Inservice: Books, Movies, Topics

Film Clips You Can Use During Volunteer Basic Training

May 25, 2021 By cyndi4ETS

I am a total movie freak.

I have missed going to the theater and sitting in the large dark room with the huge screen. Needless to say I have been happy for all the streaming services. Most of my conversations during this time of sequestering has been “What are you watching?” or “What have you been reading that you would recommend?”

When it comes to training, movies are great for instruction, motivation and introducing new concepts. They can show how using a skill works in real-life situations and what can happen when things go wrong.

I am hoping that you use some movie clips in your volunteer training.

Here are the film clips I use and where I use them in the training.

Lump – by Nooma films.

I show this film right at the beginning of Fundamental #1: Speaking the truth in love and Fundamental #2: The goal of the training. This film is a great discussion–starter and sets the tone and gives motivation for and insight into the first 2 fundamentals. This film is available on YouTube here. The movie is a little over 10 minutes long.

Steel Magnolias

I use the famous graveside scene where Sally Field, the mother of her deceased daughter shows us all of the phases of a crisis. Her friends help in good and bad ways and there is much to learn from watching her friends. It shows how unprepared even our closest friends are to enter into our grief and know what to say. I show this flip clip at the end of the crisis cycle section kind of as a wrap up and a “real world” example of the crisis cycle.

When A Man Loves A Woman – Meg Ryan & Andy Garcia

This film is about a couple struggling with the wife’s increasing dependence on alcohol. There are a couple scenes that depict the different ways in which the husband and wife are looking at the problem as the wife is working on her sobriety. They are the perfect clips to show the difference between our desire to fix things so they can go back the way things were, and the difficult and painful reckoning that allows the grief that eventually brings healing. There is some language in these scenes that I warn trainees about before showing the film clip. I usually show this film as part of the Connecting section of the training as an example of what happens when connecting does not happen and what can get in the way, even when we truly love another person.

The Horse Whisperer

This film is about slowly healing a horse and the young girl riding the horse after a terrible accident that traumatized them both. The mother takes her daughter and her horse out to Montana to a Horse Whisperer in hopes he can heal the horse. The girl has lost her leg and does not want to talk about what happened. Through great use of the qualities of an effective helper, the Horse Whisperer (Robert Redford) helps both the girl and her horse heal. I use the scene when Redford and the girl (Scarlett Johannsen) are alone in the kitchen and she begins to speak her story out loud to him. I encourage trainees to watch what he does, what he says, what he does not say, what he does not do and how these affect the interaction. What might have made her want to tell him and not her mother or some other person?

Mumford

Dr. Mumford, a would-be psychologist comes to the idyllic town of the same name. He offers his talent for listening and a disarming frankness and the town’s quirkiest citizens scramble for a seat on his couch. Using great listening skills and patience he lightens hearts darkened by old secrets. I use a clip from a counseling session when just asking a few questions and using silence the patient comes to their own realizations and it is delightful to see as she begins making connections about her life that she never saw before. I use this clip at the after teaching Good Questions.

Capturing Film Clips

In the old days, I used VCRs and before the training I forwarded the video tapes to the exact spot I wanted to show the film clip. If you still have videotapes and this technology it works easily.

If you are using DVDs it is harder because you can’t have it cued up as easily. I would suggest asking around to your media geek friends and see if they can extract clips for you from the DVDs, which you should purchase to respect copyright. Once you have the film clips saved on your computer it is easy to access them during your training or you can add them to the ETS PowerPoint slides that I revised for the new 6th edition of the volunteer manual. You can order the revised Equipped to Serve PowerPoint visuals here.

You can sometimes find film clips on YouTube but I have found that they are not long enough or not from the part of the film that I want a clip from but it might be worth checking out what is available on YouTube. You can also search movies on IMDB by subject which is a great way to find other films you might use in basic or in-service training. There is a list of book and movies at the back of the volunteer training manual as well.

Do you use different movies than these? Drop me an email and let me know which movies you show during volunteer training.

How often do you reinforce the RIGHT Communication Skills?

May 3, 2021 By cyndi4ETS

Taking some time during every in-service training is a perfect time to get some practice.

