EFeCT Conference 201223 March 2012

Paisley-Scotland

Promoting the Resilience of Youth Delinquent - PRYD

Project manager: Mihaela Tomita

1.Finance

PRYD Project is financed by the Daphne European Programme

European Commission

Directorate – General Justice, freedom and security

Period of implementation

January 2011 – January 2013

2.APPLICANT AND PARTNERS

The applicant of PRYD project is:

The West University of Timisoara through CICOP - THE RESEARCH CENTER FOR CHILD – PARENT INTERACTION

CICOP is a research unit of West University in Timisoara set up within the Faculty of Sociology and Psychology, the Department of Social Work

The mission of CICOP is to explore the characteristics of child and parent (adult) interaction, aiming to improve the quality of services for children and families in Romania, and to develop services in the medical-psycho-social field in Romania.

2.PARTNERS

• OOBC Nieuwe Vaart and the University of Ghent. The OOBC Nieuwe Vaart is a private organization, in which special education and treatment is provided for children and youth with EBD (emotional and behavioural disorders). The OOBC Nieuwe Vaart is a national training site for LSCI (Life Space Crisis Intervention), a conflict management model to communicate with children and youth in conflict or crisis.

2.PARTNERS

• The Re-education Centre in Buzias

Has had over the last years, a large number of measures that were taken for the improvement of living conditions in the Re-education Centres in Romania. The capacity of the centre is for 120 minors in four house-type buildings which have all the necessary modern facilities. The aim of all activities which are carried on is to give the minors the skills which are necessary for their social reinsertion.

2.PARTNERS • The Society for Children and Parents - SCOP Timisoara

Founded in 1996. SCOP's mission is the improvement of life quality for children, women and family. SCOP's main activity areas are: the support offered to HIV/AIDS infected young people in the Effata Day Care Centre for social and professional integration; child abuse, neglect and abandonment prevention programmes; Community centre offering services to young children coming from vulnerable families; information campaigns for students, teachers and parents about abuse prevention and the promotion of children's rights.

4. Theoretical background

• Resilience of children or youngsters can guarantee the success of individuals in life, it is the individual's ability to meet challenges and to continue his positive evolution, well-integrated into society.

• Resilience has been studied in connection with the traumatic experiences of life, events that are unfavourable for a healthy development of the person and which may lead to post-traumatic stress disorders, or a variety of psychopathological manifestations among which are depression, alcoholism, generally addictive behaviours, permanent sadness.

5. Project’s goal

• The development of a model of positive intervention for delinquent adolescents, based on supporting their resilience which fosters a better inclusion into the society.

PRYD is an intervention and research projectPRYD offers an innovative perspective of

working with delinquent adolescents

6. Main Objectives

• To set-up a model of positive approach and support for delinquent adolescents resident in specialized institutions, in order to improve their resilience;

• To promote a European Network of interested units in the field;

• To strengthen the partnership among partners in the project;

• To open the opportunities for future cooperation which can bring added values and a model of best practices replicable among different educational or mental health institutions for children and adolescents.

7. Target group

• The direct beneficiaries of the project are approximately 50 minors with criminal sanctions placed into the Reeducation Centre in Buzias;

• The indirect beneficiaries are the 8 specialists in the Reeducation Centre in Buzias as well as 10 other specialists from outside the Centre, who are directly working with the juvenile offenders;

• Other indirect beneficiaries are the 14 specialists involved in the project who will benefit of training and supervision with LSCI method and also the professionals who will create a network at European level based on the topic of Delinquent and Violent Adolescents.

8. Activities

• the first conference with all the partners to launch the project PRYD;

• the training ‘Life space crisis intervention' LSCI and purchasing materials for trainees for 32 specialists;

• Regular assessment of the adolescents involved in the project with standard tools and creating a focus group to complete the qualitative research;

8. Activities

• Two editions of SPECTO – International Conferences with the theme of:

- crime prevention - quasi coercive treatment - increasing the resilience of juvenile delinquents;

• Weekly direct activities with children

• 4 camps with groups of 12 children from Buzias and other 12 as a control group from Timisoara high schools

• Different cultural and sports competitions with the delinquent adolescents;

8. Activities

• Purchasing sports equipment and musical instruments for the adolescents in the Reeducation Center Buzias;

• Creating a radio station for the children inside the Reeducation Center;

• LSCI supervision provided by Belgian partner

9. Methods of delinquent adolescents data collection

• From the files of every teenager, the following data was taken: age, gender, overall intelligence, verbal intelligence.

• Questionnaires: YSR (youth self report), SDQ (strengths and difficulties questionnaire), TRF (Questionnaire for the teachers on school, behavioral and emotional problems of the child)

• Questionnaires: Child and Youth Resilience Measure - CYRM 28

10. Methods of intervention

• Life space crisis intervention (LSCI), a therapeutic and verbal strategy based on cognitive, behavioral, psychodynamic and developmental theories, used to intervene when the child is in crisis;

• Small group activities, held with 6-7 adolescents, under the supervision of two experts who are working with them.

Aims: - improving communication between adolescents and with adults

- facilitating positive relationships in group

- stimulating creativity

- stimulating the expression of feelings

- achieving a good social outcome.

11.LSCI implementation

• From the beginning of PRYD Project in the Buzias Reeducation Center, there have been made a number of approximatelys 20 LSCI

• It was observed that after an LSCI:

- the behavior of the children was modiffied when they return in their group

- the comunication was very much improved

- The children attitude regarding the staff member who performed the LSCI becomes better

- it apears to create a bound between the staff member and the child;

12. Other activities with children

• Creating, printing and disseminating of brochures of the Reeducation Center Buzias, which will provide a description of relevant aspects regarding activities with children.

Purpose of this activity - to improve communication between adolescents and with adults,

- facilitating positive relationships in group

- stimulating creativity

- solving interpersonal problems effectively

- realistic anticipation of the consequences of their own actions

- expressing optimism about personal actions.

13. Conclusions

• Resilience can be supported by grouping adolescents so as to promote inclusion, cooperation, shared responsibility and a sense of community;

• Through all these activities, and through teaching, modeling, guidance, and building appropriate skills, the reeducation centre can provide a very suportive context so that young people can learn and use appropriate behaviors, instead of aggressive and violent ones.

14. Dissemination

• Periodic publication of the Journal "Today's children are tomorrow's parents';

• Website to promote PRYD project;• Publishing a manual of best practices in working with

juvenile delinquents;• Creating a DVD on promoting the resilience of

juvenile delinquents;

15. Dissemination

Presenting the PRYD project activities in professional meetings and conferences

16. Sustainability

• Setting an efficient European Network in the field that will continue its cooperation also after the implementation of the project;

• once included in the program of the reeducation center, this method of working with delinquent adolescents – especially LSCI method, will become part of the activities with delinquent adolescents in these types of institutions in Romania

Thank you for your attention!