More information
Description
We have noticed an increase in use of psychoactive substances among young Roma people in Roma settlements in the Dolenjska region. The consequences affect both individuals and society at large. However, for many reasons young people do not get or find a way to get the appropriate help.
In the Roma association Romano Veseli we will develop and implement a community service that will offer individual counseling to young people who have problems with psychoactive substances in Dolenjska and help them find professional support. We will also do this through direct work in the field with the help of a Roma mediator to prevent the misuse of psychoactive substances.
We will establish a confidential relationship with young people and provide them with professional support in further addressing psychoactive substances and alcohol abuse. The key goal of the project is to establish a long-term channel for all those who will seek professional help in the future at the reception center for addicts managed by a partner organization.
The project will raise the awareness of young Roma people and Roma families about the dangers of psychoactive substances and alcohol abuse, and raise awareness about the existing organizations offering support. We will conduct ten workshops in Roma settlements and a communication campaign for the Roma community in the Romani and Slovene languages.
An important part of the activities will be dedicated to raising awareness of local and national decision-makers and line bodies, and promoting the establishment of systemic support for solving the problem of psychoactive substance abuse among the young Roma in Dolenjska.
Summary of project results
There has been a large increase in the abuse of psychoactive substances (PAS) among young Roma in Roma settlements in the Dolenjska region in the recent years. The consequences affect the whole society, they cause personal and mental distress and social tragedies, both for individuals and for the Roma community. However, for many reasons, young people do not receive any concrete help.
With the project, we will develop and implement a community based preventive service that will offer direct individual contact and work with individual children, youth and young people with drug problems in settlements and help them establish contact with external professional and develope long-term help.
The activities include training and a year-round work in the field, which will be carried out by a Roma individual who has established trust and a certain social reputation among Roma youth. We will carry out awareness-raising workshops in selected Roma settlements (10 workshops) and a communication campaign for Roma families and Roma youth and children in Romani and Slovene. We will establish a trusting relationship and provide professional support "from the outside" to young individuals in further treatment of PAS and alcohol withdrawal, and as a key goal of the project establish a confidential long-term channel for Roma who will seek professional help and guidance in discharge in the reception center for addicts managed by a partner organization in Novo Mesto. We will create a short manual for working with young Roma addicts. The goal of the project Mek pe dolestar! Provide counseling and support, motivation for resolving problems with PAS and helping to establish healthy habits of members of the Roma community through the prevention of drug abuse among young Roma in Dolenjska and directing individuals to existing youth assistance programs.
In the project, were achieved all the set results:
- We developed a new service, the Roma Mediator in settlements for the prevention of substance abuse. We developed and implemented a new community service. We created a document that includes a work program for Roma individuals with substance use disorders.
- We raised awareness among young Roma and their families by more than 30% about the dangers of substance abuse and alcohol, as well as providing information about support organizations, which resulted in an increase in awareness. This included the implementation of workshops, conducting 400 questionnaires and analysis, and creating a list of individuals who received one form of assistance. We also raised general awareness about the issue throughout the entire region.
- We successfully raised awareness among relevant stakeholders at the national and local levels (ZRRS, DRPD, PU NM, MNZ, CŠOD, PEF, CSD Dolenjska and Bela krajina, NIJZ, INV, IRRSV, MZ), and we connected our work with the Union of Professional Organizations working in the field of drugs and addiction.
- We established contact and cooperation with NGOs in the field of substance abuse prevention, collaborating on the preparation of strategy and advocacy documentation regarding the inclusion of the Roma community as a target group in the national document – the National Program for Drugs.