Social employment as a lever in lives with mental and social problems
Mental well-being
Granted amount:
DKK 2.9m
Mental well-being
Create empowerment and create active citizens.
Many Danes of all ages experience mental distress to an extent that impairs their ability to have a meaningful everyday life and be active citizens. The increasing mental distress and loneliness in the population must be reduced and prevented, so that even more people have the opportunity to live the life they want.
We aim to strengthen the well-being and empowerment of people in socially vulnerable positions by enabling them to participate in various societal communities.
Our focus is on the organisations, associations and voluntary civil environments that provide a secure framework and a lasting foundation – and that can build a bridge to more general social networks.
We support method development.
We know that collaboration across sectors can be difficult and filled with pitfalls. Therefore, we support the development of methods for the interaction between initiatives in civil society and the public sector, where the target group is involved.
We support projects that can develop new methods to create bridges and transitions between public initiatives and civil society, so that people experiencing mental distress maintain participation in everyday community life or return to it.
The target group for the projects includes individuals experiencing mental distress, encompassing both those with and without a diagnosis.
Social initiatives – in practice
Fritidsakademiet “makes young people good at working,” as they describe it. The project, supported by VELUX FOUNDATION with DKK 3.7 million from 2015-2019, provided job training and experience for more than 300 young people in socially vulnerable positions.
The ‘Time to Be Young’ project was aimed at children and young people with a parent suffering from dementia. The children and young people were offered support to cope with the significantly changed everyday life. After the project’s completion, 75 children and young people were on the waiting list for a youth group at the Danish Alzheimer’s Association. The project ran from 2015-2017. PHOTO: Jon Fiala Bjerre.
‘Klar til Start’ (ready to start) prepares people with autism for the job market. It involves specially designed employment programmes based on the ’place-then-train’ principle, where the educational counsellor and other necessary support functions visit the companies where the individual is. 212 young people participated in the project period, and 68% found employment and continue to be a stable workforce. ‘Klar til Start’ demonstrated that it is worthwhile to invest in people with autism, even if they are initially far from the job market PHOTE: Pernille Greve