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Dear VTI Supporters: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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“When eating a fruit, think of the person who planted the tree.”

– Vietnamese Proverb

What a lovely quote, beautiful and powerful in its simplicity. And for the Validation Training Institute (VTI), so very pertinent.

For VTI, a nonprofit founded in 1984, realizing that the fruits of our labor genuinely depends on you, our many supporters. You are the planters of our garden. Whether it’s financial support, sharing Validation information on social media or participating in a Validation workshop or class, your contributions are essential to our work.Validation Method, caregivers, dementia

To illustrate this point, consider the following facts:

  • Your support helps extend the reach of 10,000 dementia care communities in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia; 88,000-plus people who have attended Validation workshops; and 6,000-plus Validation-certified caregivers practicing Validation worldwide.
  • Your support pays for our ability to do more: We are able to increase quality in teaching by keeping track of quality criteria (continuing education requirements for teachers and authorized curricula) and enhance concerted communication with our certified Validation Teachers around the world.
  • Your support helps us make VTI sustainable into the future by hiring professionals instead of depending on volunteers.

Today, we want to recognize you for planting our garden with your support and helping us to grow.

In that spirit, we have created a Supporter page that lists every financial donor (minus those who wished to remain anonymous) we’ve had since 2015. This list will be updated annually. We want to proudly and visibly recognize those who have gotten us to where we are.

It’s our way to say “thanks” for helping us with our continuing work to help the older adults and caregivers around the world whose lives are enriched through Validation. And of course we invite you to add your name to this list with a donation (and hope you do)!

From all of us at VTI, thank YOU!

For VTI, Filmmaking Partnership a Critical Part of Success

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The long-standing professional partnership between VTI founder Naomi Feil and her husband, retired filmmaker Ed Feil, has led to a slew of award-winning films in the fields of gerontology, education and human relations—and even a place in the National Film Registry. For Ed, filmmaking has always been a labor of love.

Last fall, the New York Times ran an article that detailed the story of a remarkable home movie, shot during the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City. This wasn’t just any home movie, though: the photographer ended up capturing a portion of the film “Think,” a film installation created for the World’s Fair that was thought to be lost to history forever. In addition to its content, the film was also unique because of its professional quality (in comparison to amateur efforts of the time).

So, what does this have to do with the Validation Training Institute, you ask? The cameraman was none other than Ed Feil, husband of Validation Training Institute founder Naomi Feil. To understand this story is to more fully comprehend the origins of VTI. That’s because over the course of several decades, Naomi and Ed teamed up to create multiple award-winning films that led to wider dissemination of Naomi’s vision.

“Ed’s films were really the start of everything,” Naomi says.

The 1964 home movie, described in the Times article, sheds some light on Ed’s passion for filmmaking and gives a glimpse into life in the Feil family.

Edward Feil, displaying some of the films he has produced with Naomi. Photo courtesy of Vanessa Salvia.

“The World’s Fair film shows a woman taking in the sights with two little girls in tow — Mr. Feil’s wife, Naomi, and two daughters. There are shots of crowds moving, always moving, and of newfangled conveyances like moving sidewalks and moving chairs, which look like blue-black caterpillars inching toward the camera. Later, Mr. Feil catches a glimpse of a brand-new 1964 Chevrolet. In another shot, the U.S. Royal Ferris wheel, a giant tire that was the work of the architecture firm that designed the Empire State Building, whirls in the distance. There is no soundtrack, but it is easy to imagine the oohs and ahhs.”

While the Times story primarily focused on Ed’s connection with the “Think” film, it also highlighted the quality of Ed’s entire catalogue of work (both professional and home movies). For example, just four years after the Worlds’ Fair film was shot, Ed and Naomi’s 1968 film, “The Inner World of Aphasia,” was made. Two years ago, that film was inducted into the National Film Registry.

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Naomi Feil, from “The Inner World of Aphasia”; image courtesy of Edward Feil Productions

“Ed’s home movies are not your average home movies,” said Robert Anen, a graduate student at New York University’s Moving Image Archive, in the Times article. “Ed was a professional. His home movies are heavily stylized compared to your average home movie where someone is pointing the camera at a Christmas tree or taking it in the car with them or stuff like that. He’s got this built-in technique to make his footage entertaining even though it was a home movie.”

Recently, Robert exchanged e-mails with Naomi discussing other films that Ed helped create. Below are a few highlights of their conversation, and more insight into the early days of VTI. Enjoy!

 

From: Robert L Anen
To: Naomi Feil
Subject: Re: Question about your home movies.

