Ver 2, February 2018

Family Capacity Building

Two novel Early Inter vention processes:

Visioning with Pictability© and

Implementing with Now and Next©
….By families for families

Award Winning Early Intervention

Experiences for Families

Australia contact: Sylvana Mahmic, CEO, Plumtree; sylvana@plumtree.org.au +61 415 313 944
New Zealand contact: Dr. Annick Janson: annick.janson@egl.ac.nz +64 27 288 1949
1
“Every family
should do the Now
and Next program
as early as
possible”
Melo Kalemkeridis, parent

Summary: What is new for parents raising a

child with disability or developmental delay??

Parents are invited to engage in an innovative and creative vision

setting process (Pictability©) as a new aspirational starting point.

Parents implement their vision through Now and Next© which

offers a radically new journey to families. The program disrupts
the stagnation resulting from an imbalance in parent-professional
relationships. This imbalance partially resulted from professionals
traditionally carrying responsibility to establish the partnership
with families to fuel progress.

On their Now and Next© journey, families grow their

empowerment and agency to play a leadership role in achieving
goals for their child, their family and themselves. This enables
them to come to the parent-professional relationship from a
leadership perspective.

2
How is Pictability© a game-changer?

• Pictability© is a new approach to help

families set a positive vision for now and
the future. Parents lead the process,
exploring possibilities about the future
and taking steps to make them happen.

• Pictability© launches families into a

powerful creative vision setting session.
This new starting point ensures we bring
the authentic voice of the family into the
planning process in ways not possible
before and secures a strong basis for
parents’ engagement with the process.

• Following this initial session, parents

continue working on the goals they have
chosen and are committed to: a goal for
their child, a goal for their family and a
goal for themselves during the Now and
Next© program.

• Pictability© training is carried out with

professionals and families together to
embody the new partnership common
grounds. Pictability© sessions are often
run by peer families.

“Pictability© helps the family drive some of their

children’s progress and family outcomes -
including those that are outside of therapy”.

Julie Cowmeadow. Speech Therapist

3
“The Now and Next peer
network’s collective
agenda and long term
vision is to “build a
social movement to
inspire a new generation
of parents of young
children with disabilities
to lead their family’s
progress, drawing from
a sustainable and
deeply embedded peer-
networked foundation of
knowledge, capacity
and creativity.”

Now and Next© operates on 3 levels

1. A 9-week creative learning program by and for families with young children with
disability and/or developmental delays. The program facilitates parents to support
and motivate each other to explore opportunities for their children through a
manualised and reproducible process. Using engaging resources to transform their
vision into goals and actions, they share strategies and record outcomes via photos,
video, audio and text through a bespoke multimedia app, to celebrate and reflect on
successes and on next steps.

2. A mechanism to identify and train emerging leaders. As the program unfolds,

emerging leaders amongst participants are identified and offered training to deliver
the program. They get paid during training and for subsequent facilitation work. Now
and Next© thus builds a team of peer facilitators who share their knowledge whilst
growing positive leadership within their communities.

3. A growing social movement. The long-term vision of participants is to inspire a

new generation of parents of vulnerable children “to lead their family’s progress,
drawing from sustainable and deeply embedded peer-networked foundations of
knowledge, capacity and creativity”. This agenda stems from the fact that families are
acutely aware that “professionals come and go – families are here to stay” (parent).
As they graduate from Now and Next©, families join the Alumni group and peer
network to continue to inform, support and motivate each other. This movement
scales up as more parents become trained as peer facilitators and its sustainability
also strengthens.

4
What Makes Now and Next© and Pictability© Innovative?

Evidence-informed
These programs aim to grow families’ understanding on improving their wellbeing
and flourishing. Rooted in positive psychology (Damon, 2008; Seligman, 1990,
2011; Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), the programs provide a robust
foundation to understand the transformation from “grief” to “growth”. They are the
first programs for parents of children with disability since 2016 to use Prospection
theory (Seligman et al., 2016). Parents develop an inspirational long-term vision for
their child, plan goals and create a learning environment where peers assist each
other to build skills to achieve positive outcomes for their child and family.

