“I know best…”

In the context of the study ‘A Better Basis’ the intervention Up2U was developed. This is a training program that focuses on mentor/coach conversations that care workers have with young people in residential youth care. Up2U consists of a three-day training in Motivational Interviewing, with a follow-up after a certain period of time (refresher workshop). In addition, a comprehensive Up2U Manual has been developed. For its development also interviews were held with both young people and care workers about their wishes regarding the mentoring conversations they have with each other. The training yields care workers concrete tips on how to stimulate motivation for behavioral change in young people and how to build a good relationship with them. In this way they can even better meet the individual needs of young people. This can increase the success of the stay in a residential facility, also after termination of the treatment.

Although the use of Up2U in practice is still quite challenging and there are areas for improvement, the first results are positive. The care workers who have tried out Up2U in practice indicate that it is a clear training program providing a very useful tool for having good mentoring conversations. The observations of these conversations also show that with the help of Up2U it is possible for care workers to have a conversation which is more than usual focused on the individual young person and therefore creates more strongly motivation for behavioral change.

Dissertation: http://hdl.handle.net/11370/9516c0f6-44d5-44d9-a176-674b974c48eb