http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_form_en.cfm?EID=34000145501

The environment is professional following standrards of quality and hygiene and the working people are all profesionals in the fields of mental health and intellectual disabilities. Our organisation has an open culture where decision kaming takes place involving all parties involvedd and affected. Still, in each structure there is a manager and a person that wll have the ole of the point of reference for the volunteers. Our suff are very happy to have the volunteers involved and we are all treating each other and working as equals respecting each others differences and way of working.

EDRA is located on the west district of Athens and is the largest suburb of the Greek capital. Its population exceeds 300.000 and it is one of the liveliest places in the capital of Greece. The main class of Peristeri is working class, although, because of its geographical situation, many new businesses are established here. Lots of young Athenians are coming to Peristeri to enjoy nightlife, cinema, and culture and be part of sports and other recreational groups/teams. The centre of Athens in only 15 minutes away by metro and there are frequent buses that connect the town with other neighbouring suburbs. Awareness of disability and more particularly mental-health issues is low and at the moment the Peristerian organisations that operate in this field are considerably few. We need to mention that some structures are located in Peristeri and some in Ilion which is a neighbour suburb with similar characteristics, except that it is a bit smaller.

As about Athens, where the house of the volunteers is located, we imagine that there is not enough space to outline the different activities and chances a young person can have in this metropolitan centre. A great change has taken place through the Olympic Games of 2004. The whole city has been transformed from an ugly duck to a beautiful swan. Its history is apparent in every corner with Parthenon over Acropolis standing still for the last 2500 years. Athens is a city that is awake 24 hours a day, and within this time possibilities are numerous: museums, concerts, theatre, dance, nightlife, sports, cultural, political and other centres. You ask it, you have it.

Not applicable, the volunteers will be staying in their own appartement

Our volunteers will have the chance to go through an on going learning process through which they will gain a number of skills and competences.

First of all, at the arrival of the volunteers they will be formally introduced to:

Fundamentals of Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Mental Health in GreecePsihargos - A EU programme for the de-institutionalization of metal health service usersMoreover, throughout the whole project there will be on the job training in issues concerning the activities and mental health services. Also, if they have an interest in Psychology ad/or Social Work we can arrange meetings with our professionals.

Furthermore, our volunteers will have the chance to improve their communication skills within an intercultural context by learning how to express themselves in the local language (a course will be given to them) and English which is the language mostly used between us and our volunteers at least in the beginning of the project.

Finally, through the creative activities held for our service users they will learn a number of new techniques in creative expression and they will also develop a more open attitude towards people with fewer opportunities.

All of the above are part of our overall EVS planning and they will be evaluated on a monthly basis. We have to mention that there is a mentor assigned to follow their learning and support it any possible way apart the formal evaluations. The mentor is also responsible for their social integration and generally to make sure that the volunteers feel comfortable, evolve and integrate to EVS, the project and the local community. Finally, the mentor is the contact and reference person for any information needed or for conflict resolution processes. The mentor is on stand by for volunteers' needs but formally there will be weekly meeting in the house of the volunteers or the organisation's offices.

Concerning Youthpass, at the arrival of the volunteer there will be a meeting to explain Youthpass and discover how the volunteers perceive their learning. Accordingly the EVS planning will be based on the finding in order to facilitate the final production o Youthpass that will take place in a meeting between the mentor and the volunteer.

At the end of the project the volunteer will be briefed on future possibilities and will be directed accordingly depending on the will of the volunteers. They will be briefed n Youth in Action, Erasmus, Leonardo Da Vinci and other mobility possibilities but also supported for their follow up activity.

The volunteers role is of an assisting character. In all activities there will be rofessional coordinating them and there will also be professionals present. We are expecing the volunteers to assist us through he processes but also share ith us their own ideas, knowledge and energy in order to take our sevice one step further and be bale to help more people with more action.

