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Social Inclusion and Mental Health

VISION AND SERVICES

Brücke Rendsburg-Eckernförde

is a non-governmental organisation providing a wide range of developments and services in almost every part of welfare and health care in the region of the Land Schleswig-Holstein. The central aims are to improve the living situations of people with mental health problems: bridge building - the promotion of social inclusion.

Organisation

The Brücke association was founded in 1984 by employees from the Public Health Services, primarily the Community Mental Health Service from the Region Rendsburg-Eckernförde. It was founded with two objectives: on the one hand it was supposed to campaign extensively for mental health and on the other hand it was aiming to develop and offer social and health services as far as necessary. The association runs 11 subsidiary companies as non-profit private limited companies. The Brücke owns 100% of the share in seven of these organisations and it is the majority shareholder in the other four ones. All together there are about 800 employees. They founded works councils in the individual firms and a general works council over all.
Encouraging user participation plays an immense role within the whole organisation. There are regular participation meetings, conferences and education for the representatives of the participating parties. For supporting this process, one commissioner for participation was appointed.

WORKING AREAS

Community Mental Health and Services available for People with Drug and Alcohol issues

Counselling agencies
Crisis intervention
Residential care homes
Group homes
Outpatient care/ supported housing
Socio therapy
Occupational projects
Leisure-time projects and meeting places
Self-help groups

Treatment and Care

Therapy centre

  • occupational therapy
  • speech therapy
  • physiotherapy

3 Nursing homes

Developments in Labour Market Policy and Access to meaningful Employment

Occupation and day structure for people with mental health problems or addiction problems

  • Occupational projects
  • Day centres

Job measures

  • For young adults who drop out of programmes
  • For people in trouble hotspots

Training measures for job seekers

  • Assessment centre / profiling
  • Job application training
  • Vocational orientation
  • Preparing for a job
  • Opportunities available for women and migrants in trouble hotspots

Support for taking up a job

  • Job exchanges
  • Application office in one Joint Agency

Vocational rehabilitation

  • For people with mental health problems
  • Care, education and work placement

Integration service

  • For disabled people
  • Rehabilitation counselling
  • Work placement
  • Social support and counselling for employees to secure their jobs

On tariff based jobs for disabled people in two social firms

Child, Youth and Family Welfare

Ambulant support

  • Family midwives
  • Socio-pedagogic family aid
  • Supervision order by the youth office or the court to help and advise the persons having parental authority

Social community orientated support

  • Individual help
  • Mobilisation of parents
  • Open full-time child support

Open full-time school

Primary school care

Day care centre

  • Open youth work
  • Gender mainstreaming

Inpatient Care

  • Group homes
  • Child custody

Projects of child and youth welfare

  • Social provisions in trouble hotspots
  • Street work
  • “Early support”

Transnational experiences

In 1990 the Brücke started transnational partnerships within different EU countries under the EU’s Horizon Programme. Until 1994 the aim was basically to get to know other organisations and services supporting employment. From 1994 until 1999 the Brücke worked within a transnational partnership called ACCEPT under the following EU-Programme of Horizon. ACCEPT was launched to improve the quality of life of people with mental health problems by helping them to reintegrate into employment.
Since 1999 the Brücke has been cooperating with non-profit organisations in Poland and since 2000 also in Russia.
From 2004 until 2009 the Brücke continued European partnership within the

 

  • EU Project “Health Information and Determinants for the European level”.
    www.stakes.fi
  • EU-Project “Monitoring Positive Mental Health Environments”.
    www.mmhe.eu

Their overall project aims were: (a) to devise and promote a system of structural indicators of environmental factors related to positive mental health in a variety of domains; (b) to create a system for monitoring the impact of policies and programmes promoting mental health.

Contracting parties

The Brücke is a contracting party of:

  • Coordination Centre for Social Services of the     Administrative Regions of Schleswig-Holstein
  • Region Rendsburg-Eckernförde
  • Land Schleswig-Holstein
  • Federal Employment Agency
  • Joint Agency Kiel and Rendsburg-Eckernförde
  • Integration Office of the Land Schleswig-Holstein, Neumünster
  • National Associations of the Statutory Health Insurance Funds
  • City Council Rendsburg
  • City Council Eckernförde
  • “Aktion Mensch” (national association for the care of disabled)
  • Ministry of Health of the Federal Republic of Germany, Berlin

Contact Address

Brücke Rendsburg-Eckernförde e.V.
Am Friedrichsbrunnen 2
24782 Büdelsdorf
info(at)bruecke.org
Tel.: 04331/13 23-62
Fax: 04331/13 23-65
www.bruecke.org