The Forum Special Guest
The Club was born with the aim of starting a path for social autonomy and the possible reintegration into the workplace of people between the ages of 18 and 45, called members. In this context, in fact, the participants are not patients but Members of the Club, since everyone assumes an equal position.
There are no medical staff within the Club, only non-specialized staff who support members in their activities. The foundations of the Itaca Club operating model are the Relationship (between members and between members and staff) and the WOD (Work Ordered Day), the structured work day, essential to ensure the functioning of the Club and organized in such a way as to minimize anxiety and insecurities. The small number of staff involved is sufficient to ensure that all members carry out their activities, but small enough to make their involvement indispensable. The Club aims to support the Member in developing their social and work self-determination through commitment to daily activities necessary for the functioning of the Club itself, activating, where possible, professional orientation paths and training internships, at external companies, useful for possible reintegration into the workplace.
Progetto Itaca Napoli 2014-2024
“Ten Years of Commitment to Mental Health: Ideas, Projects and Future Challenges”
Pio Monte della Misericordia Napoli, 26 ottobre 2024
Ten intense years during which, thanks to the collaboration between health professionals and our volunteers, we have worked to raise awareness on issues related to mental health, break taboos and stigma, promote prevention and early intervention for psychological disorders.
Let's renew that alliance for mental health, proposed by us in March 2022, during the conference entitled, "A community for mental health" and sanctioned today by the sixth mission of the PNRR, called: "Taking care of mental health" and by the third objective of the UN Agenda 2030 which concerns the promotion of well-being and mental health.
Progetto Itaca does not carry out any type of medical therapy, which is left to specialists in the field, but has, among other things, the objective of supporting people who suffer from mental disorders and their families, first of all through listening, recognizing and giving space and dignity to their need for normality and happiness. Progetto Itaca also organizes workshops, activities and training actions, aimed at accompanying the person who has experienced the explosion of a psychosis, towards a new autonomy and a rediscovered identity, first personal, then social, and finally, when possible, also work-related.Specifically, therefore, the Association, through targeted actions and concrete proposals, aims to:
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arrive early at diagnosis and treatment;
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promote the initial relationship with specific social-health structures;
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promote rehabilitation and autonomy;
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support patients and their families during treatment;
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protect patients' rights;
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raise public awareness;
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give a new vision of mental illness and spread a message of hope; •
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fight stigma.
The actions promoted by Progetto Itaca Napoli
01
Family to Family Course (FaF)
for relatives of people suffering from mental illness: it is held by volunteer family members of Progetto Itaca trained according to the guidelines of the American Association NAMI and in collaboration with the DSM of the ASL Napoli 1.
02
Self-help groups for family members
a place of discussion where we support each other in managing problems relating to family members with mental health problems.
03
Listening line
aims to support people in difficulty and requests for first aid by telephone, from today also via WhatsApp.
04
Course for volunteers
the offer of scientific consultancy with the aim of training volunteers for the various projects of the Association aimed at those suffering from depression, panic attacks, anxiety, eating disorders, psychosis and their families.
05
Events
The Association periodically organizes events and meetings aimed at fundraising and communication actions.
06
School project
for “Information and prevention of mental distress”. It works with the aim of: activating a close relationship with schools; involving parents and teachers on the topic of prevention of mental distress; attacking the stigma that accompanies it; telling kids that they can talk about it without fear; creating an active safety net around adolescents. In this context, two collaborations are active: with the Second University of Naples (SUN) and with the Department of Mental Health of the ASL Na1, with which the “Operating Procedure for Collaboration between the UOSM DSM 33 and 25 of the ASL Na1 and Progetto Itaca Napoli” has been shared. So far, in Campania alone, the third and fourth classes of about 400 secondary schools have been contacted for this initiative, through meetings with an Itaca volunteer, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, the principal, teachers and students. Attention and participation are very high, as is the demand from the kids.
07
Club Itaca Napoli
active for 5 years now, it is a real rehabilitation center for the all-round social reintegration of people with a history of major mental illness (major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar and personality disorder), aimed exclusively at people who are in a "compensated" phase of their pathology.
The central hub of Progetto Itaca, Club Itaca is an innovative and unique reality in the national and international panorama, which adheres to the “Clubhouse International” model, born in the United States in 1948 and spread throughout the world with over 341 Clubhouses in 32 countries.
Club Itaca Napoli, according to the rules of the “Clubhouse” model, welcomes people with a history of mental distress, offering them a series of activities useful for recovering self-esteem, social inclusion and socio-work autonomy.
“Taking care” of the person, before the patient, is certainly fundamental in working with people who have experienced a laceration with consequent psychological isolation and social marginalization, resulting from an existential “collapse” or mental illness. However, rehabilitation practice must also take into account how other active and included subjects in the territory can facilitate and allow the increase of communication paths aimed at a significant recovery of personal abilities and resources that these people feel they no longer have or can no longer express.
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Impact of the Club Itaca Napoli project on the local community
The Association, with the Club Itaca Napoli project, has established a dense network of relationships with local actors who deal with mental health. In fact, in addition to the collaboration with the staff of the Second University of Naples, which supervises the scientific aspects of the training courses for volunteers and family members, there is close cooperation with the staff of the mental health offices of ASL NA1. In a two-way dialogue between these structures, it is possible to highlight the benefits for the territory that derive from these relational networks. In fact, these relationships establish a territorial synergy that benefits families, who are directed by the health structures to the Club, for those services that they themselves are unable to cover.
The Club also builds a network with economic and private social actors (companies, trade associations, institutions, third sector organizations), who often need to hire workers registered in protected categories in compliance with the regulatory provisions of Law 68/99. In this sense, the Club, especially thanks to the training and job orientation unit, brings together supply and demand between employers and workers registered in protected categories. So far, in addition to the activation of 10 internships, Club Itaca Napoli has also obtained permanent employment for three members.