Learning to live and coexist to return to the community

Acompanya'm is a residential educational therapeutic unit , promoted by Sant Joan de Déu and unique in the whole of Spain, which serves children and adolescents with serious mental health problems and social vulnerability. And if it is innovative it is because here the boys and girls live for a while, sharing spaces, tasks, daily responsibilities and activities, with a single objective: that they can return to the community with the maximum autonomy possible, avoiding stigma and social exclusion.

The boys and girls treated arrive with many deficiencies, which go beyond health, and that is why it is important to offer them personalized and community treatment that integrates clinical, family, social and educational aspects . coordinated and co-responsible with existing educational and social services. "We want to generate a new life project for them", explains Imma Insa, director of Acompanya'm Barcelona . It is precisely in what they call "living homes", the common spaces where they share meals, sleeping and times of rest or watching television, where "they learn to live with other people and acquire habits that will be essential for them in their daily lives".

To continue the work carried out by this Unit, this year the Post-accompaniment'm project was launched, which offers these young people, who often experience associated social and family problems that have led them to end up under the tutelage of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the possibility of living temporarily in an assisted living apartment where they receive specialized care and support from educators and professionals with experience in mental health.

As a result of the experience and positive results of Acompanya'm in Barcelona, ​​in 2023 Acompanya'm in Lleida was inaugurated, which follows the same differentiated model of care for children and adolescents aged 12 to 17 with serious mental health problems and difficulties in maintaining daily functioning. A work that they reinforce with families , an essential piece for their recovery and for the prevention of future situations. "What has been proven is that the earlier we intervene, the better the prognosis will be," explains Anna Huguet, director of Acompanya'm in Lleida, who highlights the importance of working on these difficulties as soon as possible to "try to prevent them from becoming chronic and to reduce the risk of claudication on the part of the family."