Living Well with Dementia – “We are in it together”
NHS East Midlands, United Kingdom, Julie Barnes, Jill Guild, & Malcolm Cooper

In this workshop, Julie and Jill explained how East Midlands is working in creating a regional strategy for Living Well with Dementia, where they have involved users and their carers. Malcolm, a carer for his wife, shared his story of how hard life was for him as a carer. This sparked a very interactive discussion among participants, who were asked what it will look like when people with dementia across Europe will be “living well”, and were asked to write down a key word or an image to describe it.

“I was struck by the power of the words - such as connection, community, relief and empowerment. We also really liked the idea from one participant who wrote 100 solutions for an individual person which really captures the flexibility and creativity that helps us welcome and meet the needs of the 'whole' person,” says Julie Barnes.


>> The workshop asked the question: If we knew that people with dementia and their carers across Europe were living well, what would be happening? What more can we do? See photos of posted notes.

>> It inspired participants to think about regional strategies and plans, involving all stakeholders and set regional priorities through peer reviews and exchange of best practices.  See East Midlands Dementia Profile.
 

International cooperation for protection and safe return of unaccompanied minor migrants
Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain, Andreu Camps I Figuerola & Laura Ruiz and Rodriguez

In this workshop, Andreu Camps explained how Catalonia and Morocco work in a joint project to help unaccompanied minors that are likely to migrate to Spain and try to offer them a chance to live a better life in Morocco. The project has set up a secondary school (lyceum), with the approval of the Moroccan Ministry of Education, offering both standard curriculum but also a special vocational training programme combined with a job placement.  For many, this is the only chance to get a qualification that will help them to step out of, quite often, extreme poverty. Minors, already in police custody in Spain, if willing to return, are offered the possibility to sign up for this secondary school. Read more about the social exclusion of minors in Morocco.

“Even if this project does not prevent the migration of the minors to Spain, as some graduates from the lyceum may still choose to cross the sea, it gives them time to mature and to have a trade in hand, so they are not so young and so vulnerable,” says workshop leader Andreu Camps i Figuerola.


>> The workshop asked the question: If you were a social worker, judge and a journalist faced with a case of an unaccompanied migrant, what path of thinking and actions would you take?

>> It inspired Italian directors who are keen to transfer the knowledge to all border regions of the EU that are likely to receive large numbers of unaccompanied minors every year.

Eliminating long term homelessness
SOCCA and 'No Fixed Abode' NGO, Finland, Juha Kaakinen, Saija Turunen, Sanna Lehtonen and Kaijus Varjonen

Juha Kaakinen introduced the idea of eliminating long-term homelessness through a new government programme in Finland which has been implemented in the last 2 years, with the aim of eradicating homelessness by 2015. The programme has been very successful and is quite unique as it is based around the ‘Housing First’ principle. A person is allocated independent accommodation – a ‘home’ - and services are built around this.

Services are therefore implemented via partnership work between the accommodation provider and other public social and health services. Initially intended for temporary housing, shelters fast turned into a permanent part of the service system for homeless people. The idea is therefore to remove sheltered accommodation completely from the solution to homelessness and replace it with long-term housing. See more details about the programme.

“Solutions to social and health problems cannot be a condition for organising accommodation: on the contrary, accommodation is a basic human requirement to feel part of society," says workshop leader Juha Kaakinen.

>> The workshop asked the question: how would the model work for Timi, a fictional homeless person whose story and problems we presented in the workshop?

>> It inspired discussion on different national policies and best practices on homelessness in countries represented in the workshop. The lively and broad exchange of practices was enhanced by the ‘international’ feature of the group, comprising delegates from Singapore, Canada and Australia, on top of the European representation.

If you want to recommend a workshop to feature in next month’s newsletter or to see your own workshop featured, please get in touch with Jeta Bejtullahu via firstname.lastname@esn-eu.org. If there is enough interest, a similar story will appear next month.