Hi Naomi, Ed and Ken,

I’ve been watching your home movies lately and the edited travelogues from Denmark, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, etc are all stunning works. I’m curious about something, when I was selecting these to be digitized, back when I was interning at IULMIA, I noticed that these travelogues were composite prints, not merely was the original footage edited together but Ed sent the footage off to Film Lab to have a print struck. These travelogues tell stories, have an arc, etc.

Do you know why Ed did this? Was it solely for pleasure? Did his clients for Edward Feil Productions fund his trips to some of these countries and Ed made these travelogues as a gift? I’m really curious to find out.

– Robert

From: Naomi Feil
To: Robert L Anen
Subject: Re: Question about your home movies.

Hello Robert,

Ed felt so good when he read your email.  He edited the travelogues because they gave him pleasure,  and he felt that they had entertainment value.  He was hoping to show them to people who might be interested in funding his trips.

Unfortunately, he never did show them.  He did show them to family and friends, and we all enjoyed them.

It is so wonderful that, at age 92, his films have found a new light , and give pleasure to others.  Thank you!

Have a wonderful holiday, and a year full of joy.

– Naomi and Ed

From: Robert L Anen
To: Naomi Feil
Subject: Re: Question about your home movies.

Hi Naomi,
That is so wonderful to hear! I believe Ed’s travelogues will serve as historical documents of many places for years to come. Home movies are being studied more than ever these days, in fact. It’s all a matter of getting the digitized travelogues out to the countries where they were initially shot.

Dan Streible dubbed me a “home movie whisperer” of sorts at the time I discovered the connection between the World’s Fair footage and Think. I like the title and will try do just that over the coming years.

On another note, yesterday, for the first time, I watched “Looking for Yesterday” via the Kanopy streaming service. Very moving, authentic, and educational. It’s fascinating to see the development of your Validation method beginning with “Where Life Still Means Living”. How did you come to the idea of incorporating your research into the scripts?
Happy Holidays!

– Robert

From: Naomi Feil
To: Robert L Anen
Subject: Re: Question about your home movies.

Hello Robert,

Or should I say, “Home Movie Whisperer”……a great title.

Glad you liked “Looking For Yesterday.”  To answer your question, I grew up at Montefiore Home.  My father was the director and we lived in the home.  The residents were my friends, as I didn’t have many friends, having just moved to Cleveland.  I knew the “old people” well, and began working with the disoriented people in 1963.  I had written a number of articles about my work, and found, that when I entered their world, they began to talk.  In 1972, “Reality Orientation” became the treatment for this population.  This was the treatment proposed by a Psychiatrist, Dr. Folsom, director of a V.A. hospital in Alabama.

A journalist, who had come to observe my group, wrote: “Fantasy is an Arm for Therapy” at Montefiore Home.  So, I called my work, “Fantasy Therapy.”  I knew that directing the people to  outside reality caused withdrawal inward, because I had tried it. Entering their world, built a successful relationship, and the people responded and became animated.  I wanted to show the geriatric community that “Reality Orientation” had negative results with very old people who were disoriented and had entered their inner reality.  So, I wrote the script for “Looking”, based on my knowledge of the people who were disoriented.  Ed filmed my group meetings.  Since my father was the director, the head nurse, who was forcing “Reality Orientation” on the people could not stop our filming.

The film was banned by the geriatric population, and I received a number of “hate letters”.  A researcher from Benjamin Rose Institute in Cleveland, saw “Looking”, and told me that I was”Validating” the people, and shouldn’t use the word, “Fantasy” if I wanted the scientific community to research my method.  So, after we filmed “Looking,”  I changed the name to:”Validation.”

We made a number of films which may interest you: “100 Years to Live” documents three generations, and what happens when people are suddenly placed nursing homes. Hope this answers your question.

Thanks again for your insights.  Happy Holidays!

– Naomi

 

On the Road with the Validation Method

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Editor’s Note: This month, we hear from two familiar voices: VTI Executive Director Vicki de Klerk-Rubin and her mother, Validation Founder Naomi Feil. The pair recently wrapped up their final European tour (together) and shared a few musings on the experience and the future of Validation.

On the road with Mom

I’m writing this article from my Paris hotel where Naomi and I are enjoying our first day off after one week of touring. We’ve had workshops in Bonn, Germany and Roubaix and Paris, France. We will be going to Dijon, France, then to Frankfurt and Stuttgart, Germany. Naomi and I are doing ‘duo-workshops’ —alternating presentations throughout the day and harmonizing so that one section flows into the next—while also maintaining our personal styles.

Paris, France, Naomi Feil

(L-R) Naomi and Vicki in Paris, France.

We’re driving from place to place so it feels like a road trip. On travel days, we get in the car at 11 a.m. and drive three to four hours to get to our next hotel before settling in, meeting our workshop organizer and hoping that all the technical elements are okay.

