Individuals who are homeless are likely to have experienced some form of previous trauma in their lives; indeed the experience of being homelessness can be seen as a traumatic experience in its own right. Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) and Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE) offer a framework for providing services to traumatised individuals who have or are experiencing homelessness. Both Trauma Informed Care and Psychologically Informed Environments do​ not rely on either diagnosis or formal therapy. What they do create is a framework that emphasises the impact that trauma has had on an individual and encourages the development of strategies to better respond to the needs of trauma survivors. A number of homeless services in Europe have begun to implement trauma-informed services or use psychologically informed environments there is great variability in how these services are implemented. Many Homeless and mentla health support providers have an emerging awareness of the potential importance of TIC and PIE in homeless services, the meaning of TIC and PIE remains unclear to some. How to incorporate them into an organisation can often be unclear.This project aims to give front line staff and organisations who work with people who are homeless and have a mental health support needs a better understanding in TIC and PIE and how to incorporate them into their therapeutic approaches to supporting these people.The Europe 2020 strategy puts Work Based Learning, along with the quality and relevance of education and training at the core to its efforts to improve inclusion. In ‘Agenda for new skills and jobs - A European contribution towards full employment’, (European Commission 2010) participation in Work-based Learning is encouraged across the union and in the 2017 report “Teachers and trainers in work-based learning/apprenticeships” found that Work-based learning in Vocational education and training provides important benefits This project recognises that to achieve this with reference to Trauma Informed Care (TIC) and Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE) it is necessary to increase the competencies of organisations and staff and to meet the needs of service users, involves collaborating with best practice providers across Europe, to learn and develop Work Based Learning. Over two years, 3 seminars will take place cover;1.Introduction to Psychologically Informed Environments and Trauma Informed Care (theory, methodology, and practice)2.Application of Psychologically Informed Environments and Trauma Informed Care in the practical Context 3.Challenges and Problems with applying Psychologically Informed Environments and Trauma Informed Care Each seminar will take place over 4 days and will be broken down into 4 days 1. TIC and PIE project/services visits2. Talks on TIC and PIE3. Workshops on TIC and PIE4. Evaluation/reflection day. During these four-day seminars leaders in best practice will give insight into how they use Trauma Informed Care and Psychologically Informed Care can be used to support those who use their services. Inspiring change in services across Europe and imparting greater understanding on the practicalities of what TIC and PIE are in practice and not just in theory.Central to each seminar will be the voice and experience of those who use and are supported by homeless services in Europe. Visits to projects to see PIE and TIC being used in a practical setting and to allow experts to show how TIC and PIE can be used to improve a service will also be central to each seminar. The larger objectives of the project are;To develop core competencies​ of staff working in homeless organisations across Europe on Trauma Informed Care and Psychologically Informed Environments through talks, workshops and service visits.To begin a social dialogue on how best to implement Trauma Informed Care and Psychotically Informed Environments in services To improve the health and well being of Service Users in participating organisations and wider Homeless and mental health services in EuropeTo recognise the importance of informal learning via sharing best practices Provide participants with the skills to recognize the impact of trauma and encourages the development of strategies for better responding to the needs of trauma survivors.Embedding of TIC and PIE methods into the strategy of partner organisationsStaff training will have a strong emphasis on these models and methodsImproved quality of service -providing effective, medically-evidenced care models for those most at risk.Enhanced capacity and expertise across the services

"Building a Network to Boost Socially Secure Europe (BOSS) project will be implemented over a 22-month period by ten non-governmental organisations from European countries - Latvia (leading partner), Estonia, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, Italy, Cyprus and Romania. The planned funding of the Erasmus+ program is 115 970 EUR.BACKGROUNDCivil society organizations from BOSS partner countries have established a quality framework for fighting against poverty and social exclusion, are the most familiar with the needs of their target groups and have an understanding of gender equality issues. However, the influence of these organizations regarding the promotion of social security across Europe is insufficient due to the lack of a strengthened cooperation network. The poverty reduction target through the social inclusion policies of the European Strategy 2020 and the national reform programs has not been achieved. The leading staff from the BOSS organizations have the need for the new knowledge and understanding in the field of social inclusion related to the new targets set in the European Union, which are reflected in the Annual Convention ""Social Europe post 2020"", European Pillar of Social Rights, Agenda 2030, Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, Nordic and national programs.Partners have set the following OBJECTIVES: 1) to establish a cooperation network of European organizations for the promotion of social security and to strategically strengthen the capacity of this Network;2) to promote the BOSS partners’, stakeholders’, the non-governmental sector’s and the general public’s understanding of the BOSS network’s tasks by ensuring the availability of relevant information;3) to increase the knowledge of BOSS partner organizations’ employees and volunteer leaders about the social inclusion strategies;4) to ensure the exchange of experience for the BOSS partner organizations’ employees and volunteers on the possibilities of implementing social rights and gender equality.PARTICIPANTSThe BOSS network will involve a direct target group - at