Ollie was a student with complex needs, attending a special school. There had been an escalation in violent behaviours and the class teacher was looking for support in how best to meet Ollie’s needs to prevent daily escalations. Through the use of V.I.G. the class teacher decided to build in time for intensive interaction in the day and to slow down Ollie’s transitions - making these calmer. More successful interactions were established throughout the day, which led to a significant reduction in negative incidents. The teacher was also able to implement our learning into group supervision with staff to reflect on their emotions and how the team can support each other. The benefit was felt by Ollie, his teacher and the wider staff team.

This family were at a crisis point. Due to the escalation in the young person’s behaviour in school, they had minimal school attendance. At home, the young person struggled to manage their emotions and relationships within the family had suffered. We worked together to film positive moments of play and arts and crafts, which were the exception to the current pattern of interaction within the home. Both parents were able to identify the skills they were using within those calm and positive moments and implement these strategies in more difficult situations. The child loved our sessions and would ask when I was coming to film again. The family decided to implement regular ‘calm’ activities. After a few weeks of working together the wellbeing and quality of life of all the family members had improved.

Mrs Morris was a teaching assistant working closely with Millie in a mainstream primary school. Millie has a diagnosis of autism and ADHD and she often became very upset in school. The adults struggled to identify what had upset Millie and they wanted to work on developing communication about emotions with Millie. We filmed clips of Mrs Morris and Millie spending time together. Over time, Mrs Morris developed skills in identifying subtle signs of communication coming from Millie and was able to respond to these in a preventative way. Over time, Millie felt safe to start sharing her feelings and after a few weeks was able to find Mrs Morris and share with her when she felt sad or angry.

Zac was a Year 6 pupil who has significant learning difficulties in a mainstream primary school. The staff were unsure of what else they could do to meet his unique needs. The psychologist filmed herself using mediation strategies with Zac, which helped him access the task. Short video clips were then used in an action planning meeting to model successful ways of supporting Zac. A decision was made to repeat the process with the Year 6 teaching assistant, analysing clips of successful mediation to identify what works for Zac. Zac’s independence increased significantly and he begun to make steps of progress in his learning.