Conversation cards for social workers of the Municipality of Rotterdam

The solution: recognition in a drawing

The municipality wanted to develop the conversation cards for social workers, because sometimes there are clients who cannot clearly indicate whether and what kind of abuse is taking place in their home. This plays out with very young children, or people with mild intellectual or verbal disabilities. In these sad situations, it is essential that, as a caregiver, you act carefully and are absolutely sure what is going on.

A social worker, when asked, “Has it ever happened …. ?”, put down these cards. The purpose of the conversation cards is to be very clear – and sometimes quite explicit. This is because it is important for someone to be able to recognise their own specific situation in a drawing. Because when you have lived in such a situation all your life, and that is the only thing you know, you don’t always know what is normal.

Discussing difficult topics

It is sometimes easier to point to an image than to put a violent event into words. The cards can help with this. Originally, the cards were developed as support when discussing domestic violence with people with disabilities, because working with images has great added value for that group. But the cards can also be used with people who find it difficult to put things into words, or with non-native speakers.

The discussion cards are 57 images of forms of domestic violence and child abuse. This occurs in all walks of life and in all cultures. Therefore, it was chosen to depict animals so that there are no references to class, rank and/or culture. The cards are mainly about the act depicted.

Clear and straightforward, but not too specific

Such a card set is not new: cards with human figures already exist. But a picture of people is much more explicit and can therefore be misunderstood. Someone might not recognise their own situation, for example, because the person depicted looks very different from what they do at home. For this reason, we wanted to avoid gender, height and skin colour, but at the same time be abundantly clear about the situations and actions. After all, the point is to make difficult subjects discussable.

In three sessions, we developed the cards in co-creation. During the first session, we crystallised the brief, made the first concept and came up with the idea of the animals. We outlined all the situations and made categories into physical, sexual and emotional violence. The second and third sessions were for elaboration and validation. And to make the cards available to all, they can be found online and downloaded for personal use.

The result: an impetus for longer collaboration

This map set is part of a broader collaboration between Flatland and Rotterdam City Council around assistance. This project was followed up with more projects: we are often involved in professionalisation projects of neighbourhood teams. For example, together we developed a visual handbook on domestic violence. We supported the content of this handbook with animations to explain more complex themes, such as topics like system-theoretical work, transference roles and safe relationships.

Besides concrete tools, we also helped Rotterdam’s neighbourhood teams to sharpen their working methods. This makes the discussion cards different from our other services, because this is a very tangible tool for care workers to use in practice. And perhaps that is precisely why it is an extra valuable Flatland project.

Drawing for social impact

isual consultant Vera is proud of the project: “Even though it was sometimes confronting to dive into this matter, we made something very tangible that can really contribute to someone’s life. Being able to apply my drawing skills to such a worthwhile cause makes this a dream assignment.”