A team of professionals registered ICDP Sweden in October 2000. ICDP key contact for Sweden was then Karin Edenhammer. ICDP has been steadily growing since then and it is still active, current chairperson is Annelie Waldau.
ICDP Sweden website: http://www.icdp.se/
Report about activities in 2022
2021: Annelie Waldau Bergman, the leader of ICDP Sweden update:
– During 2021 has ICDP Sweden tried to keep on with the regular educations/trainings on different levels, but in digital form due to the epidemic. ICDP Sweden has also worked on the development of the homepage, as the digital meeting place – “community”. We have focused on making the documents and PowerPoints with a more stringent and coherent design, font and colour. The materials are used in training and other social cohesion for ICDP facilitators and trainers. There was less activity both for the Stiftelsen ICDP and for ICDP in the rest of the country, because of the effects of the corona virus. ICDP Stiftelsen has arranged digital workshops during the year with the purpose of keeping the ICDP community together. The themes were connected to the situation, for example how to do digital trainings, how to implement the programme and keep it alive in the organisation. We hope that 2022 will be a better year.
ICDP in 2020 – during pandemic
EARLY DEVELOPMENTS:
By the beginning of 2002 ICDP became established within the health services for families with young children, child protection services, preschools, schools and some work was also carried out within institutions for psychiatric services for children and youth with severe psychosocial problems.ICDP activities developed first in Stockholm and in Kumla, and then spread during 2003 to other places in Sweden, reaching 5000 parents.
The work is sponsored by municipalities, county councils and the EU. In addition, a research project implementing the ICDP-programme in two municipalities was set up with the support from the county council of Stockholm.
In 2005 ICDP training was conducted in various parts of Sweden. By the end of the year there were 360 accredited facilitators, 154 were professionals from the area of education and 135 were nurses. Also among the accredited facilitators there were psychologists and social workers. Several more people have gone through the theoretical part of the training as facilitators but have not yet done the practical side of the ICDP training. In addition, there are 59 ICDP accredited trainers in various parts Sweden. The program has drawn the attention among educationalists and is now part of the courses offered at the Social-educational Institute.
During 2005 there were several network meetings in Sweden, including Network meeting in Örebro for facilitators working within the school system, Network meeting in Stockholm for facilitators at the Center for Public Health, Seminar for ICDP trainers in Stockholm, Network meeting in Halmstad for facilitators working in pre-schools and Network meeting in Sundsvall for ICDP within social services. There were also two seminars held in Stockholm conducted on the theme of ICDP with parent groups with approximately 150 participants from all over Sweden.
ICDP Sweden received financial support for documentation and further development of the program ‘guided interaction’ (Vägledande samspel), which was projected for one year. The documentation resulted in two books on the work within child health and pre-school.
SWEDEN – RUSSIA COOPERATION
The ICDP project called Competence development which has been developing in Arkhangelsk in northwest Russia continued during 2005 and 2006. The project ends in February 2007.
During 2006, 60 new ICDP facilitators were accredited. There are 506 facilitators and 70 trainers in total, although not all trainers are active. Among the accredited facilitators there are psychologists, social workers, pedagogues and nurses. The Social-Educational Institute has continued to offer ICDP as a course. ICDP training has spread all over the country and the programme is implemented through preschools, schools, social services, and healthcare.
ICDP Sweden produced two books, “Information for parents” and “Information in the preschool” and these are given out free at ICDP seminars. A regional network meeting took place on the 13th February 2006.
2007: There are 48 ICDP trainers who signed agreements with ICDP and whose task it is to train facilitators in different parts of the country. In addition 715 persons are accredited as ICDP facilitators and many thousands have participated in the first four days of ICDP training. The ICDP foundation arranges follow-up seminars for each group of trainers and facilitators twice a year as a minimum. ICDP is applied in many fields: health care for mothers and children, parent groups, family centres, preschools, schools and through social care services. Some local governments use ICDP as an educational and ethical base for all work carried out with children in their municipality.