If your volunteers know that they will be utilizing these skills during every in-service, they might work harder to utilize the skills in their lives on a daily basis. How else can the RIGHT skills become ingrained and a natural part of serving and caring for others?

I think the most-often used RIGHT skills are reflective listening, Interpretive listening, and good questions.

Here is a suggestion that will reinforce the skills during each in-service without taking up too much time. This exercise will be a quick call and response for each of the 3 skills.

1. Make a sheet/list of statements for each of the RIG communication skills so you easily have them at hand. Sources for statements might be:

Exercises from the manual
Statements clients have said to you
Case Studies from the manual
Ask your materials assistance staff or volunteers to give you a list of statements they hear most from the clients they serve.
Statements do not necessarily have to relate to pregnancy issues in order to practice the skills but they might be the most helpful to volunteers.

2. The number of the statements you have should match the number of volunteers attending so there is no duplicates for each of the skills

3. Start with reflective listening. Briefly review the How To’s of the skill.

4. The trainer reads the skill, then speaks the sentence out-loud while choosing a volunteer and makes direct eye contact with them. It is that volunteer who must respond using the listening skill correctly. This is better than going systematically down the rows because then volunteers know they only have to listen when it is going to be there turn. When you jump around the room and make eye contact, no one knows when it will be their turn and must always be ready, especially if you tell them they might be called upon more than once. In order to save time you really try not to call on people twice but it keeps them alert and thinking of how to respond if they would be called on again.

5. Repeat this for each of the RIG listening skills. Each volunteer should respond once to each of the RIG skills.

If you have the statements prepared ahead of time and review the skills quickly you should be able to get through RIG in a short amount of time. Be sure and gently correct anyone who does not answer using the skill correctly before moving on to the next person. Often people will ask a question when they should be using reflective or interpretive listening. I usually respond by saying, “That’s a great question and we will get to those real soon but right now we are focusing on _________so give it another try.” It is a gentle way to refocus them to the skill you are practicing.

There is so much to remember and practice as a volunteer with the Pregnancy Center ministry.

Your love and service to them should be helping them to remember and practice the most-important skills so they will better serve the clients God sends to them.

In-service Training for Excellent Client Documentation Skills

April 5, 2021 By cyndi4ETS

How often do you read through your client intake forms?

There is usually two different parts to a client intake form. One being the statistical information and the other being the narrative description of the volunteer’s interaction with the client. Both are important.

In-services are a great way to explain the importance of accurately filling out the client intake form and the post-session narrative documentation of their client interactions.

We know the statistical information on the client intake form is needed for a variety of reasons.

When training volunteers to gather this information effectively you might consider sharing with volunteers:

Why this information is important and how you use this information
Show them how having this information is important as they begin to build relationship with their client
What information is most important during your time with a client
How to gather this information as a way to begin building relationship rather than just interviewing someone.
Who is gathering this information and how they are doing this?
How do you ask clients to complete the form? What do you tell them about the form? What happens if they leave some information blank?
If clients fill out the intake form themselves, how can volunteers use the information gathered to begin making contact and reducing anxiety

The narrative post-session documentation in a client’s chart is important for many reasons.

Reading the documentation provides a way to supervise and evaluate volunteers on their client interactions without having to actually observe them in person.
How a volunteer documents their interactions demonstrates their knowledge and use of the Seven Fundamentals taught in the training.
Documentation provides you with client information that can help you create case studies for in-service trainings.
The information is important when a client returns for follow-up visits or if they are seen by a different volunteer when they return.
Documentation provides consistency of service and clients will feel seen and remembered by your ministry.
Certain ethical and legal protections must be taken into consideration in case a client asks to read their file or some legal action is taken.

