Encouraging formerly homeless people to get on with their lives and become so attached to their new home that they will never want to leave. This is, in a nutshell, the mission of the "My Way" project that we launched at the beginning of the year. The aim is clear: to ensure that our patients never fall back on the streets again.
To support the launch of the project, we are seeking 15,000 euros via our crowdfunding campaign "Rekindle their flame of life":
Our rehoused patients are still a very fragile target group. They are people who have long since lost contact with the ordinary world and who have both physical and psychological scars. They can therefore quickly lose their bearings and relapse into the street.
This is why it is important for these people to have perspectives that make them want to get up in the morning, such as walking in nature, gardening, listening to music, etc. All these projects allow them to anchor themselves in life and therefore in their housing.
In this new project "My Way", a multidisciplinary team of nurses and social workers will work with these people on discovering these perspectives. Then, together they will gradually develop a life project that will help them to reintegrate.
"At "My Way" project, we no longer talk about patients, but about project partners," explains Gaëlle Guerrero, the team's coordinator. "Everyone contributes in their own way and everything is discussed together. It is important that people use all their internal and external capacities and resources. In this way, they become more and more aware that they themselves have the necessary qualities to solve their problems and not to fall back. In the long run, we assume that they will no longer need Street Nurses."
"My Way" will initially accompany 52 people. The project is partly subsidised and partly self-financed. The 15,000 euros raised through crowdfunding will help to ensure that "My Way" can function, but above all, people will be able to start their project and thus reconnect with the small pleasures of life, those that have been sleeping inside them for so long!