Description
The project aims at providing services for socially excluded children and youth aged 13-18 from Prague who are threatened by social failure or placement in residential care. It focuses mainly at people with problems related to dysfunctional family background, mental or educational obstacles, spare family care or institutional upbringing. The main aim of the project is to develop effective “pillar of care” for the clients based on individual peer support followed by care of social workers, parents and cooperating organizations, which has been missing so far. The project helps clients to gain certain social competences, stabilize their critical situation and mainly to avoid further social exclusion. After finishing our programme, clients should be able to spend their free time in a meaningful way, solve problems on their own and use gained social skills in their everyday lives. The project is designed for 100 clients who will be helped by 100 peer volunteers in 18 months.
Summary of project results
The aim of the project was to create a basis for child and youth care (aged 13 to 18) from Prague and wider Prague area who find themselves at risk of social exclusion or failure, built on peer support, caring social workers, parent support, and cooperation with other organizations. The project helped clients to stabilize their family situation and prevent further social exclusion. The project involved 97 clients and 83 volunteers. There were 1,046 meetings with clients. The average length of the relationship was, in fact, 13 months. 19 clients used the opportunity of individual tutoring. In total, 21 teachers tutored for 271 hours. 278 interviews and counselling sessions with parents and clients took place in total. To solve the clients' situation, we worked together with 35 organizations and experts. The pairs met every week for 2-3 hours and devoted this time to activities directed at the development of social skills and identification of clients' problems at an early stage. The volunteer took the role of a guide, a positive role model and mediated experience with a high-quality, respectful and supportive relationship that strengthened the self-confidence of the client. The length of the relationship (at least 6 months) positively influenced the quality of peer support. The methodical supervision of volunteers by social workers and regular supervision guaranteed the quality of peer support and early detection of problems that were solved through experts. A complex support was ensured through regular meetings of clients and their parents with social workers, where they prepared individual plans, assessed the current situation with the client and led counselling sessions. We assess the long-term sustainability of the project as positive. The demand for the program is high and the development of volunteering benefits the whole society.
Summary of bilateral results