When training volunteers in their post-session narrative documentation you might consider:

Conducting a short role-play and asking volunteers how they would document the session.
Create a quiz or worksheet with examples of good and bad documentation for volunteers to work through and then go over their responses.
Discuss the similarities and differences of the narrative post-session documentation needed in various parts of the ministry such as pregnancy testing and advocacy, material assistance, reproductive loss groups, educational programs, medical services (ultrasound), etc.
Asking specific questions on the documentation form that relate to the training such as:

What was her SOS?
Where might she have been on the crisis cycle? Explain
What were her needs / issues?
What resources were discussed?
What action plans were discussed?
What is the follow up plan?
Spiritual Condition – Cultivating – Sowing – Harvesting – Discipling ? Explain.

So much energy is put into client documentation. I hope this helps you get an idea of how all that information and paperwork can help you supervise better and enable volunteers to connect better with their clients, from their first hello.

Using Panel Discussions During In-service Training

January 4, 2021 By cyndi4ETS

Why panel discussions?

Panel discussions provide a variety of perspectives, insights and opinions.
Advertising ahead of time what the panel will be discussing and who will be on the panel is possible a great draw or motivation to attend the in-service.
Panel discussions are a great way to include other people with expertise and life experience into in-service training both within and outside your organization.
It is a way for staff members to learn as well during the panel discussion.

What is a panel discussion?

A panel discussion is a formal, moderated discussion between selected speakers on a specific topic, in front of an audience. A successful panel discussion will follow a set agenda, specifically a set order of specific events. Keeping to this order and adhering to time limits will make a panel discussion organized and professional. Distributing the agenda ahead of time to panel members and audience participants will assist the moderator in keeping all participants focused.

Components of A Panel Discussion

Targeted Opening

The moderator should introduce the topic in a focused and concise way, designed to grab the audience’s attention. The moderator can use an anecdote or example from current media to hone in on the main points of the coming discussion. The intent is to provide an engaging opening for all members of the discussion, including the panel members, who will benefit from knowing where the moderator intends to lead the discussion.

Introduction of Panel Members

The agenda should include a panel member introduction following the moderator’s opening. When the moderator introduces the panelists at the beginning of the discussion, she can do so by giving a quick bio of each panelist, targeting the panelists’ qualifications for the discussion, or she can ask the panelists to introduce themselves if the setting is less formal. She should let the panelists know they’ll be introducing themselves if that’s the case.

Questions for Panelists

The moderator can move the agenda along to posing questions to specific panelists, or to the group as a whole. Ideally, the moderator should have communicated with the panel members in the days leading up to the discussion and provided sample questions, so the panel members can prepare. The moderator should be prepared to keep to time constraints and have a prepared list of segue phrases to move the discussion along if it strays off track. For example, the moderator might say, “Going back to the original question, what is your perspective of the issue in that context,” or a similar phrase. To cut off panelists completely, she might say, “Moving on to the next question … .”

Panelist Closing Remarks

After the panel has participated in a discussion focused on the questions, each panelist should be given the opportunity to provide closing remarks. This gives the panelists the opportunity to highlight what they see to be the key elements of the discussion and their perspective on them. In order to keep the discussion moving, the moderator should introduce the closing remarks section by alerting panelists to their time constraints, for example two minutes each.

Question-and-Answer Section

A panel discussion should include audience interactivity in the form of a question-and-answer section. The moderator should take control of this activity by reminding all audience members they are limited to one question each and should refrain from making expository remarks that are too lengthy.

Thank the Panelists

The final item on the panel discussion agenda is thanking the panelists individually. The moderator should acknowledge all members of the panel and express gratitude for their participation, and reinforce the productivity of the discussion. The moderator may wish to thank any sponsors of the event, such as the owners of the facility where the discussion takes place, before saying goodnight to the audience.

Brainstormed Ideas for Panel Discussions Topics & Guests

Adoption

Women who have had different experiences with adoption share their experiences and perspectives:
- Closed adoption
- Open adoption
- Considered adoption but changed their mind
Adoption counselors from a variety of adoption agencies or providers to come and share their processes for helping women through the adoption process
- Adoption lawyer
- Adoption agency
- Inter-racial adoption
- Post-adoption counseling
Women/parents who have adopted in a variety of situations
- Inter-racial adoptions
- Foreign adoptions
- Special needs adoptions
- Adopting older children
When adoption goes wrong
- Invite women/couples who are willing to tell their stories of when adoption did not go well for them

Parenting Versus Adoption

Create a panel of women who, as teenagers, chose either adoption or parenting to tell their stories and how they feel now as they look back at their choices.

