Description
While offering help over telephone in crisis on the line Senior Phone, we encounter a high incidence of violence committed against seniors - women and men, in most cases this is intergenerational violence and violence between seniors. Seniors endangered by violence require specific and sensible help and support including anonymity and gratuiteness. The project’s goal is especially a reinforcement of personal a professional capacity of the line Senior Phone, which offers seniors this free of charge and anonymous help. Next, it is the increase of awareness concerning abused seniors among experts and public and a development of inter-departmental cooperation within the helping profession. The project will consist of these activities - education and personal reinforcement of the line Senior Phone, educating students, inter-departmental meetings of involved specialists at round tables, preparation of methodologies for workers in direct care and informational handout for the public. The project will help seniors endangered by violence, experts working with the victims of violence, and it will provide information to young people about this problem and its prevention.
Summary of project results
The aim of the project was to strengthen the personnel and professional capacity of the Senior Telephone help line; raise awareness of violence against seniors among the general public and experts; and develop interdisciplinary collaboration with other associated professions. The line is devoted to women and men at risk of and affected by violence and is available non-stop and free of charge. It ensures a sensitive approach and provides complete anonymity. By extending its operation, we have increased the availability of our services; in the period from October 2014 to December 2015,594 seniors approached us with issues of domestic violence and abuse. In 2015, 14,715 seniors called the line. The main benefit was the mitigation of the impact of violence on men and women and the improvement of specialized care in victim assistance. The project included educational work and the organization of preventive dialogues between secondary school students and seniors, as it is often the grandchildren and great-grandchildren who commit theacts of violence. Debates with relevant experts were also crucial in improving the quality of our services.
Summary of bilateral results