The volunteers will be involved in the activities of one of the mental health residences of our organisation. The residence operates to provide an alternative way of living for people with mental and intellectual disabilities. This is happening through a therapeutical process done by professionals but also through routine activities (taking a coffee, going for a walk, etc) and creative activities (craftworks, painting, clay, creative expression, theatre, dance, singing etc)

An example of a typical day is as follows:

Mental health residence - day shift

800 day starts

815 - 900 preparation of breakfast - breakfast

900 - 1300 three times a week accompanying service users to productive workshop

1000 - 1100 group of painting or constructing or outside sport activities

1100 - 1130 preparation of fruit eating

1130 - 1200 music therapy or video-discussion group or photo group or gardening or table games

12-00 - 1315 outside coffee drinking or walk

Mental health residence - evening shift

1700 - 1730 room tide up

1730 - 1800 coffe preparation

1800 - 1830 fruit preparation

1830 - 1930 table games group or music therapy or free painting or dance/singing group or cooking

Volunteers will be working Monday to Friday (exceptional cases Saturday/Sunday) a total of 30-35 hours a week

2 hours for greek lessons (7%)

20-25 hours in the structure (67%)

8-10 hours in other activities (conferences, magazine, sports, excursions, visits, bazaars) (26%)

The volunteers are expected in times to take part in other activities organised by EDRA such as holidays, festivals, conferences which are happening in particular times of the year and for the moment we can on speculate timing. We have to mention tht their presence is of assisting nature. Still, we are open to suggestions from our volunteers to take own initiative and suggest activities after consulting with professionals.

An important thing is also that we give our volunteers the possibility to take initiative and suggest their own plannning ofaction or activities. Once they have adapted to the new environement they can discuss this possibility with their point of reference, their mentor and thei manage of the structure in order to decide n how to proceed and have at the same time the support needed.

Finally, we need to note that every week they will have two days off. Concerning their holidays, for a six month project they will have two weeks holidays.

We find that the most important thing concerning our potential volunteers is the honest interest in the field of disabilities and social exclusion. Accordingly, we are looking for volunteers that have a background proving this not through studies and work experience but through volunteer work and a motivation letter that is followed by an interview over the phone. Our structures are operating under quality control and standards and because of the particularities of mental health it is very important to choose the right volunteers. Nonetheless, as mentioned before, our positions are open for anyone that can demonstrate a real will to work against discrimination of people with fewer opportunities.

We are already part of a number of networks and this is where we promote our calls for participation. The networks include our own network through past co-operations, Yahoo groups active in youth and youth in action (such as European-youth-exchanges and host-sending-EVS-possibilities and finally through www.youthnetworks.eu which is a private initiative and works as the SOS database but it is more updated. In extreme circumstances, we also put ourselves in contact directly with the National Agencies.

Through the process of selecting the right volunteers we are considering a number of factors. First of all, we are looking for evidence that prove the motivation of the volunteer. Secondly, we are trying to find information on the sending organisation from our partners to know who we deal with. After a pre-selection, e inform all unsuccessful volunteers and we move to selection that takes place in a meeting with the presence of current volunteers, the mentor, the president of the organisation, the EVS coordinator and the supervisors in the structures of the volunteers. As already mentioned the most important issue is the demonstrated motivation and will of the volunteer to be part of our organisation and what we stand for. Still, and final is the demonstration of openness to difference and will to learn from others and the intercultural context we are offering.

In the selection process, we take into consideration the profile of the volunteer (through their CV and motivation letter) but also of the needs of the organisation and our different activities. At the first couple of weeks of their volunteer service we give them the space to be observers in all of the activities that we have in order to have an idea. After that, we sit down and methodically, together we prepare the planning of activities for the particular volunteer. A very important issue is also the Youthpass that we are planning to use not only at the end of he project but also in the beginning in order to have a more volunteer oriented approach to the development of the activities and the meeting of the volunteer's profile and of our activities.

No special skills are required to do the task in our activities as there is always professional supervision and training at the initial stage of the volunteer project but also through our the whole period the volunteer is with us.

EDRA has been operating since 2001. Since then, quality standards have been a priority for us and accordingly we work within professionalism and only. Our organisation employs around 50 people that are each responsible for particular tasks within our structures. Nonetheless, we are every year introducing new activities as we think an organisation such as ours should go beyond the minimum standards. We work with people, people that need every available tool to help them get rid of the mental health service user stigma and be able to be reintegrated to the society through acquiring new skills. Our volunteers assist us in this part and not on the therapeutical one. As you understand it would be extremely difficult to just place an EVS volunteer to substitute our paid employees and even if this as possible we would not to it exactly because we value greatly volunteerism and its ideal. We invite you to visit us at any time to reassure yourselves of this.