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“The Community Integration Team project is a wonderful way of promoting the autonomy of young people”

Meet Sérgio Lopes Cintra, Executive Director of Portugal’s Santa Casa da Misericordia de Lisboa (SCML), which Works on social welfare,  

Through his daily work, Sérgio and his team actively work to improve people's quality of life and wellbeing.

Sérgio tells us about the 'Community Integration Team,' a project established in 2018 to support 100 young people between the age of 16 and 25 referred by the family and children court or child protection services.

We learned from Sérgio how individual intervention plans are developed together with young person themselves to address their needs. These plans include social aspects of life, such as education, vocational training, employment, health, and financial support. By setting concrete personal objectives and actions, the plan's process is constantly overseen and evaluated.

Sérgio emphasises that by applying an inclusive and collaborative approach, using their individual's capabilities, the Community Integration Team empowers and promotes the autonomy of young people and integrates them into the community in a healthy and safe way.

We asked Sérgio how ESN has supported him and SCML in learning from others, and this is what he answered:

“ESN is important for us as a platform for sharing information, meeting experts, and discussing social innovations to develop new tools and practices.”

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Sérgio Lopes Cintra, Executive Director