Jeugdbescherming Overijssel starts a new era of growth and innovation

Jeugdbescherming Overijssel (JbOV) is there for young people growing up in seriously unsafe home situations or at risk of going off the rails. They pay a lot of attention to the safety, growth and development of these youth, but they also want to give their own employees the opportunity to grow and develop. We spoke with Claire Diets, Program Manager for Marketing and Innovation at JbOV, to learn more about their journey to employee development.

The need for employee development

The mission of Jeugdbescherming Overijssel is to direct the safety of juveniles on behalf of society. Jeugdbeschermers, the executive employees, must therefore take certain mandatory training courses within the organization. Claire Diets explains: "The training courses within the organization used to be mainly job-oriented, with little room for personal choice. If you wanted to take a course in Spanish, you couldn't." The need for more flexibility and choice for employees was growing. In addition to this, they wanted to give not only the performers a chance for development, but also all other employees within JbOV.

The introduction of online learning

To meet this need, the JbOV Academy was created in cooperation with SkillsTown. "The JbOV Academy is intended for all employees within Youth Protection Overijssel. This gives all employees the freedom to develop at their own pace, regardless of their position," says Claire. "The employees also have more control over their own development. It goes beyond job-related training, but they can also take training courses that they themselves are interested in."

"You can't do without an online academy in this day and age. And in SkillsTown's online academy, there is so much to find. I haven't gotten through it myself yet, because there are more and more current training courses being added."

- Claire Diets, Program Manager Marketing and Innovation at Jeugdbescherming Overijssel

Getting employees excited about learning

Introducing the JbOV Academy was done in a big way. "When the online academy went live, there were balloons and flyers in the colors of the JbOV Academy," Claire explains enthusiastically. "We highlighted the first training sessions and even ordered petit-fours with the JbOV Academy logo. Our director made a video for our intranet to promote the academy and a newsletter was distributed with information about the JbOV Academy." Initial reactions from employees were very positive. "Anything new, people quickly see as stressful, but that wasn't the case with the online academy." To keep employees excited about the JbOV Academy, reminders are regularly posted on screens in the office. "The motto 'Learning together at your pace' is always on display, and we highlight online courses that are relevant to current developments," Claire explains. "In addition, on a monthly basis we are going to the content calendar deployed to share relevant training tips."

How does Jeugdbescherming Overijssel use the online learning platform?

The JbOV Academy is used not only for mandatory job-related training or taking courses out of personal interest, but also, for example, for the intake of new employees. "Recently, we even used the AI Academy from SkillsTown, because AI is becoming increasingly important in our field. We also want to extend this subscription for employees dealing with it, because it is very interesting." JbOV also posts its own online training courses for the academy, such as training on data security to meet ISO certification requirements.

Customized training and VR use

In addition to training on data security, JbOV has also developed a docu-series that highlights the lives of six youth in youth care. "This series is not only for internal use; it is also being made available to other youth care organizations through SkillsTown. Soon an internal podcast will also be available in the JbOV Academy, discussing interesting topics by our own staff. This will allow our employees to gain new insights and stay abreast of what's going on within and around our organization." So in addition to SkillsTown's 1,000+ training courses, the JbOV Academy also offers its own. "In addition, we are working with SkillsTown on an e-learning for employees to familiarize them with the use of Virtual Reality (VR). VR can help put yourself in another person's position and perspective. These innovations in our services are important to keep up with contemporary and future developments. It is very important that our employees gain confidence in this."

Start employee development as well

Nowhere is effective learning more important than in youth care. The caseload is high and promoting expertise is essential for youth care professionals. Do you, like Jeugdbescherming Overijssel, want to offer your employees the opportunity to develop themselves at their own time and place? You can with SkillsTown's online academy.

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