DIGNITY & WELL-BEING : Exchange for changing Erasmus Project

Project Title

DIGNITY & WELL-BEING : Exchange for changing

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Inclusion – equity; Health and wellbeing; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

The project Dignity & Well-Being: exchange for changing (D&WB) aimed at creating a strategic partnership for vocational education and training of professionals working with homeless and refugees with a special focus on the most deprived and severely mentally ill as well as promoting improvements in terms of quality, innovation and excellence in the training of professional workers in social and mental health field, especially for those working with homeless and refugees with mental illness.
To accomplish these two general objectives, based on an international network of professionals working with homeless in different kinds of organizations and countries, the project developed four Short term joint staff training events that consisted on the presentation and discussions of cases studies, which allowed to identify and learn new and innovative solutions and, at the same time, to produce a manual, a training curriculum and training tools that can be shared and spread among other professionals and organizations.
The project network included eight organizations that have a long experience on the delivery of services to the mentally ill and the most social excluded, combining organizations from both the public and private, as well as the health and social sectors.
It used a methodology based on intervision by peers in Short term joint staff training events with relatively small groups of experienced professionals. Through a program of visits and workshops, the participants had the opportunity to present case profiles, focused on situations of homelessness, to evaluate similarities and differences in the difficulties and interventions and to identify good practices considering the four pillars initially identified (Social, Health, Housing and Recovery) and three beams introduced during the project (Outreach, Networking and Staff care).
From these four Short term joint staff training events and a lot of research work between them, resulted two intellectual outputs: A training curriculum aimed at the grounding of professionals working in the social and of mental health areas to understand and respond appropriately to the needs of homeless people and a manual reflecting practical approaches to working with homeless people with mental health problems.
Both intellectual outputs are complementary and can be used in the delivery of lifelong learning activities aimed at the professionals working with the homeless.
The Multiplier Event gave the opportunity to present the Intellectual Outputs and to discuss the conclusions of the project with a wider forum, with more participants and experts from other countries outside the partnership.
The partners implemented several dissemination activities taking the results of the project to a wider audience, raising the awareness of the complexity of homeless conditions. The dissemination of the project was, therefore, an opportunity to disseminate values and information on the approach to these complex problems and the mentioned audience are the main stakeholders but, at the same time, the vehicle to spread information and training tools that will help professionals in their efforts to fight social exclusion.
Partners will continue to develop activities of the same scope and promote new projects together or with other partners in the context of a wider international network of professionals working with homeless in different kinds of organizations and countries.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 172820 Eur

Project Coordinator

Centro Hospitalar Psiquiátrico de Lisboa & Country: PT

Project Partners

• projekt UDENFOR
• ISTITUTO ANDREA DEVOTO – ISTITUTO DI RICERCA SULLA MARGINALITA’ E LE POLIDIPENDENZE – O.N.L.U.S.
• Caritas Archidiecezji Warszawskiej
• Santé Mentale Exclusion Sociale SMES-Europa
• PARC SANITARI SANT JOAN DE DEU
• ETERIA KINONIKIS PSYCHIATRIKIS KE PSYCHIKIS HYGIAS PANAGHIOTIS SAKELLAROPOULOS
• Midladns Simon Community