CESIE together with local centers Canto di Los and Volta la Carta was pleased to host educators working with young people with intellectual disabilities as a part of TEDDIP’Europe project. Educators during 5 days got a first-hand experience of the methods used in community based support structures of Palermo for the inclusion of TEDDIP youth.
Mobility in Palermo exceptionally complemented the aim of the TEDDIP’Europe project since Italy is the first country in Europe that base its mental health care solely on a community network of health care facilities and actively seeks to integrate minors with disabilities into mainstream schools with the help of support teachers. Hence, visiting educators had an opportunity to discover a different reality and to learn new approaches.
Devoted local educators from Canto di Los and Volta la Carta practically presented methods of Dance Therapy, Art Therapy, Pet therapy, Electronic voice phenomena, cooking workshops, outdoor activities close to the Sea that they use in their daily work. Visiting educators met the support teacher and learned about the inclusive work practices used in mainstream schools. We have all together watched the movie “Berg Fidel” and discussed the importance of inclusive classrooms where all students are considered equal.
Furthermore, the team was welcomed by Progetto “Itaca” Palermo that is a club aimed to support people with mental disabilities. We were involved in their daily activities, such as gardening, cleaning, cooking, communication activities at the same time exchanging the best practices and sharing the information about different structures in each partner country.
Finally, educators developed a set of pedagogical modules to be included in the guide of best practices that will highlight experiences and methods to be used by workers of different centres aiming to foster the inclusion of youth in need.
As the culmination of the mobility was a celebration of the 12th birthday of the local center Volta la Carta were educators interacted, danced and shared their feelings with other Italian educators, the patients and their families.
This mobility proved to be a great success and even the heat of July didn’t diminish the enjoyment and learning experience.
The TEDDIP’Europe project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme – Key Action 2, Strategic partnerships for Youth and involves 4 partner organisations: IME “Al Casal”, ALFMED, I.M.C. (France), Les Aigues (Spain), Eppas (Czech Republic) and CESIE (Italy).
3 more mobility activities are foreseen to be implemented in Italy, Czech Republic and France in 2017. For further information about the project, please contact Ruta Grigaliunaite: ruta.grigaliunaite@cesie.org.
[Photo by IMAGE, MEMOIRE,CORPS.]
