Two brand new graduates from the SevenSenses Action Research Academy: Rhani Berest and Friederike Ertmer!

Rhani Berest and Friederike Ertmer graduated from The SevenSenses Academy! These two awesome ladies finished with success our General Participatory Action Research Course and internship with elderly in Utrecht.

Both Rhani (left) and Friederike (right) have followed intensive PAR trainings and were fast learners. We prepared them for the project Elderly’s Joyful Life, a project assigned by municipality Utrecht to tackle loneliness among elderly. I have great memories having to pretend to be an old lady during interview training, and gosh did they great when I got off track about everything and anything and forgot the questions they asked!

When I look at the project pictures I can see how the joy elderly enjoined their interviews, sharing their stories. Both Rhani and Friederike have shown to be empathetic listeners, action oriented and cheerful facilitators, always having faith in their respondents and the PAR-methodology. They have great sense to make the right decisions along their path towards positive change, in this project for the elderly. It was a privilege to work with both Rhani and Friederike, and I sincerely hope I can keep working with them for a long, long time!

[dt_sc_blockquote]Deze actieonderzoek-training heeft mij de nodige tools gegeven om als actieonderzoeker aan de slag te gaan. Onze trainer Madelon heeft met haar enthousiasme en kennis ervoor gezorgd dat de trainingen altijd interessant en toepassingsgericht waren en wij met veel plezier hebben geleerd. Ik kijk graag terug op deze tijd samen met Madelon en Rhani. -Friederike[/dt_sc_blockquote]

Although the project could not be completed due to external circumstances, positive change for the elderly already occured during the PAR-process. We could clearly see elderly became more active, they obtained more social contacts and exchanged ideas and advice. Elderly indicated to enjoy their participation in focus groups and seeing each other again. Focus groups in that sense could already on its own contribute to tackling loneliness among elderly as a starting point towards positive change!

After this project, Friederike even already worked for SevenSenses as ZZPer in the action research ‘Vollenhove in the Picture’, about living quality in the L-Flat in Zeist and it is -again- great to work with her! For both Friederike and Rhani hopefully more such projects to come, welcome in our team!

A new general PAR course is coming up, anyone interested, please let us know by sending us an email: madelon@seven-sense.nu.