A radically new way to craft effective parent-professional relationships

Traditional methods to bring about partnerships with professionals continue to be a
challenge. Through Now and Next© and Pictability©, parents learn to craft more
effective parent-professional relationships as a new basis for partnership aimed at
growing progress for their child and family. The parent-professional statement
authored by 57 families at the outset of their first family-lead conference was
launched globally by the UK Centre for Welfare Reform and Simon Duffy: http://
www.centreforwelfarereform.org/library/by-az/parent-professional-relationship.htm)

Raising families’ feeling of agency over their future through fun activities
Using adult learning strategies, parents learn in a fun environment. Research-
informed mini-interventions based on positive psychology and mindfulness teach
participants to increase the wellbeing levels of their children and families. The
programs rest on a complete suite of novel engaging tools such as a purpose built
App to record progress, a colouring book to reflect mindfully and Goal to Action
processes through which parents reach their goals faster.

Award winner
Piloted in 2016 and launched late
2016, Now and Next© was a finalist
in the 2017 NSW Disability Industry
Innovation Awards and a winner for
the 2017 ECIA NSW/ACT
Excellence Award for Outstanding
Family-Centered and Culturally
Responsive Practice.

5
“The impact of parents doing the Now and Next program
together: An auto-ethnography”
Nicole and Clayton Buffoni

I enrolled in the course firstly because my wife

wanted to do the course, wanted to do it
Before my son was diagnosed with ASD, my husband
together with me and because when I looked at
and I had always been an incredible team. Life, for the
the course and content I thought, well, there is
most part had felt like we were in it together- facing both
much I am ignorant of, much I could learn, so
our challenges and dreams as one. Once we had the
even if I learn just one thing a week I’m still in
diagnosis, however, I quickly immersed myself in every
front and I get to have my wife still speaking
book, paper and article I could find on ASD. Every
with me. Many months later with the dust now
moment of my day was either dedicated to therapy with
well settled and my wife now a Parent Facilitator
my son or research. My husband did all he could to help
on the program I have been handed another
out but inevitably as time went on I felt that we were no
question: “What benefits would you say you
longer the powerful team that I had so treasured. I felt
gained by doing the course as a couple?
isolated, alone and sometimes even resentful when he
walked out the door to work.
The answer for me is this: Even for couples
where both halves participate in the raising of
Now & Next allowed us to find that team again. For the
their child or children, there tends to be a
first time in along time we began to dream together
demarcation of certain duties that fall to the one
again… We weren’t in the mode of catastrophe and
of the other. There may be some that are shared
panic, which had dominated most of our discussions
such as nappy changes and feeding for example
post-diagnosis. We were able to sit down together and
but practicality and time management often
talk about what we wanted for ourselves, Harry and us as
dictate which of the child raising duties, become
a family. Working with the same objectives in mind gave
the remit of which parent. So although the
us a synergy. We had decided on these goals together,
overall objective is shared, that of making little
so we were both equally invested in making them
human s who will grow to have all our positive
happen.
traits, none of our failings and a swag of
additional compliments, we are not sharing
We brought our own unique strengths to the table and
everything in equal amounts. If one partner is
worked through the 5-window approach (a process
working full time it is likely that the other will be
outlined in the course) and actually made our goals
the primary carer who has a far more intimate
happen. I realised that before the course I had been
knowledge of the various therapy session that
working on specific goals with my son but hadn’t
are undergone each week. They will have larger
explained my strategies to my husband. So when he
amounts of one on one time with the child that
suddenly would change a routine I would get resentful
allows them a more rounded insight into day-to-
because he didn’t understand what I was trying to
day actions and developments.
achieve. When you have time to debrief on goals you
have time to see the process your partner is going Clayton
through… Their dreams, hopes and why they are
insisting on certain things. It opens up space for
empathy, encouragement and support.