ICDP in Sweden is accepted as a programme which works towards the implementation of ‘The Convention of the Rights of the Child’; since January 2007 it is a member of The Swedish Network for ‘The Convention of the Rights of the Child’, which gathers 50 nongovernmental organisations. The network has annual hearings with members of parliament and representatives of political parties, but children are also given the opportunity to raise questions. ICDP Sweden participated this year for the first time with two delegates. Questions were raised about children in foster care and the situation of refugee children in Sweden with reference to health care and schooling. ICDP Sweden aims to create an ICDP resource group, consisting of children and young people.
In January, the foundation published two books with financial support from The Swedish Inheritance Fund of the Social Ministry: “ICDP in parent groups” and “ICDP in preschools”. During 2007, links were established with the University in Linköping to study the impact of ICDP in the country. This research will start in 2008. In June, Nicoletta Armstrong held a workshop in Västervik for trainers from all over Sweden. In October, a meeting about organisational matters and issues linked to research was held in Oslo, where participants from Sweden, Denmark and Norway learned a lot from each other. In order to allow for continuous exchanges to take place between the 3 countries, ICDP Sweden appointed representatives from Denmark and Norway on its board.
2008: In 2008 Annelie Waldau Bergman became the new chair of ICDP Sweden. In November a group of professionals working in the area of geriatric care received training in ICDP, thus extending the ICDP work to a new area. Another new development is the ICDP project with pupils in secondary schools. It is an adaptation of the ICDP program to meet the needs of young people today. The aim is to reduce alienation and rejection among younger pupils.
In September, Peter Westmark from Denmark held a much appreciated seminar on the theme “Golden Moments” in Västervik and in November a seminar was held in Stockholm, on the topic of “Guided Interaction and Creativity”. Lecturers included Petri Partanen, Paul Bergman, Benny Marcel (from the Cultural Council) and a guest from Denmark, Anne Linder.
The Foundation has started working on an evaluation project, funded by the government’s health institute. Another research project has been initiated in cooperation with Linköpings University, whose goal is to find out whether professionally educated caregivers more easily detect and understand interaction. Evaluations of parenting groups will also be conducted.
ICDP Sweden formed a joint-stock company in order to be able to hire consultants trained in guided interaction for different assignments.
Books, booklets and manuals that were published almost eight years ago are currently under revision and so is the Swedish homepage.
2009: ICDP Sweden has been steadily increasing the scope of its activities. Training of trainers continued to develop all over the country. There are agreements with 100 trainers mostly working in public service, as well as a register of 1200 facilitators. In October ICDP Sweden organized two conferences in Stockholm. The first conference gathered 40 ICDP facilitators who demonstrated how they applied ICDP for the first time in a pilot project with the elderly. The ICDP program implementation with this new target group produced positive results and this work generated enthusiasm among the facilitators. The second conference gathered 40 facilitators who exchanged their experiences in using ICDP with different groups: teenage parents, adoptive parents and parents from minority groups. It became clear that ICDP represents an important and creative process, which allows facilitators to truly make ICDP their own and apply it with many different groups; the facilitators were clearly proud about their involvement with ICDP.
The evaluation project funded by the government’s health institute was set up to ensure quality of training. The research study in cooperation with Linköpings University and the evaluation of parents which started in 2008 have continued to develop.
Karsten Hundeide’s manual was translated and published. It is available from the webpage. www.icdp.se
2010: ICDP Sweden has continued to expand, both by training new trainers and by working more extensively in the area of evaluation. The new webpage has an on-line bookshop: http://www.icdp.se/bocker.aspxNew ICDP materials include workbooks, booklets and leaflets.Innovative work with the elderly is in process of being systematized.Re-organization of the board’s functions was completed.Stronger emphasis was put on hiring existing trainers for new assignments.