- there’s much to be done, the work is inspiring and challenging
- injustice is a good energy-giver
- let everybody be respected in their needs
- opens up new ways of thinking
- because of human rights and fairness of society
2.Members get mad about the services and they want to change:
- lack of view for individual needs
- the hierarchies between disciplines
- better listening to people and their needs
- lack of funding for care services
- injustice & insensitive attitudes against migrants, the disrespect
- the system is not prepared for diversity
- there are always short projects but no structural changes
3.Members also have many secret powers, such as:
- enthusiasm and inspiration
- research expertise and the wish to do inclusive research, be creative
- having soft powers -focusing on meaningful life, memories, being present, really listening, taking time
- perseverance, not giving up easily
- finding consensus
- open-minded
4.Members also discussed what we could bring from the power and knowledge of our network to other professionals struggling with similar issues in their work:
- more cooperation, this is the magic word. Talk and learn from each other.
- a model of cooperation
- approach of diversity and intersectionality
- empowerment and optimism
- building diverse networks for support and sharing
- bring ideas together, multidisciplinary work
- don’t stay into your own bubble of expertise, keep in touch with other disciplines
- look at things we are not doing that well and challenge ourselves
From these insights we can also find inspiration to our daily working life whenever our spirits are down and we need someone to lift us up. Let’s find those secret powers within ourselves and each other by sharing and keeping up the great work in our network! Thank you for these lovely discussion in our social dynamics sessions, peace out <3
