To learn more about Validation Certification, or book training for your organization please contact Dave Nilson at dnilson@voa.org

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Level 1: Validation Worker Certification

Requirements for certification:

• take part in a training course
• practice individual Validation for at least 6 months
• show documentation of practical work
• pass written and practical examinations

Certified Validation Workers:

• can practice individual Validation
• can give short presentations of Validation for small groups
• can give support to interested people

A Validation Worker is able to:

• be empathetic.
• exquisitely listen to another human being; hear the meaning beyond what is said.
• put his or her feelings in the closet in order to be non-judgemental.
• observe a maloriented or disoriented elderly person in an organized, careful manner.
• understand the symbols used by maloriented and disoriented elderly.
• diagnose the stage of disorientation (according to Validation).
• build a warm, trusting relationship with a maloriented and disoriented elderly person.
• demonstrate all the Validation techniques at a basic level.
• demonstrate that he or she knows which techniques to use with which stage of disorientation.

The Validation Worker knows:

• Erikson's life stages and tasks, as well as Feil's "Resolution vs. Vegetation" stage, and is able to apply them to disoriented elderly.
• the basic human emotions and universal needs, plus can identify these needs in disoriented elderly.
• the goals of Validation both for the client and for the worker.
• the population for which Validation was developed.
• the differences between an early on-set Alzheimer patient and a disoriented old-old person.
• the physical, psychological and emotional characteristics of the four stages of disorientation.
• how Validation differs from and compares to Reality Orientation, Reminiscence, Remotivation and Sensory Stimulation methods.
• the principles of Validation.