6
Nicole
 Family resilience and working as a team

Impact When there is quiet time for the two of you to sit
down (we can dream) you may share the
experiences of when one or the other of you has
not been present and this connection, this holistic
analysis and sharing is invaluable and provides
the base for setting objectives for family and
individuals and a pillar to further growth of your
child and you as a family. This for me this was the
essence of doing Now and Next as a couple.
There was also something therapeutic about hearing
other people’s stories. When I heard a dad speak
We learned many other things together including
about the challenges he had with trying to provide
how to set short and long term goals and an
the financial support to keep the family afloat, it put
understanding of the relationship between one
into perspective the pressure my husband is under
leading to the other. We created a process for
to keep his good job and meet demands outside
setting goals for the family both short and long
the family. Personally, hearing other families stories
term and made decisions together on the best
made me feel less alone, but what I hadn’t realised
way ahead. We achieved goals together that we
until we did the course was that my husband hadn’t
had set together.
really spoken to others at all about our
circumstances before. Now & Next gave my
Finally, I got to hear my wife voice to other
husband his first opportunity to really unpack our
people our journey to date and to express it
situation.
myself finding synchronicity or juxtaposition
between our views. Later we could discuss our
Together, we learnt many important principles
differences and learnings from the session and
during our time doing Now & Next. The advantage I
find a shared constant that we could proceed
feel in doing the course together means that we
with together as a couple, together as a family.
now always have that shorthand dialogue. We can
gently remind each other when we forget key
Clayton
components. Creating time and space to work on
family resilience is not a luxury. Our child’s progress
is not just reliant on mum or therapy. It’s about
making the whole family dynamic work. I would urge
any couple out there who have the chance to attend
the course together to do it. We need our
foundations to be strong. It’s not about blame or
comparison or guilt about who does more, or who
does it tougher. It’s about building up our resilience “Now and Next allowed us to find that
to nurture resilient, competent, confident children team again… for the first time we
and to enjoy the ride while we are at it. began to dream together again”

Nicole

7
How were these programs conceived?

The first version of these programs was designed by Sylvana Mahmic, CEO, Plumtree
& Dr Annick Janson, Research Affiliate, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

They are both mothers with lived experience and professionals in the disability sector.
With the benefit of hindsight, they asked: What would the best early intervention
program be for parents? They applied ethnography, positive psychology and family-
centered design thinking to implement radically new solutions and harness previously
untapped parent expertise and enthusiasm.

Today’s program has changed with the input of over 200 families who co-designed the
new versions of the programs.

The programs innovation and impact place them in a unique global category on their
way to changing family earliest experience of the disability sector. Our long term
research objectives are to document how empowering parents at this early stage will
ultimately decrease family dependency on services.

Annick (L) and Sylvana (R) presenting their pilot results at the 2015 NDIS New World conference in Brisbane

8
A Participative Research Process

Now and Next© trains its peer facilitators as participant-observers in the research process. Peer facilitators track
achievements in real time, through participants reporting progress in session and via social media – as they seek to
improve practice in an ongoing manner. Participants’ empowerment levels are also measured as they gain core
knowledge from other parents’ reflections, which they can use in their own learning journeys. Real time tracking is
crucial to improving outcomes.

Harnessing parents’ previously untapped commitment brings about novel insight, for instance this illustration
created by a participant to describe the program’s outcomes. These results are detailed in our upcoming
publication Embedding positive psychology and flourish thinking in peer support networks for parents raising
young children with disability: A game-changer (2018)

Illustration designed by Now and Next parent Jackie Pasternak

This publication also details how short and long term goals were classified and achieved during the Now
and Next© program: most goals were achieved at a rate of over 90%, with some such as Investing in family
relationship building and parents career goals to the rate of 100%.

In addition, the program engaged with audiences up to 48% from Cultural And Diverse Language
backgrounds, from between 23% to 50% fathers, depending on the activities and times the activities are
held. For a more detailed results table, see http://tinyurl.com/2017-NN-research.

9
Publications and Presentations
Awards
2017 ECIA NSW/ACT Excellence Award for
Outstanding Family Centred and Culturally
Responsive Practice (winner)


2017 NSW Disability Industry Awards (finalist)


2015 The Family Storysharing project launched by
Min. Ajaka. Movie trailer.
Publications
Janson, A. & Mahmic, S. (2018) Embedding positive
psychology and flourish thinking in peer support
networks for parents raising children with disability: A
game-changer. [draft]  Possibilities - Investing in the Future Conference,
Bharti, S. (2017) Inaugural Now and Next© Alumni
Conference Online Proceedings. Book Creator blog.    Mahmic, S. and Janson, A. (2016) Transforming
 
Janson, A. and Mahmic, S. (2017) Now and Next© - A
leadership pipeline adventure: Launching the first
Australasian network for families raising young
children with disability. [Accepted for publication:
Centre for Welfare Reform]
Heyworth, M., Mahmic, S. and Janson, A. (2017) Now
and Next©: A radically new way to build peer
leadership in families raising young children with
disability or development delay. International Journal
of Disability, Community and Rehabilitation. http://
www.ijdcr.ca/VOL15_01/index.shtml