First thing the next morning, we get to the venue, meet the tech person (if there is a tech person), test the DVDs, the mics and power points. Naomi makes sure that she can move easily between the ‘stage’ and the audience, since so much of her presentation includes audience participation. Sometimes I run the tech, sometimes not.

Naomi is a rock star in Germany and France, with groupies that line up to get her signature and take a selfie. We even had one woman who lined up for a half hour to have Naomi sign her name on her belly! It’s crazy. In one location there are 1,800 people in the audience while the usual number is 300-500.

Unpack the luggage, pack the luggage; a different hotel every two nights. Different workshop organizers have different styles of preparing for us. Each venue offers new challenges.

However, the people in the audience don’t change.

They are looking to Naomi and me for inspiration and answers to questions. How do I handle my mother who blames me for stealing her money? What do I say to the community resident who yells all day? Through role-play, exercises and dynamic interaction, the Validation lessons come across. We get standing ovations at every workshop.

Life on the road is hard and tiring. It’s also satisfying to reach out and touch the lives of so many people. This is how Naomi started Validation: by doing workshop after workshop, spreading the word, touching others with her words and role plays. Between the late 1970s and now, she has done more than 800 workshops all over the world.

Now at 84 years old, she’s still inspiring caregivers with me at her side, sharing the role.

— Vicki de Klerk-Rubin

Validation Will ‘Live On’

What a pleasure to share my life with my daughter. Vicki’s enthusiasm and skill in reaching people has given our workshops “pizazz.”  I only wish that we could pack up, deliver our message and zoom across the world forever, but I know that Vicki will continue to inspire caregivers for many years.

Stuttgart, Germany2

(L-R in front row): Vicki and Naomi in Stuttgart, Germany with two event attendees.

I am grateful that my children have picked up where I left off, and expanded my work. With their help and knowledge, Validation will live on to ensure the dignity of the old person.

— Naomi Feil

Validation an Important Piece of Company’s Unique Approach to Older Adult Care

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CEO: ‘I truly don’t think I would be working in the field of long-term care…if I had not run across Naomi Feil.”

When it comes to caring for older adults, Scott Averill is not afraid to think outside the box.

Along with his wife, Susan, Averill is CEO and co-owner of three Kansas-based older adult communities: Brookside Retirement Community (Overbrook), Wellsville Retirement Community (Wellsville) and The Fields of Brookside (a memory care home that offers a safe environment for six residents living with dementia). All told, he has spent more than two decades working in older adult care communities.

Scott Averill

Scott Averill

Their 200-plus staff members comfort and care for approximately 170 older-adult residents.

As an owner, he has focused on creating success with his staff and residents through participation in (sometimes) unorthodox endeavors, such as hot air balloon rides, skydiving escapades, flying in a twin-engine plane and taking trips to Vegas to see Cirque du Soleil.

“We keep prodding ourselves to think ‘out-of-the-box’ so that we can create an on-going culture of aliveness and vitality,” Scott said. “It serves us well in that we don’t have census issues. We often run full with a waiting list of people wanting to move in.”

He’s not always unconventional, though, as evidenced by his support of the Validation Training Institute’s “I Validate to Connect” campaign earlier this fall. Scott donated $500 to the campaign that raised seed funding money for a Validation Method study.

“Philanthropic work that truly makes a difference is critically important,” Scott said. “I got involved with “I Validate to Connect” because of the profound difference that Naomi and her work have made in my life and my career.”

Scott said he has been a practitioner of Validation since the first time he saw Naomi lead a full-day workshop in 1991.

“I have led Validation groups off and on for more than 25 years,” he said. “I have hosted Naomi numerous times over the past 25 years and in 1996, we hosted the first-ever International Validation Symposium in Kansas City, Kan.  I also served on the VTI Board of Directors for about 15 years.”

In other words, Scott has made Validation a core part of his professional life.

“Scott has supported Naomi Feil and VTI in so many ways,” said Vicki de Klerk-Rubin, VTI Executive Director. “He’s been running Validation groups, training his staff, hosting workshops and worked as a board trustee for decades. That kind of engagement is exactly what VTI needs most and is the reason why our organization has lasted all these years.”

In turn, Scott said he is grateful for what Validation has done for him.

“I truly don’t think I would be working in the field of long-term care for 27 years if I had not run across Naomi Feil,” he said. “My ability to connect with all people—but especially our confused elders—is both a privilege and ongoing inspiration that keeps me motivated to keep serving in a very challenging and rewarding career.”

Thank you Scott!

VTI Assembling Worldwide Validation Speakers List

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The nonprofit invites Validation Presenters and Teachers who have maintained continuing education and supervision requirements to join the new list, which will be shared with conference organizers seeking speakers.

