Horganic Newsletter

N2_SEPTEMBER | 2013

Welcome to the HORGANIC newsletter!

This is the second issue of our four monthly newsletters. Now that you know about the view and aims of HORGANIC, we would like to explain to you about the employment opportunities for people with mental illness in Spain, Slovenia, Germany, and Bulgaria, being those countries where the partners making HORGANIC possible are from.

Also, in this newsletter you will find updated information about the project development and its impact in social networks.

Have a great read!

El presente proyecto ha sido financiado con el apoyo de la Comisión Europea.

Esta publicación es responsabilidad exclusiva de su autor.

La Comisión no es responsable del uso que pueda hacerse de la información aquí difundida.

PROGRESS OF HORGANIC PROJECT The HORGANIC team is now in the process of developing the contents for the training course. Experts from Germany are working on the curriculum, that is to say the technical part focusing on gardening and horticulture. Meanwhile, the Bulgarian experts are working on the complementary experiential learning methodology that will help the trainees to improve the learning process. Both parts are closely connected and pursue the same objective: providing adults with any kind of mental illness with social and labour skills that facilitate their access to the labour market.

Next, the 23-24th October sees the first year meeting of HORGANIC, which will be held in Maribor, Slovenia. There, partners will have the opportunity to discuss and improve the work done so far as well as organise the work to be done next year, including the beginning of the pilot experiences!

KNOWING MORE ABOUT MENTAL ILLNESS AND JOB OPPORTUNITIES Due to the economic crisis, the unemployment rate in Spain is the second higher in the OECD area (26.9% in May 2013), only exceeded by Greece (27%). (OECD Employment Outlook 2013) The more affected sectors are construction, followed by services and industry services. Knowing that the services and industry sectors have the higher number of workers with disabilities, this group is being considerably affected by the crisis (SPEE, 2008).

Access to a labour-market depends on the kinds and the levels of disability. People with mental disorders and/or intellectual disabilities are registering the lowest employment rates in Spain, with only 15.4% and 17.1% workers registered in December 2012 (INE). In addition, workers with intellectual and mental disabilities are perceived to attract lower wages, being lower than the annual average of those groups with disabilities, 38.1% and 17.2%, respectively (INE).

The government tries to promote the employment of people with special needs by facilitating tax benefits for those companies hiring this target group but of course this is far from enough.

In response to this reality, INTRAS Foundation has made it its priority to encourage people with special needs to work. INTRAS has always been aware that employment is a key factor for attaining the social normalisations of people with disabilities. This Spanish foundation supports the search for employment thanks to the establishment of social enterprises and by collaboration with ordinary enterprises. These collaborations aim to encourage the attaining of public awareness but also to support enterprises committed to job normalisation for mentally ill people amongst their priorities.

In Slovenia the employment system provides several opportunities for the employment and social inclusion of persons with disabilities. One of the possibilities is the Vocational Rehabilitation Programme offering various services for the purposes of obtaining and/or maintaining employment, as well as supporting labour-market integration. Vocational rehabilitation services range from the assessment of your working abilities, to education and training at work, workplace adjustments, professional support at work etc.

Furthermore, persons with disabilities, amongst them being persons with mental health problems, can obtain employment within Disability Companies, Employment Centres, Social Enterprises, within real working environments or even in forms of self-employment. Since a lot of employers still believe that persons with disabilities cannot be as productive as their psychologically ‘healthier’ colleagues, the Employment Service of Slovenia with the support of the European Union provides financial support through a series of supportive measures. In this way more and more employers encounter direct experiences of employing persons with disabilities. This can help employers discard their own stereotypes, provide disabled employees with opportunities to prove themselves as worthy and equally competent workers, as well as spread the good word amongst other employers, which then has a directly positive impact on stigmatisation regarding the employment and social inclusion of persons with mental health problems.

Experts are constantly searching for suitable new ways and areas of integrating persons with disabilities into different working environments. Many initiatives have been launched over recent

years focusing on finding alternative solutions for providing persons with mental health problems different employment opportunities.

HORGANIC is one of the latest initiatives, supported by the European Union, that clearly fits into all the above-described labour-market integration opportunities that have a direct impact on the motivations of so many individuals by helping them find ways of stabilising their health, improving their work abilities, socialising, integrating within wider social environments, which above all improves the quality of life for each individual with mental health problems.

