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Description
The aim of the project is to support people with mental disorders. We strive to empower such people and include their needs in local policies. We want to give them more opportunities to have a say in public affairs, including collecting their opinions and ideas about the existing support system and presenting the proposed solutions to the public and decision makers. We also would like to increase the awareness and empathy of residents towards people with mental disorders. The project responds to the diagnosed need to support people with mental illnesses in local community, as well as the need to increase advocacy efforts to support this target group and influence attitudes in the community. As part of the project a county coalition of local institutions was formed to carry out public consultation, research, dissemination and networking activities. We provide comprehensive support for people with mental disorders. We conduct therapeutic activities, training on developing specific skills,and provide psychological, psychiatric and psychosomatic support. We have launched a social campaign on local television and on the internet to raise awareness among residents about the situation and needs of people with mental ilnesses. The project runs from December 2021 to June 2023.
Summary of project results
In the "For us, with us and about us" project, we focused on strengthening social integration and reducing the level of exclusion of a group of nearly 20 mentally ill people by providing individualized help, the forms and scope of which were the result and development of our several years of experience (element of the project title: "for us"). This assistance was provided in cooperation with local partners (in the local coalition formula). At the same time, we aimed to develop the level of empowerment of supported people by providing them with the opportunity to express their views on public matters, including collecting their opinions and ideas relating to the existing support system and disseminating this voice through advocacy activities consisting in developing and presenting the solutions they propose to the public and decision-makers (element of the project title: "with us"). The developed recommendations were forwarded to the non-governmental community in the region, public institutions in the voivodeship, but also to decision-makers (relevant Sejm and Senate committees, ministries). To ensure the effectiveness of the support and advocacy activities provided, we tried to increase the level of awareness and empathy of residents towards the problems and needs of the target group by conducting parallel campaign activities in the local community (title element: "about us"). They mainly involved the production and broadcasting of advertising spots on local television, but also deepening the issue of mental illnesses through a series of six interviews with experts and people with mental illnesses on television.
The project established a district coalition of 7 organizations and institutions working for the target group (people with mental disorders) in Toruń, which met regularly. The meetings served, among others, contacts and exchange of resources and information to support people in need from the target group, joint planning of project activities, or a summary of the results and recommendations from consultation activities.
At the same time, support was provided in the form of the Daily Support Center (DCW) for a group of 10 participants. A Resource and Deficit Sheet was prepared for each participant, i.e. an analysis of the competences and needs of individual people, which provided the basis for creating an Individual Action Plan (IPD). The Center implemented a therapeutic and animation program, which included [1] training aimed at improving functioning in a therapeutic group, [2] training aimed at improving functioning in social life, including culinary training, [3] occupational therapy. Additionally, integration meetings were held to involve the immediate environment (family, friends, neighbors) in the recovery process, and each participant was provided with individual psychological consultations, psychosomatotherapy training, psychiatric consultations, social work, nursing consultations, meetings with specialists and visits to places of culture, sports, etc.
Additionally, we carried out a consultation process, i.e. collecting the opinions and needs of the target group in the context of forms of support and searching for the best solutions to support the target group. The activity consists primarily of consultation meetings with people using the above-mentioned services. support, their caregivers and families, and staff working in aid institutions and organizations. The resulting report with recommendations was submitted to public institutions, decision-makers and non-governmental organizations.
The most important result of the project is the independence of a total of 7 participants using the support of the Day Support Center, which in practice means a serious life change for these people - taking up employment and living independently. It is also important to achieve the assumptions of the Individual Support Paths prepared for each person (16 people).
The second important result is the creation and functioning of a district coalition with the participation of 7 entities (organizations and institutions), which is not only an important element of cooperation and providing support for people in need, but also a solution that definitely goes beyond the time frame of the project (it is permanent).
The third important result is the creation and implementation of a consultation process with the participation of sick people and collecting their recommendations for the support system, as well as disseminating these recommendations.
The forms of support carried out are improved solutions from our current practice, and the inclusion of participants in the assessment of this support and - more broadly - in the assessment of public support (in the consultation process) and the information campaign for attitude changes are new methods and solutions that were implemented for the first time thanks to project. In this respect, these activities are the beginning of a social change in attitudes and approaches to working with a sick person so that he or she can also be a co-creator of the forms and scope of assistance provided. Additionally, it is important for us to use the experiences of families and people who have benefited from support in recent years and who have become independent in the consultation process.