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Description
The range of aid available for families in the Płock area is quite meagre, and amounts to only centers for people with addictions and the Psychological and Pastoral Center, which is run by the Catholic Church. Not everyone wishes to take advantage of aid in this form. Many families come to us when a marriage is in crisis, or someone loses their job or is facing eviction, and in addition they deal with problems raising children. These families, when going through crisis, are incapable of dealing with their problems or their own emotional limitations. Also, they do not know their rights and are unable to defend their interests by themselves. The main aim of the project will be to provide support for and make more self-reliant members of 20 families in the Płock area and Płock district who face social exclusion. We intend to organize one-on-one meetings with educational specialists and psychologists for particular family members, parents, and children approaching adulthood. The meetings will be intervention in times of crisis, mediation sessions, and child-raising consultations. The participants will also have available to them legal consultations, and young people will be able to make use of training on civil rights. We will create support groups: for parents (to improve child-raising skills, sharing know-how) and for young people (improving self-esteem, dealing with difficult domestic conditions, improving the sense of solidarity in a group). We will organize a “Greater awareness - greater self-reliance" conference. As a result, 50 vulnerable people in 20 families will learn to make use of aid institutions, understand the cause of their problems, and become more independent in making decisions about their lives.
Summary of project results
The project addresses the problem of inadequate support for families at risk of social exclusion living in and around Płock, especially in rural areas. Problems faced by families include marital crises, difficult financial situations, loss of jobs, threat of eviction, child-rearing difficulties. In crisis situations it is difficult for them to cope with their problems, to be supportive of each other and to defend their interests. Up to now, help for families has actually only been available from a church-related institution, which has been a barrier for many people. There is a lack of comprehensive support in the region to equip families with the competences to deal with challenges independently.As part of the project, families at risk of social exclusion benefited from various types of support. One-to-one meetings were held with specialists in areas such as pedagogy or psychology. Specialist assistance was provided to parents and grandparents as well as to children and young people. The meetings took the form of crisis intervention, diagnosis, therapy, mediation sessions and parenting consultations. Families also benefited from legal consultations. Two support groups were organised - for parents and young people. A final conference "More aware-more independent. Adolescence crises" was attended by people working in 29 support institutions from the city and county of Płock, including social welfare centres, pedagogical counselling centres, schools, courts, the prosecutor''s office. In addition, the Project promoter organised legal training for people who came to Plock from Ukraine after the outbreak of war.Almost 200 people from 127 families benefited from psychological and pedagogical support, while 34 people from families at risk of exclusion benefited from legal aid. Through consultations and participation in the support group, parents learned to recognise and deal with their emotions, improved their parenting skills, exchanged experiences with other parents and made new friends. Young people, in turn, were able to talk about the difficulties they experience at home and raised their self-esteem and self-confidence. Those working in local support institutions increased their knowledge of how to work with young people at risk of social exclusion, how to activate families, develop their independence and self-reliance.
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