[Cross-roads of knowledge: a new approach for training on health and tackling social exclusion].

The network for promoting healthy vulnerable populations in the area of Chambery participated in the development of three training sessions aiming to improve the communication and relationships between people with severe social difficulties and health professionals. These training programmes are particularly unique in that they are designed and intended to be carried out with people having a very difficult life experience. They are called either cross-roads training or co-trainings. Each participant contributes his/her own knowledge or experience, whether it is academic-based, work-experience based, or life-experienced based knowledge. A total of 59 professionals and 27 people have been trained together between May 2005 and June 2006 The method and pilot-tested tools from the Fourth World University and the Fourth World Partners' programs were used. They provide a working framework that allows the participants to debate and discuss together starting from an equal-level field of interaction These three co-trainings show that, in certain conditions and when they are developed and carried out rigorously, their implementation can bring added value benefits to the professionals and to the people involved