In Germany, the history of people with handicaps and how they are treated by society is marked by high and low points. 9.9% of handicapped people suffer from mental illnesses, starting from slight cognitive handicaps up to severe illnesses, which prevent the affected persons from participating completely in society and employment.

For decades, mentally handicapped people were excluded from society and depended on their families to sustain them. Since the 19th century it has been official in German law, that nobody is to be discriminated because of his/her disability (Article 3 Abs. 3 Satz 2 of German law). The state ensures handicapped people have the same options and choices as non-handicapped people.

People with handicaps have special rights and charges. There are clear guidelines starting from early intervention up to rehabilitation care for any age group. In addition the German health system has special guidelines for supporting handicapped people. , Within the employment sector German law strictly prohibits putting someone at a disadvantage because of his/her handicap. On the other hand, it is legal to prefer someone for that reason. The law also states that institutions with more than 20 employed people have a duty to employ a certain percentage of handicapped people. (§ 71 SGBIX) Though the German law is designed to support handicapped people, in reality it often looks different: People are refused for flimsy reasons and have trouble finding a job, despite their high qualifications.

Many don´t even try to find a job but live on support from the state, which isn´t sufficient. One institution fighting for the rights of people with handicaps is CJD. By providing access to education and vocational training, CJD supports handicapped people when taking a first step towards participating in society.

Problems concerning employment and realisation on the labour-market in Bulgaria are concentrated within a particular structure- the National Employment Agency, which has regional and local subdivisions – Labour-offices. Promoting ways of seeking and finding work is organised by these Labour offices, for which information boards and brochures are used. Also private employment agencies were established several years ago, which take care of informing, consulting and finding jobs for every client for a particular fee, fixed by them.

Unfortunately, special rights in promoting and finding work for individuals with mental problems are not set within the legislation of the country. There is a single regulation about protecting an employee with mental problems in case of discharge.

The whole employment process for the unemployed people in the country is: •

The client applies to the Labour office and receives unemployment benefits for six months.

•

Throughout this period, the client visits the Labour office every day and looks at the job advertisements.

•

Every client has the right to take part in qualification courses, organised by the Labour office, but successfully passing the course isn’t related to finding a job.

•

Training for finding work is not organised by the labour office.

All these rules also refer to individuals with mental problems. Informing and organising training in finding work for mentally disordered people is usually done within psychiatric clinics and by Social services for people with psychiatric disorders, without any regulations for this.

In the course of treatment in Day care units/forms of psychiatric help and treatment, when a patient stays in his/her social surrounding/in the program for group work, is given information to the patient, corresponding to his/her needs within the group. It is as follows: ways for job searching, writing of a CV, writing of a Cover letter, discussing real possibilities for employment of each patient, for which analysis on his/her skills and knowledge is done.

In the course of treatment in the Day care unit, tasks relating to a patient’s activities for job applications, registration at the Labour office and looking at the job advertisements every day are set. Pursuing of the set tasks is supervised, as in that way individuals’ resources for coping in social situation are assessed. If a drawback is observed, tasks are changed and often help is sought from a patient’s surroundings.

There is coordination between day care unit’s teams and the teams of the day centres for mentally disabled people, for continuing support for searching for and finding a job.

In the other forms of psychiatric treatment, when a patient’s potential for starting work with the support of a social worker is seen, the same model of informing and educating is applied.

To date, however, there aren’t any levers in the regulations for the formation of multidisciplinary teams and more effective support when searching for and finding work for people with psychiatric disorders.

HORGANIC ON FACEBOOK Why don’t you follow our HORGANIC Facebook profile? We are looking for more friends! There you will find updated information about the project, photos, and comments from the partners developing HORGANIC. On the HORGANIC website you will also find a very special site: the HORGANIC blog. Information relating to organic food, training for adults with special needs and mental illness related things, will be available there. We are sure that you will love it!

Contact: Laura MartĂ­nez proyectos2@intras.es You will find updated information about HORGANIC project in http://horganic.intras.es and also in our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Horganic?fref=ts

This project has been funded with support of the Lifelong Learning Programme, Grundtvig subprogramme, from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Contact: Laura MartĂ­nez proyectos2@intras.es You will find updated information about HORGANIC project in http://horganic.intras.es Horganic