We know how to get along

Project full name:

EDUCATION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT WORKERS IN APPROACHING MENTAL HEALTH CARE CONSUMERS



The project comprises the design, accreditation and piloting of a course intended for public administration and local government social workers. It aims at reinforcing their abilities and skills in dealing with mental health care consumers and enhancing their effectiveness in helping social integration of their clients.
The course will focus on the specificities of approach to mental health care consumers with respect to their symptoms, their needs, and the following mental health care principles: the “recovery” concept, accessibility of services, multidisciplinarity and management of critical situations. The primary topic of the course will be communication.
The education will be provided for social workers (e.g. those involved in social & legal protection of children and in assignment of care benefits, guardians, curators) of the Statutory City of Ostrava districts and the Karlovy Vary Region municipalities who demonstrated their interest in the first announcement (14 applicants from Karlovy Vary and 58 applicants from Ostrava). Altogether five 16-hour courses will be organized for at least 72 participants.
The lecturing team will always consist of a mental health care professional and a peer specialist. The unique experience of the peer lecturers will find reflection in designing the course content and mode of delivery so as to make it more demonstrative and ready for practical use by the course graduates. The involvement of the peer lecturers will contribute to the change in perception of the mental health care consumers’ chances on the labour market and their destigmatization. The lecturing team will previously complete 6 hours of instruction in the specifics of public administration and local government social worker positions with respect to mental health care consumers.
The educational needs of the target group have been confirmed by the applicant’s experience with publishing of the handbook titled “Umíme se domluvit. Co potřebuje člověk s duševní poruchou při jednání na úřadě i jinde. Rady a doporučení pro zlepšení komunikace” (We know how to get along. What a mental health care consumer needs in contact with public bodies and elsewhere. Tips and recommendation for improvement of communication.) The public workers have shown extraordinary interest in the handbook.
The project will also include creation of written learning material for the subsequent use by the course graduates (as well as their co-workers) in their daily work as a fundamental methodological guideline for mental health care consumers.

Time frame: 1 October 2014 – 31 October 2015
Contact: Petra Kubinová, project manager, kubinova@cmhcd.cz, +420 774 393 704