Empowering social sector professionals – prevencija.ba

As part of the project Development of Policies for Social Inclusion of Children and Youth at Risk, on May 20 and 21 in Sarajevo, activities were organized for employees from social protection institutions in the Sarajevo Canton. Employees took part JU Kantonalni centar za socijalni rad with associated services , KJU Dom za djecu bez roditeljskog staranja Sarajevo, KJU Odgojni centar i JU Terapijska zajednica Kampus. During these two days, the first of four planned educational sessions was organized, as well as the first of a total of five supervision meetings.

On Monday, May 20, the previously mentioned professionals in the field of social protection had the opportunity to participate in a workshop prepared and led by Dr. sc. Mirela Badurina. The topic of the training was The role and responsibility of helpers – when are we protective and when is a risk factor for child development ?. During the training, the participants had the opportunity to get acquainted with several very important topics. In the first part, everyone is introduced to the basic principles of working with children. The knowledge, skills and responsibilities of the helpers in working with children were analyzed, and the professionals were reminded of the developmental needs of children. The second part of the workshop was dedicated to the specifics and characteristics of children at risk. Through mutual communication and exchange of experiences of all present, the types of traumatic experiences were discussed, as well as the consequences that these traumatic experiences leave on children. The last part of the workshop was dedicated to practical advice on what to do in moments when a child is entrusted to one of the professionals. Special emphasis was placed on protocols on child protection, and on ways to build protective factors for children.

The next day, May 21, supervision meetings were held with the same participants, led by mr. sci. Azra Latić, doc. Dr. Elvira Duraković-Belko and Đana Lončarica. The importance of maintaining supervision for employees of social welfare institutions is widely recognized, and it is expected that soon everyone who works in social welfare institutions will have supervision support. In the meantime, until a systemic solution is provided, NARKO-NE will provide support to participants through five supervision meetings.

The implementation of the project is supported by the Institute for Youth Development KULT and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden in BiH.