SOS Children’s Villages Support Center

The Foundation has been a steady supporter of the SOS Children’s Villages initiative to run the Center for Counseling-Professional Development and Family Support in the wider region of Messinia. This is one of the Foundation’s most important actions: it aims to strengthen social cohesion and improve the daily lives of many families facing financial difficulties as well as other challenges related to handling intra-family relationships, managing tensions, and achieving mental/emotional balance.
From the program’s inception until December 2022, 98 adults and 216 minors received support. With the assistance and guidance of the Foundation’s partners, 42 adults have found work, of whom 23 are still employed.

Children

• 69 children received support; 11 middle school students from the Center for Counseling-Professional Development and Family Support successfully completed their exams in June and went on to attend high school.
• 5 children aged 12-14 requested and received individual counseling for issues related to school, family, and relationships with their peers.
• 11 children received additional support from the Center’s partners, mainly in special education.
• 12 creative pursuit groups were implemented with the participation of 22 children; 1 group for adolescents with 6 participants; 1 psychopedagogical group with 13 participants; 1 group on the topic “What if it were you?” with 6 participants; and 1 group on the topic “Steps for life” with 7 participants.

Adults

• 19 individuals received support.
• 12 new registrations were made.
• 2 people found work through the program.
• All supported adults participated in individual professional counseling meetings.
• The professional counseling workshop took place and was completed in 12 meetings.
• 12 individuals attended the computer training workshop.
• 7 individuals passed their Unicert certification exams in various modules (Excel, Word, etc.).
• 7 people received individual counseling, while another 5 were offered specialized psychosocial support by the Center’s associates.