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Day Centre Scalo San Lorenzo
Emergency Response Day Centre in the central zone
SUMMARY
The Day Centre Scalo San Lorenzo is a low threshold welcoming service, funded by the City of Rome, which offers support to people with problems of drug addiction by giving them an alternative to the circuits of exclusion to which they usually belong. The Centre, as well as offering basic services (a welcoming area; needle exchange; distribution of condoms; overdose intervention; information about substances and sexually transmitted diseases; medical advice, legal services; dispatch services, lunch; shower facilities), is giving the chance to support, give answers and encouragement that occur in a way, showing the need for change and a liberation from substance use. For this purpose the ‘second level’ is the service that gives advice on the development of individual projects, psychological support, information and prevention groups on risk behaviour, and social training workshops.The service is recognized by its specific expertise in welcoming and looking after foreign drug addicts.
NAME OF THE PROJECT
Scalo San Lorenzo, Emergency Welcoming Day Centre, Central Rome
RECIPIENTS
People with drug-related problems. Specific expertise in welcoming foreign drug addicts
METHOD OF FINANCING
Funded by: The municipality of Rome. The municipal agency for drug addicts.
AREA OF INTERVENTION
Central Rome (although the service is accessible throughout the city of Rome)
BRIEF HISTORY
Since 2000 the project belongs to the city zone of the Municipal Agency for Drug Addiction, which provides, among others, a series of interventions and services for people with problems related to substance use, both in terms of preventive care and improvement of the quality of life. The Centre is responsible for accepting the addict population of the area. It has a specific mandate in accepting foreign drug addicts.
Its location (between the Termini and Tiburtina stations, near the University, in the San Lorenzo district) makes it an immediately welcoming place, especially for the most marginalized drug addict population (homeless and foreign addicts), who face more difficult access to the more institutional services.
Today the centre, strongly established in the area, has acquired highly specialized skills especially in welcoming foreign drug addicts and being able to take care of the many problems from a pyschological and legal point of view.
OBJECTIVES
The overall objective is to contact and accommodate addicts to offer services that will improve the living conditions of the people using it, or who are in need, to contain the spread of the HIV virus, sexually transmitted diseases, hepatitis, TB, to reduce overdose deaths and to increase the chances of survival and to provide a network of services more easily accessible and to promote and stimulate individual psychosocial skills. The service also has particular expertise with foreign drug addicts.
METHODOLOGY OF INTERVENTION
The Centre Scalo is a low threshold welcomingservice that offers support for drug addicts by giving them an alternative to the circuits of exclusion to which they usually belong. People can then gain access to a protected space, other than from the road, which proposes a chance for them to experiment in a different way, at the moment of exit from the typical dynamics of their condition.
TOOLS AND ACTIVITIES
It is through the provision of basic services and/or sterile material that one begins to establish the first crucial contact with the person. Over time, this usually evolves into a more stable and structured relationship, with confidence to empower oneself in order to be able to call for help and offer support towards a new life project. Therefore, the services proposed constantly support and strengthen a message of protecting and caring for oneself, through the satisfaction of the basic need of nourishing oneself or the practical need of obtaining sterile instruments, as well as developing the insight of risks to one’s own body and one’s own health and enabling the new process of awareness.
The services offered are:
• Welcoming area;
• Needle exchange;
• Distribution of condoms;
• Intervention in the case of overdose;
• Information about substances, HIV, hepatitis;
• Social health counselling;
• Dispatch services;
• Medical advice;
• Legal advice;
• Lunch, shower facilities, washing maching;
• Advice and guidance on identifying needs and managing individual projects;
• Psychological support;
• Information and prevention groups about the risk behaviour;
• Creative workshops (cinema, painting, music therapy);
• Social training workshops (the use of the services, reading newspapers, how to write a resume, how to prepare for a a job interview....).
NETWORK AND TERRITORY
The service has always referred to a network organizational model, in which it is proposed to the different stakeholders of the region, by a cultural approach where the services and the rules that govern the exchange between the one and the other, touch common goals.
The guidance activities and the individualized projects are thus designed to integrate and consolidate the operation with the network of local services (The Road Unit, Ser.T., Social Services, DSM, the Community ...). In particular it is also the network that is activated by foreign persons (dedicated local services, embassies, consulates... ). The relationship of collaboration and sharing with local government agencies, especially with the III Town Hall, is important.
CONTACTS AND PROCEDURES FOR ACCESS
The service is situated in Via dello Scalo San Lorenzo 81/85, Rome
Tel/fax (0039) 06 490716
Email: parsec.sanlorenzo@libero.it
The Centre is open from Monday to Saturday from 9.00 to 15.00 hours.
People can freely access the service - it is not conditioned by substance use. The right to anonymity is guaranteed.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
The Day Centre team intervenes by way of a shared and integrated workspace and uses the expertise of professional psychotherapists, psychologists, doctors, professional educators/trainers and social assistants.
It consists of a manager, six operators, a supervisor, and consultants for training and evaluation (pyschologists, sociologists, professional educators and social assisstants).
EVALUATION OF THE INTERVENTION
The assessment is made by the client through a system of quantitative (numerical evaluation boards) and qualitative (reports with achieved objectives ) monitoring. Periodical checks are also carried out through internal monitoring on the expected objectives achieved between the team, the service manager and the contact area.
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