New Case Study: VSO Debriefing Strategy
When it comes to providing staff care for aid workers, effective debriefing after placements and assignments is vital. Our new case study on debriefing comes from VSO, who restructured their debriefing strategy after a member of staff attended our Debriefing Staff Workshop in June 2011.
VSO places a huge amount of importance on the briefing of volunteers before they go overseas, offering pre-departure training, advice and support. Debriefing was not new to VSO but was offered mainly to volunteers who returned early due to either personal reasons or issues to do with their placement.
VSO recognised the need to change in a fluctuating and challenging sector and recently reviewed its strategy. The new strategy called ‘People First’ recognised the need to put people at the centre of their work and to continue to learn from their experiences. Debriefing was recognised as one of the ways that they could continue to learn from volunteers’ experiences so they could improve their systems, processes and support to volunteers. Scaling up in the organisation required increasing the pool of debriefing staff by at least 40 people. On top of this, VSO was looking for strategic ways to achieve longer engagement with volunteers.
In June 2011, VSO’s Training and Development advisor attended a Debriefing Staff Workshop run by People In Aid. The event gave participants a greater insight into how to offer effective debriefing and support to staff and volunteers returning from relief, development or missionary assignments (both short and long term assignments).
After attending this workshop, they returned to the organisation with some new suggestions for their debriefing policies.
“After I left the Debriefing Training in June, I actually went back to my Manager, told her about the fantastic training and pointed out some things that we could be doing as an organisation….we looked at the whole process of debriefing, and made recommendations for change based on the workshop.”
You my also be interested in our other case studies on debriefing:
This Workshop is an opportunity for participants to learn how to offer effective debriefing and support staff returning from relief, development or missionary assignments, whether short- or long-term. Aimed at HR practitioners, line managers and other potential debriefers, this interactive Workshop, facilitated by Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Dr Debbie Lovell-Hawker, should not be missed.
Workshop highlights:
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Practical steps on how to carry out a full debriefing
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The opportunity to discuss and question individual problems/challenges
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Role-play debriefing followed by feedback
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A copy of the up-to-date comprehensive Handbook on Debriefing Staff, developed and updated over the last 10 years
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Date: |
Thursday 20 September 2012 |
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Time: |
10.30 - 17.30 (registration at 10.00) |
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Location: |
London, UK |
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Price: |
170.00 GBP (non-member)
85.00 GBP (member)
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Date published: Thursday 7 June 2012
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