Trainer at Bureau de Mat Training & Opleiding BV - Alkmaar, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
The Interaction Skills Training has been developed to teach how to handle problems that often arise daily in contacts and co-operation. In the training we work with a special method: ‘the Mat'. Two mats lie on the ground, each with a green part and a red part. Two course participants (or a participant and the trainer) stand opposite to each other, each on his/her Mat. If the participant has difficulty with the other person's behaviour then he or she stands on red, the problem area. When he or she can accept the behaviour he or she stands on green, the co-operation area. In this way the participant can simply and quickly make clear ‘where he or she stands', which incites the behaviour of the other person and the other way round. Thus the Mat makes the interaction between people visible.