least 62 employees (project managers, experts, board members, etc., 50% of all - women), and also an indirect target group - at least 20 participants from Cypriot NGOs.It planned to implement the following ACTIVITIES: 1) four Transnational Project Meetings (Project Opening Conference and a Workshop in Cyprus, two BOSS Capacity Building in Italy and Sweden, one Evaluation Meeting in Estonia); 2) six short-term joint staff training events (two seminars on awareness and strategies for social inclusion in France and Latvia; four exchange of experience events in ensuring social rights in Norway, Poland, Denmark and Romania).METHODOLOGYThis project will be coordinated by EAPN-Latvia, by attracting at least 3 administrative employees and the appropriate material and technical resources, by summarizing the results of the project activities and partners’ proposals and by ensuring publicity and the dissemination of project results. The partners plan to organize the activities in all countries (one event in each country) by attracting administrative staff, lecturers, consultants and moderators, as well as by providing the material and technical resources, ensuring publicity and the dissemination of results. All partners will ensure the planned number of participants for the events and will organize the target group surveys. For all activities the partners intend to provide handouts with the relevant content.Project RESULTS:1) a cooperation network of 10 European NGOs will be established in order to promote social security in Europe;2) previous experiences and recommendations for increasing the capacity of the BOSS Network will be summarized;3) the understanding of the BOSS Network’s objectives will be promoted for ten project partners and at least 2000 stakeholders;4) 18 NGO employees will have the increased awareness and knowledge of social inclusion, social rights and gender equality;5) 44 NGO employees will have increased knowledge and improved practical experience on the implementation of the basic principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights.IMPACTBOSS project will influence the social security policy at both national and European level and direct it towards reducing poverty and social exclusion through the establishment of a European cooperation network of NGOs, the growth of partners and staff from these NGOs, and through raising the stakeholders’ awareness of the BOSS Network's objectives.LONG-TERM BENEFITS1. The availability of the partners' informative summaries on social security in European countries;2. Improved knowledge of the ten partner organizations’ employees on social inclusion and the implementation of the basic principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights;3. Improved motivation of the BOSS network’s members and opportunities to develop new adult education projects in the field of social inclusion and gender equality."

<< Objectives >>Project partners EAPN-Latvia, EPTP, BC, CTM and HAN intend to achieve the following objectives:1)to strengthen the capacity of their networks by providing NGOs with educators who have gained access to international training programs of Erasmus+;2)to increase the knowledge and experience of educators (incl. with limited opportunities) from their networks’ member organizations through their involvement in local and international training activities in order to promote the European dimension.<< Implementation >>Within 18 months, the partners intend:1)to organize 2 management webinars and publicity measures;2)to conduct a survey of NGO members from vulnerable groups of population;3)to organize 25 local workshops for NGO educators (incl. the disadvantaged people) on social inclusion, etc.;4)to organize 4 international seminars and experience exchange activities, as well as one conference for NGO educators on social inclusion, etc.;5)to distribute the informative materials on social inclusion.<< Results >>This project will result in:1)increased knowledge not less than 100 educators from NGO networks (incl. from disadvantaged groups) about social inclusion, gender equality, innovations, the digital environment and advocacy;2)building capacity of five NGO networks with insufficient opportunities through educating their staff, thus bringing closer to Erasmus+;3)making the information on social inclusion, etc. more available to the NGOs and the general public through the European dimension.

"<< Background >>CONTEXT/BACKGROUND WHY despite increasing the number and diversity of services offered, despite professionalism and important training for workers, despite increasing social and health budget, especially in many metropoles, a certain number of homeless and mentally ill people - seemed - preferred to stay on the street rather than accept the solution offered by the services ? Are the interventions integrate social & health, coherent with real request of person in need, respectful of the dignity, accessible to marginalized and excluded people everywhere they are, congruent and sustainable?Are sufficient and adequate services in emergency centers?FROM ASSISTANCE TO PARTICIPATION To identify models and good practices to facilitate ACCESS of homeless people to SERVICES and to enable social and health workers, of public and private sectors to meet Homeless Mentally Ill People where they are. The Dignity and Well-being (D-&-WB) SMES project to address especially at those workers who are particularly confronted with people living on the margins, with complex social & health problems and needs. The project propose these specific objectives:1.Promote and facilitate networking and a great collaboration among the workers of Institutions, Organizations, Associations involved in the ‘extreme precariousness’ field, in order to achieve effective synergies and transform the different daily practices into effective networking models.2.Building the capacities of each participant, through international and intersectoral exchanges, through study's visits, workshops promoting listening and confrontation about the differences both of the problems and of the methodologies and adequate and efficient answers to be adapted3.Identify efficient and innovative services and structures able to prevent the chronicity of problems sometimes only social or health problems, recommending absolute priorities both in terms of prevention and sustainability.4.Involve all civil society: politicians, administrators, citizens and media, because this is a structural problem of society and not only and specific for professional workers .5.Life-long learning: taking advantage of this opportunity to continue in this initiative by fostering the progressive establishment of a network that aims at continue even after