About the Project

In March 2006 The Kaunas District Dependence Deseases Center received financial support from the European social fund and Lithuanian co-financing funds for implementation of the project "The Social Integration of People Dependent upon Psychoactive Materials in Kaunas District". The project is taking place in Kaunas district from April 1, 2006 to May 31, 2008.

The aim of the project is to help the people dependent upon psychoactive materials to become free from drug use and integrate into the society by the means of brand new complex multifunctional reabilitation system.

The project is addressed to:
1) specialists who are working in the field of social and professional reabilitation of the people dependent upon psychoactive materials;
2) people dependent upon psychoactive materials.

The social and professional integration of the people dependent upon psychoactive materials requires combined means: the balance of primary prevention, health inspection, reabilitation and reintegration. The people dependent upon psychoactive materials are usually socially detached because they lack both general skills and competences to get employed. Various researches have shown that not returning to drug use depends more on the personal characteristics and also on the ability to integrate into the society than on the features of the drugs the person has used. However, the reabilitation system in Lithuania concentrates on curing the dependance desease but doesn't pay enough attention to the social integration of former drug addicts. As a concequence, this group of people is lead to further degradation and social detachment. Therefore the social reabilitation is essential for the convalescents. This kind of reabilitation is aimed at restoring the physical, psychological, emotional, economic and social status of the convalescents.

The components of the brand new multifunctional reabilitation system we propose are:
1) motivation; 2) curing; 3) integration into the society. The system consists of the following interactive teaching programmes: 1) training of the convalescents' general skills and their competences of getting employed; 2) reabilitation of their proffessional status; 3) training of healthy lifestyle skills; 4) consulting the convalescents on psychological, social, juridical and proffessional orientation issues. It is expected that the system will be based upon the priciples of accessability, voluntary participation and confidentiality. We hope that due to the new multifunctional reabilitation system the convalescent people who are dependent upon psychoactive materials in Kaunas district will be able : 1) to get the full-fledged treatment in the Kaunas District Dependence Deseases Center; 2) to acquire general skills and the competences of getting employed; 3) to receive consultations on psychological, social, juridical and proffessional orientation issues; 4) to develop computer literacy and enterprise skills; 5) to communicate with similar national and international communities by the means of the internet.