Interactive workflows in your live online treatment

Do you give individual or group treatments, or do you counsel children, adolescents and/or parents? Then one thing is certain: interactive work forms cannot be missing from your live online treatment! In this blog Sophie You will learn about the added value of interactive teaching methods and you will be introduced to two teaching methods that you can immediately apply in your live online treatment session!

Why are interactive forms of work important?

Interactive work formats during video calling provide connection, variety, activation and fun. They encourage active participation. They allow everyone to have equal input and make sharing personal experiences approachable. Thus, clients get to speak more easily and more often. They also allow clients to express themselves in a non-verbal way, for example by pointing out a feeling on the emotion meter or typing something in the chat.

In addition, interactive work forms ensure that clients keep their attention and you arouse their interest in the treatment. As a practitioner, you also get a better view of the course of the treatment and the understanding of the clients. Live online, non-verbal communication is less visible and you have less insight into how someone feels and whether the message has been received. With the use of interactive work forms you can regularly check during a treatment session whether the clients have understood the treated material and whether you are still on the right track. All these points lead to clients enjoying the treatment more, daring to be open and therefore increasing the effectiveness of your treatment!

How do you deploy interactive work forms?

In any case, make sure you have good visual support. For example, create a visually appealing PowerPoint presentation on which you clearly explain the assignment, and make use of supporting graphics. Also vary the type of work format. Using the same interactive work format continuously during a session can be counterproductive. Finally, it is important that you use an interactive work format on a regular basis. Don't spend half an hour talking before you start with three interactive work formats, but use at least one interactive work format every five minutes.

Examples of interactive work formats

Below are two examples of interactive work formats.

Energizer: Find an object

You've probably experienced that halfway through a session, the attention slips and the concentration wanes. This is often a good time to take a short coffee break. For children, however, this can be tricky. They may not be able to tell time yet, so how will they know that the 5-minute break is over? And how can you be sure that the children will return to their laptops and not do something else? The following "energizer" can help you with this.

Instead of a break, organize a short game. Name a color or shape, count down, and ask the children to find an object in their room with that color or shape. The one who is first to hold up an object of the correct color or shape in front of the webcam wins. This way you can name a number of shapes or colors in a row. With this form of work, the children are momentarily distracted from the content of the treatment and can expend their energy.

This exercise is mainly intended for children, but young people or adults can also enjoy it.  

Acquaintances / feelings: Over the line

Everyone is familiar with the concept of "crossing the line," but did you know that you can also do this exercise very well live online? Create a PowerPoint with a statement on it. This can be about feelings and experiences, but can also be light-hearted questions for introductions. Consider:

• Do you play a musical instrument?
• Are you going on vacation this summer?
• Do you participate in sports?
• Are you happy?
• Are you sensitive to the opinions of others?

Everyone who can answer a question with 'yes' is put into action. For example, standing up from your chair, raising a virtual hand, or pointing to something on the screen via annotation. In this way, someone can easily express himself without saying anything. This exercise is suitable for all target groups. You can vary the questions and the way of answering. You can also let clients think up their own questions.

Interactive work forms are of added value

Provided you use them in the right way, interactive formats are a great added value to your live online treatment. For every target group and situation you can think of a work format. Try to involve the physical environment by having clients search for objects or by stimulating physical activity.