the project has been completed.NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS This project will to involve partners working in 4 different sectors, who are 4 pillars in supporting inclusive and participative projects: 1. Social Assistance; 2. Mental health; 3. Housing sector; 4. Participation citizenship, at least from four European countries. To involve in co-working professional workers in social – health - mental health field, in private and public services, including volunteers’ people, who, day by day, are faced with a set of old and new issues, complex needs, with political and social pressures, far from the ethical respect of person dignity.DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES1.Four STUDY’s VISITS of SERVICES in 4 European countries, each two months, concerning the 4th fields : social – health – housing – recovery, including 4th inter-vision workshops after study's visits program - in order to deepest exchange visions about people – services – method, collecting through a common protocol and final small seminar . 2. Four WEBINARS alternating with study visits in order deepest analyse the PROFILES / Narratives collected by Each Partner about ‘PERSON’ in need and ‘SERVICES’ offered concerning accessibility and quality - congruence & sustainability. These Profiles will be collected in final synthetic report.3.EVENT & CONFERENCE: plaidoyer - 1st semester 2023 : event at Eu Parliament Brussels; - 2nd semester 2023 : XV Conference SMES in RomeMETHODOLOGY to be used in carrying out the project :1.Observe : visiting the services system listen and observe and participate in inter-vision meetings with the colleagues<< Objectives >>Objectives of the projectThe title of our project ‘Person First’ was chosen by analogy with the ‘Housing First’ approach in the fight against homelessness. Without denying the importance and effectiveness of Housing First policies, our project starts from the premise that shelters and related services will keep playing an indispensable role as ‘entry-level’ services for homeless people. The fact that tens of thousands of people still live and sleep in the streets of Europe, despite the existence of shelters, calls into question the quality of these services: apparently, there is a mismatch between the needs of homeless persons and the services offered to them. Homelessness is often a state of mental rather than material distress. Instead of reducing the role of shelters to basic material services (a roof, a bed, a shower, a breakfast etc.) we see shelters as a person-centered place of encounter (crossroads), diagnosis (observatory) and re-connecting (bridge). The fight against homelessness and housing exclusion is gaining momentum in European social policy. The covid-19 crisis has raised awareness of the poor hygienic conditions in reception facilities. New sanitary regulations will most probably force shelters to invest in more decent infrastructure and, in this sense, contribute to enhancing the quality of the services on offer. The lockdown measures also revealed the need for more integrated service provision – including mental healthcare, as residents had to stay in shelters 24/7 and for longer periods. Interestingly, homeless services as well as policy makers discovered the effectiveness of integrated approaches. This experience will undoubtedly inform the implementation of Principle 19c of the European Pillar of Social Rights (‘adequate shelter and services for homeless people in order to promote their social inclusion’). Through a combination of peer learning, research, training and dissemination, our project aims to contribute to a set of social minimum standards for the quality of emergency (or should we say ‘re-emergence’?) services for homeless people. Our project will also include opportunities for dialogue with (self-organisations of) homeless people, so that they can voice their own needs and expectations from services. In the final stage, we aim to share our conclusions with national and European policy makers, because national action plans to fight homelessness should raise the quality - and European social minimum standards should prevent the degradation of services in regions / cities where homeless services are being commercialised.FROM ASSISTANCE TO PARTICIPATION that's the main objective of ""Dignity and Well-being”To identify models and good practices to facilitate ACCESS of homeless people to SERVICES and to enable social and health workers, of public and private sectors to meet HOMELESS mentally ill people where they are. The D-&-WB project to address especially at those who are particularly confronted with people living on the margins, with complex social & health problems and needs. We propose these specific objectives:1)Promote and facilitate networking and a great collaboration among the workers of Institutions, Organizations, Associations involved in the ‘extreme precariousness’ field, in order to achieve effective synergies and transform the different daily practices into effective networking models.2)Building the capacities of each participant, through international and intersectoral exchanges, through study's visits, workshops promoting listening and confrontation about the differences both of the problems and of the methodologies and adequate and efficient answers to be adapted3)Identify efficient and innovative services and structures able to prevent the chronicisation of problems sometimes only social or health problems, recommending absolute priorities both in terms of prevention and<< Implementation >>DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES1)Three STUDY’s VISITS of SERVICES in three European countries, concerning Social Assistance Services – Health/Mental health Services – Home / housing services 2)Three WORKSHOPS and small seminar - after study's visits program - in order to deepest exchange visions about people – services – method, collecting through a common protocol.3)PROFILES collected by Each Partner about SERVICES and PERSON in need, concerning accessibility and welcome - e-quality and congruence - sustainability and care. These Profiles will be collected in final synthetic report.4)EVENT & CONFERENCE: Plaidoyer Event in 1st semester 2023 at Eu Parliament; XV Conference SMES in Rome (1992-2023) 2nd semester<< Results >>1.Improving the knowledge of professionals2.Participation of the institution and policy makers in health and social services3.Participation of formal and informal training4.Transforming the charitable approach with homeless in respect of the fundamental rights5.Building capacity to co-working together: public & private services – health & social sectors6.Improving knowledge about complex needs and adequate answer."