Social Inclusion Paths and Health Budget Experimentation

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted two main aspects regarding mental health: it has made the difficulties in providing care for people with mental disorders more evident and exacerbated symptoms such as stress, anxiety, insomnia, or depression, giving rise to what psychiatrists call the new "pandemic trauma."

There is still progress to be made internationally and domestically on the importance of mental health: looking at our country, Calabria is still lagging behind in healthcare policies and those for mental well-being due to a lack of personnel and inadequate facilities.

Improving the situation in this region is the goal of the Consorzio Sociale Goel: an association that has been collaborating with local and provincial authorities since 2003 to implement projects for the reception, integration, and protection of asylum seekers and political refugees, and which in the socio-health sector manages welcoming communities for children and adolescents coming from paths of deviance, marginalization, violence, and healthcare residences for people with mental health problems.

This is where the experimental project "Social Inclusion Paths and Health Budget Experimentation" comes in, implemented in the municipality of Siderno by a partnership composed of the Goel Association, the Progetto Sud Community Association, and Labtherapy. The project aims to propose a new intervention model for those suffering from mental disorders, which could be replicated in other regions.

With our support, two socio-health residences will be restructured; a Day Center for adults with social life training workshops and spaces for rehabilitative paths will be established, and the activity of a SIL - Job Placement Service will begin to support people and social cooperatives of type B (whose objective is to provide socially disadvantaged people with skills usable in the job market).

The ultimate goal is twofold: to facilitate the social and work integration of people with mental disorders by amplifying the network of aids (within the framework of the health budget) to work on the needs of the individual at the local level and working on various spheres of people's lives, focusing also on social and work-related aspects.

Details:

Location: Calabria

Association: Consorzio Sociale Goel

Beneficiaries: 20 people with psychiatric weakness, 30 families with mental disorder issues, 40 people taken care of by the Day Center and followed by the SIL

Contribution: up to €200,000.00

Duration: May 2021 - May 2022