Together we develop better health care for young people

'Werkplaats SAMEN’

The ‘Werkplaats SAMEN’ is a partnership that focuses on caring for young people, and consists of:

• (future) practitioners
• parents
• young people
• teachers and university lecturers at technical colleges
• municipal officials
• researchers

SAMEN is a learning, employment and research community active in the Midden-Holland, Haaglanden and Holland-Rijnland regions. For an up-to-date overview of the partners, visit the SAMEN website.

Better health care for young people

The ultimate goal of SAMEN is that more young people grow up healthy and participate: at home, at school and in the community. The wishes and experiences of parents, young people and municipalities are the starting point. To ensure this, networks of experts and municipalities form part of the SAMEN structure. We apply existing knowledge and develop new knowledge.

Lines of development

The lines of development are the partnerships in which we purposefully work on issues in a community, municipality or region. We learn from this. Within the lines of development, we carry out research and consolidate existing knowledge. We disseminate this knowledge and, along the way, ask new questions. In the coming years, SAMEN will focus on:

• Integrated work
• Child abuse
• Vulnerable families
• Learning & implementing
• Normalising
• Parents and young people
• Fathers

Joint assessment of care needs

The science-based GIZ methodology stands for Joint Assessment of Care Needs. This working method was introduced in 2013 and is intended for professionals working with parents and young people. Using the GIZ methodology, they gain insight into the developmental and care needs within a family, as well as its strengths.

Positive experiences with GIZ

The experiences gained from using the GIZ methodology are positive. Parents and young people say that this method helps them to get a better understanding of where their concerns lie. It also gives an insight into what is going well. Parents and children are more willing to accept the help offered when their care needs are jointly assessed, because they become actively involved. GIZ offers professionals support through structure and practical tools. In so doing, they decide together with parents and young people which form of help is most appropriate for their situation.

Development of digital GIZ

To further improve the dialogue between professionals, parents and young people, we are developing a digital version of the GIZ. We are doing this together with:

• Hollands-Midden Public Health Service
• JGZ Zuid-Holland West
• Kwadraad social work
• Leiden University Medical Centre
• Eaglescience Software
• NCJ

Benefits of digital GIZ

• With the digital GIZ, we will acquire an even sharper focus on the care needs, and will be able to provide tailor-made care.
• The GIZ on a tablet or laptop is easy to take with you, has an improved design and is more user-friendly due to its graphic interface. Users can directly store, share and link data with the digital files and applications of other healthcare providers. For follow-up contacts, the data is easily accessed on the tablet to continue a conversation.
• In addition, the digital version is an incentive for parents and young people themselves to become more involved and to monitor their family situation. They can keep their own records, read things back and thus be better prepared for follow-up interviews. After a while, it is possible to see how things have developed over time.