Experimentation of an empowerment process with family members of people with mental distress (April – December 2015)

The request takes shape within the network of families who are linked to the Liegro Foundation, from which the desire to become protagonists in developing and implementing projects in order to create employment for people with mental health problems.

The Di Liegro Foundation has positioned itself as a facilitator and promoter of this process of "empowerment", making two professionals with specific skills in training and social services available to the group of family members, as well as the premises and organisation.

The process was launched on 18 April 2015, European Patient Rights Day.

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A structured path is followed which includes the following steps:

• Clarification of values: the reference principles that guide the group and their concrete meaning
• Analysis of the current situation: the external and internal environment in which the group operates
• Definition of the mission: the great aims and raison d'être of a group
• Creating the vision: it is the image of the future that the group is committed to making reality.
• Realization of the vision: action plans and skills that enable you to realize your values, vision and mission.

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In the second phase of the path it is planned to divide the group into subgroups organized by areas of expertise and interest that can meet specific objectives and carry out specific thematic insights.

To be concrete and operational, the values will be developed in some work areas:

• formal and informal skills that people make available to the group
• behaviors which show people's adherence to the group's values and indicate the line of their commitment
• a reading of one's experiences which outline ideas, possibilities, openness to be explored and deepened, for the purposes of their feasibility
• possible initiatives to generate visibility for the group and greater influence towards interlocutors.