Social services from Burgas, Ruse, and Razgrad exchanged experiences during a two-day working visit, which focused on good practices and the challenges in their work. The initiative, organized at the invitation of Militsa Ivanova, manager of the Center for Accommodation of Family Type for Adults with Mental Disorders "St. Petka" to the Center for Mental Health in Ruse, brought together specialists from residential and consultative social services.
The main goal of the meeting was to achieve an exchange of experience and to strengthen the partnership between social services providing care to people with mental disorders.
Managers and teams from various social services took part in these important meetings. From Burgas, Yoana Nikolova, manager of the Protected Home for Persons with Mental Disorders, and Yulia Kutsarova, manager of the Center for Social Rehabilitation and Integration for Persons with Mental Disorders, attended, along with their teams. Employees from the Protected Home for Persons with Mental Disorders - 2 - Burgas also participated. From Razgrad, Danaila Shisheva, manager of the Complex for Social Services for Adults with Disabilities, s. Prostorno, and her team attended. From Ruse, Kristina Pesheva, manager of the Center for Accommodation of Family Type for Adults with Mental Disorders, Militsa Ivanova, manager of the Center for Accommodation of Family Type for Adults with Mental Disorders "St. Petka", Yoana Stefanova, manager of the Protected Home for Adults with Mental Disorders, and Milena Asparuhova, manager of the Center for Accommodation of Family Type for Adults with Dementia 6 "D. Basarbovski", along with their teams, participated in the event.
During the first day of the visit, seven social services were visited, both residential and consultative, which serve people with mental disorders. The provider of these services was the Center for Mental Health - Ruse, and the partner was Dr. Plamen Panayotov from CKK "Solutions", who actively participated in the discussions and exchange of ideas.
The second day was dedicated to a visit to a complex of social services for adults with disabilities in the village of Prostorno, Razgrad, provided by Razgrad Municipality.
The days of exchange gave social workers the opportunity to get acquainted closely with the working process, to see the results of the work and to discuss the daily challenges. Sharing experience and good practices, as well as discussing mistakes, is one of the most effective ways of training in and outside the team. The aim of sharing and documenting specific practices is to encourage the regular exchange of information between employees and specialists in social services, which leads to more training, exchange of ideas and cohesion in the team.
The connection between the different social services started during the Festival "Guide to Good", organized by Razgrad Municipality last year, where social services from Burgas received recognition and awards for their good social practices. These days emphasized that the exchange of good practices and true partnership are key to providing better quality services to the users of social services.