The Validation Training Institute (VTI) is taking a giant step to maintain quality in Validation training worldwide—while making it easier for conference organizers to find Validation speakers—with the creation of a VTI Worldwide Speakers List.

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“One of the most important qualities that makes Validation training consistently excellent are the standards required of Validation Teachers,” said VTI Executive Director Vicki de Klerk-Rubin. “This differentiates Validation Teachers from presenters of other ‘person-centered’ methods. High quality training is part of the VTI mission.”

According to the VTI Quality Manual, Validation Presenters and Teachers must have some sort of continuing education every year AND a supervision one time every five years. To monitor these activities, VTI maintains a registry of every person certified at Level 3 (Presenters/Teachers). Currently, there are 388 people who have completed this level of training, worldwide.

Using this registry, VTI will create a Speakers List. Information for the Speakers List will include:

  • Contact information
  • Languages spoken
  • Area/s willing to travel to speak
  • Country of residence

Teachers and Presenters who maintain their continuing education and supervision requirements are identified by VTI as recommended Validation spokespeople. The database is updated annually by VTI as new information is received. To ensure this information is current, Validation Presenters and Teachers should:

  • Fill in forms provided by VTI
  • Scan and provide VTI with all documentation related to continuing education and/or supervision on a regular basis.

This new Speakers List will help VTI to grow, said de Klerk-Rubin.

“Presenting Validation at conferences helps spread quality information and promote Validation,” said de Klerk-Rubin.

If you would like to be placed on the Worldwide Validation Speakers list or update your information, contact VTI Manager Jana Stoddard via e-mail at info (at) vfvalidation (dot) org .

VTI has future plans to maintain a list of important worldwide conferences so that Presenters and Teachers have better access to this information, so stay tuned for further updates!

Q&A with New Validation Support Group Leader

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Editor’s Note: The Validation Training Institute (VTI) will offer a free, monthly online “Validation Support Group” that starts on Feb. 22 (5 p.m. PST, 8 p.m. EST). Today, we’ll meet Validation Teacher Odile “Olga” Lavault, who will be leading that group. For more information on the group, see the Validation Support Group announcement, or e-mail Validation Training Institute Manager Jana Stoddard at jana (at) vfvalidation (dot) org.

VTI: Thank you for joining us today, Olga. We at VTI are very excited you are starting this Support Group for so many reasons. In your own words, why do you think caregivers should consider participating in the group?

OL: The support group could be a way to continue the supervised practice at the heart of the Validation Worker courses. The respectful feedback given to the participants will encourage them to be more confident and creative, even if their work environment feels challenging.

VTI: Who can most benefit from the support group?

OL: The group would be particularly useful to certified Validation workers who feel isolated in their work environment. Maybe they are the only Validation trained person on staff; maybe they are hesitant to discuss difficulties within their work environment; maybe there is no structure available to evaluate and improve relationships between staff and residents.

VTI: So, where do you live now?

OL: I have lived in Berkeley, Calif., for the last 24 years. I was born in Paris, France, where I lived until 1992.

validation, dementia, Odile Lavault

VTI: What do you do for a living?

OL: I am a musician and a recreation therapist. I work as life enrichment coordinator in a 380-bed nonprofit skilled nursing facility in San Francisco.

VTI: What do you like to do when you are not working?

OL: I ride a bicycle or I walk. I write nonfiction. I take tai chi and improvised dance classes. I hang out with family and friends. I cook, I sew sometimes. I participate in musical projects.

VTI: What/who got you interested in Validation?

OL: Back when I was a full-time musician, I was volunteering in a small nursing home leading an art class for older residents with major physical and mental challenges. The administrator sent me to my first day-long Validation workshop as a thank-you gesture. At the end of the day, spent watching Naomi Feil, I decided to become a Validation teacher!

VTI: How long have you been a teacher?

OL: I completed my teacher certification in 2012. I received my Validation training in France and in the United States. It is one of the advantages of studying a method taught all over the world with the same curriculum.

VTI: Was there a specific moment when you first realized Validation worked? If so, what was that moment?

OL: It could be the day I decided to lie on the floor, next to a 99-year-old disoriented woman who did not want to get up. We were able to connect in a mostly nonverbal way. She could see I cared. Five minutes later we were both up, me playing the accordion and her singing.

VTI: What is the most challenging part about practicing Validation?

OL: Not doing too much, not coming in with a plan. Being open to improvisation.

VTI: What the most important thing Validation has taught you?

OL: Each individual has the unique capacity to process their issues and heal. What might seem meaningless might be part of a healing process. Everything that is expressed verbally or not is valuable.

Thank you Olga for helping to lead this important group!