Educating safely: the MAS method for educators – Rimini

Author: Fatma Zohra Bekrou

Great public success for the seminar “Educating safely. Acting with awareness to promote the safety of the patient and the operator in social action: the Mastery MAS approach for the prevention and management of critical situations “. The seminar was held on Thursday, 30 November 2017 at the Sala Acqua of the SGR Congress Centre in Rimini. The initiative was promoted by CAD, Società cooperativa sociale onlus, a NGO working in the social services, in collaboration with MASTERY™- International Academy for Security and Defence.

The seminar was introduced by Rosanna Francia, responsible for CAD services and training, who explained the growing safety problems of the social operators. It is essential that the operator can work safely, both for himself and for the patient. Critical cases are common in social action, and innovative and effective instruments are increasingly needed to tackle them. Following some aggressive behaviour on the part of the patients, CAD and MASTERY™ developed a training proposal for operators, which gave very positive results after the first experience in June-July 2017. This training, based on the MAS – Moving Action Surprise System© Method, has not only provided new skills, but has also increased operators’ knowledge of themselves and their skills. CAD, having ascertained the effectiveness of the MAS Method, given the positive feedback from the operators themselves, intends to repeat the experience also for the year 2018.

Following, Dr. Aldo Pigoli (General Manager MASTERY™ and lecturer at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan) presented the reality of MASTERY™ and the activities in which it is involved in Italy, with particular reference to civil society. The intervention of Dr. Pigoli wanted to emphasize the importance of a training approach based on natural and simple principles, easy to learn but highly effective in the prevention and management of critical situations.

Dr. Pigoli presents the objectives of MASTERY’s training activities.

Afterwards, Mr. Remo Grassetti (Head Master MASTERY™ and creator of the MAS Method), studied in depth how the MAS Method is useful in the training of social workers and educators to face critical situations or threatening their own safety and those they cared for. The approach of the MAS Method proposes to prevent the emergence of critical situations and, in case of a crisis, to master the situation without causing any damage in order to immediately recover the relationship between the operator and the person assisted. This is the goal that MASTERY™ set itself during the training activities.

The intervention of Mr. Remo Grassetti.

The testimonies from the families confirmed the usefulness of the MAS Method. Giuseppe Marchetelli, for example, after participating in the training course, found greater confidence in the relationship with his autistic son. All the families, after the training experience, felt comfortable in managing the critical situations of daily life, finally being able to act in safety and tranquility.

The touching testimony of Giuseppe Marchetelli.

Dr. Silvia Bartoli, head of the psychiatric rehabilitation unit of the AUSL in Rimini, supported the previous interventions from a psychological point of view. The critical situation of the patient is basically caused by the inability to communicate. Due to the lack of adequate cognitive and emotional tools, the patients cannot communicate, and so they act. Aggression is the expression of a communicative act. The operator must therefore act constructively, without in any way altering the safety and emotiveness of the patient. Dr. Bartoli relies heavily on the MAS Method as a training tool useful to deal with the critical situation not as a problem, but as an opportunity for relationships.

The speech by Dr. Silvia Bartoli.

The participants of the course then intervened, demonstrating, thanks to their experience, the effective validity of the MAS Method in crisis situations. Tobia di Sarra, CAD educator, told how, thanks to the skills acquired during the training course, he managed to avoid a clash with the patient, recovering immediately after the relationship of trust with him. In addition, if it is not possible to escape the collision, the course has also provided operators with the appropriate tools to avoid causing damage and injury to both the patient and the operator.

The intervention of the educator Tobia di Sarra.

The conference’s conclusion was moderated by Andrea Morelli, CAD coordinator of the educational services, and some time was given to comments and questions from the audience.

Andrea Morelli’s intervention.

Overview of the audience.

The seminar was also attended by Elisa Mini, CAD’s Corporate Training Coordinator, Luca Bruni, Chairman of the Associazione Italiana Difesa (A.I.D., Italian Defence Association) and Giacomo Cilio, Senior Instructor of the MAS Method.