Vision Casting

Create a panel of Board Members to come and discuss the short- and long-term vision of the Center and how the board is helping to make that vision a reality.

Reproductive Loss or Post Abortion Counseling

Ask 5 women of varying ages, race, religious background, etc. and who have completely different abortion stories to speak about their healing journey.

Long-Term Benefits of Volunteering

Have volunteers who have been volunteering for 5+ years (if possible) share how they have grown over their time and what they see has been the benefits of volunteering for so many years.

Crisis

Invited several licensed counselors and/or social workers to discuss crisis intervention

Evangelism

Invite pastors and/or local evangelists to discuss various aspects of evangelism in crisis situations

I hope you give one of these ideas a try this year when you are planning your in-service trainings. I would love to know how it goes!

Using Movies For In-Service Training

November 2, 2020 By cyndi4ETS

I believe that movies can do more than entertain us.

They are windows into the world of others that we have not (or maybe never will) experience.
They make us laugh, which is so important during these trying times.
They make us cry as we see our own grief and losses mirrored in the story.
They instruct us as to what is healthy and unhealthy.
They show us the good in people’s hearts and actions.
They show the fight between good and evil.
They ask questions of us and cause us to rumble with hard issues.
They illuminate so many things that we might not have paid attention to as we go about the day to day in our lives.

I have used movie clips in my classroom training for many, many years. Using movie clips is a great way to introduce another training method into your training.

Movies can demonstrate concepts that are being taught in the training. Who better than Merrill Streep to hit home a point you are trying to make?
Watching movies together makes for great processing and conversation about the topic the movie is portraying.
Movies engage all of our senses in ways that other forms of training (like lecture) cannot.

One of my favorite movies of all time is “Enchanted April.” This movie can be used to demonstrate unconditional love, connecting, consequences of unresolved grief, and humility.

Here is a brief description of the film:

“For Lotty Wilkins, romance is no longer part of her marriage. In an effort to find what’s missing from her life, she and three other women rent an Italian villa for the month of April, leaving behind the everyday cares and monotony of their respective lives.” (from IMDB.com)

The movie is about the interaction of these four women and the other characters that come in and out of their lives during the course of the story. It is really about scarred people who are transformed by love.

The film is available to watch for free on Amazon Prime but can be bought or rented from Prime Video for $2.99.

Here is how I imagine a virtual in-service discussing a movie would be organized:

Communicate the date and time of the online in-service. Ask them to watch the film before the meeting date. I would give them a month’s lead time to watch the film.
Ask volunteers to RSVP to know how many will attend. You need this numbers so you can plan for a few people or many people.
If you have a paid Zoom plan, utilize the breakout room function if you have a large number attending the ins-service.
Email the list of discussion questions to all your volunteers. Ask the volunteers not attending the in-service to watch the film, if possible, and think through the discussion questions on their own.

Here are some questions I would use for Enchanted April but these same questions could be tweaked for almost any film and the training concept(s) you are focusing on:

Who or what influenced you the most in this film? Why?
What created the disconnection between these women?
What kind of pain, loss or trauma was each woman dealing with?
How did their new environment (Italy) begin to change them? Why was this an important part of the story?
What was significant about the time-period (right after World War 1)?
How did each character use a mask to hide their scars and pain?
When and how did things begin to change for each of the four women? When did they realize the change in themselves?
How did love transform each of these characters in the film?
How was the love expressed to each of them? When and how was it received?
What was the transformation for each of the women and other characters in the film?
What role does humility play in this film?
What does this show us about connection verse disconnection?
How did connection transform the relationships?
What will you remember most from this film?
How can this inform and inspire your work with clients at the Pregnancy Center?

I hope you consider using movie clips in your initial volunteer training. In the resource sections of both the Equipped to Serve volunteer training manual and well as the leader’s manual there is a list of books and movies that I recommend. It takes some technical know-how to capture clips from movies, but I am hoping that you are able to find some savvy tech person to be able to help you.