Heyworth, M. (2017) Parent-Professional Relationship
Statement: Working in partnership with professionals.
Available at: www.centreforwelfarereform.org/library/
by-date/parent-professional-relationship.html
Conference presentations
Mahmic, S. (2018) Keynote Address Now and Next –
Capacity building through family leadership, peer
work and education, NZDSN Wellington (April 11-12)
Janson, A. (2017) Co-production (co-design) and
organisational impact: The Australian Now and Next©
experience. European Association of Service Providers
to Disability (EASPD) Flourishing Lives: Supportive
Communities and Sustainable Development,
Montenegro (October 25-27; invited keynote).
Kalemkeridis, M. and Williamson, J. (2017) Being a
peer facilitator, Belonging Matters August
Conference, Melbourne (August 16-17).  10
Janson, R. and Janson, A. (2017) Peer networks for
sustainable impact. Arts and Society Round Table,
Paris, France (Oct 18).
 
Mahmic, S., Williamson, J., Touma, S. Buffoni, N.,
Kalemkeridis, M., Le, I., and Janson, A. (2017) Building
family leadership through harnessing peer support.
International Initiative for Disability Leadership (IIDL)
Brag and Steal: Building family capacity to improve
outcomes, Sydney (February 27-28).
Mahmic, S. Janson, A., Kalemkeridis, M. and
Williamson, J. (2017) Building family leadership
through harnessing peer support. ECI: Beyond
Sydney (May 25-26).
families' early experiences of self-direction. Building
Momentum: Turning ideas into action through self-
direction, Auckland (November 16-17).
Mahmic, S., Farah, I. Williamson, J and Janson, A.
(2016) Families and staff: Shaping new ways of
working together. International ECIA Early Childhood
Intervention Association, Melbourne (September
7-10).
Mahmic, S. and Janson, A. (2015) Designing a novel
multimedia planning and implementation that is both
innovative and fun! NDIS New World Conference:
Disability in the 21st Century, Brisbane (October
27-29).
Case Study
Mahmic, S., Treloar, R., Farah, I. Taylor, K., Le, I., Adler,
R. and Janson, A. (2016) Transforming the experience
of families raising children with disability. Available at:
http://bookcreator.com/blog/2016/01/book-creator-
helps-transform-experience-families-affected-
disability 
Blog
http://now-and-next-alumni.blogspot.com   
Web
www.plumtree.org.au/nowandnext
Twitter
https://twitter.com/nownextalumni
Original, unsolicited statement from a participant
Hello, my name is Jacqui Godwin, I wanted to thank you for the Now and Next program, it was such a beautiful
experience! All of it was immensely helpful.

My understanding of the process of the Now and Next Course and the larger purpose of the course is that it teaches
us how to:

• Create a vision of lovely possibilities for us and our child,

• Break those long range visions down into the detailed steps and support we need to get there,
• Let go of the outcomes of things which are mostly beyond our control (and sometimes turn out in a more
beautiful way than anything we had imagined)
• Place our focus, intention and effort on the immediate steps in the present (which is the alive field of real
possibility, where we can make a difference)
• Practice these steps for three goals

The course did all of that so beautifully (in just 8 weeks). These are valuable skills for the whole of a spirited life, useful
in everything!

The trust, safety and togetherness that was established was amazing to me. There was one night which was
particularly magical … the whole room of people anonymously shared their biggest worries (many of them shared by
everyone) and the whole room brainstormed ideas for those worries, that was unbelievably wonderful! I’ve never seen
anything like it before. When I looked at the bit of sticky paper and thought, this whole room of people are going to
brainstorm these worries, I’m going to put a big one down. I think everybody did the same because they were all
deeply intimate, personal and profound concerns that we shared … anonymously and safely … it transformed those
worries, some of them had great solutions we hadn’t thought of, others turned into lovely possibilities instead of
worries and some could just be let go … that was brilliant.

Each of the three goals I chose to work on for the Now and Next course was transformed in just those few weeks. For
example, with Sophie’s communication skills, I got out of the passenger seat and into the driver’s seat and by
communicating with everyone involved found our shared vision for our work with Sophie with her communication,
including lovely long range vision of the learning process and very clear detailed goals and strategies for the present
and the coming year. I’m doing a whole lot of lovely new things for that which are working beautifully. Sophie’s thrilled
(she loves photo and video stories about her! and having laminated photos of all her favourite foods so she can ask
for them!).

All my kind wishes and thanks for everything,

Jaqui

11