Residential Centers
Treating Nitzan's adults by integrating them into the residential community and by giving them opportunities for socializing is one of the central goals of Nitzan's Adult programming.
Local Nitzan branches and the central Nitzan office have set up residential training centers within communities in different areas throughout the country. More than 200 residents who are at different stages of rehabilitation live in these residential centers.
All of the residents are recognized by the Rehabilitation Branch of the Welfare Office as part of the focus population of the Rehabilitation Branch, and the government officially recognizes their need for out-of-home living. These residential centers are currently in the stages of expansion, both the contents within the existing living areas, in order to receive additional residents, and also in terms of setting up additional centers.
There has also been a reorganization of local associations of parents, which has led to new projects such as the setting up of "The House for Life", etc. The central Nitzan branch, in addition to its operating of the largest residential living center, "Nitzan Onim", helps different Nitzan branches in developing and fostering professional manpower by way of training, in-depth days, courses and continuing education. Nitzan also helps organize the programming and continuing education projects when needed.
Focus Community
The adult population of Nitzan are young people of working age who are suffering from adaptive and functional difficulties, both in occupation, independent functioning and in social connections including personal relationships. Most of the participants have been recognized since childhood as having special needs in the area of learning disabilities. Portions of them were integrated into the special education system, and many of them were evaluated and treated at the various branches of Nitzan. As they reached adulthood, their difficulties worsened and began to disturb their lives in a different way. It became noticed that rehabilitation would be needed in one of the residential community projects. The residential community projects are just as their name expresses. They are not institutional arrangements for the residents, but rather a framework with completely regular living conditions, rented apartments on the free market in city centers. Within these apartments, rehabilitative projects take place in areas of occupation, independent living, and social integration.
Residential Training Centers are out-of-home residential settings which are located within cities, in rented apartments where residents in different stages of rehabilitation live. There they receive assistance and support in the form of personal rehabilitation, which is individually designed for his or her needs at his or her particular stage.
What is included in the residential training center?
The residential training center includes integration into apartments that are divided according to rehabilitation stages.
1. In the first stage, preparatory homes, there is a support network with the accompaniment of social workers and rehabilitation workers, together with job placement. This stage lasts up to two years.
2. In the second stage, the residents move to satellite apartments where they are place according to their personal choice. The fit amongst the housemates is considered together with the professional staff, the residents themselves, and their parents. In these homes, the residents live several years, sometimes in couples, as they build a small and gradually decreasing treatment program according to their process of improvement and functioning.
All of the residents that are integrated in the residential projects are also integrated into work according to the conditions of the market (not in protected factories), with the help of placement workers. The placement workers locate places of employment that are able to integrate workers with special needs of different types. The placement workers continue to follow after the employment needs of the worker to ensure that the placement is still appropriate. Occasionally it is necessary to additionally motivate or compensate the employer for his additional effort or alternately to assist in special situations with an occupational rehabilitation assistant for an intermediate period to assist with the absorption of the special needs worker in the workplace and to suggest special conditions for the worker. There is also a great amount of cooperation with the social workers and care workers that are involved with the resident as they consult together with the placement worker in order to overcome crises or other difficult situations.
In each apartment there is a framework of assistance by means of rehabilitation workers that accompany the residents according to their needs and situation, 2-5 times a week. The rehabilitation worker teaches the residents the general tasks which are needed to do in daily life, starting with personal care, hygiene and grooming, organization of the apartment like that of a family where there is a division of responsibility in the different living areas including cleaning, organization, cooking, shopping, budget planning, and bill paying. In addition, the rehabilitation worker encourages the residents to participate in social and enrichment activities, sports and arts groups, clubs, and informal social activities like going out to socialize in small groups. The rehabilitation worker also organizes, with the residents, special activities like field trips, parties, social club activities and more
The social workers organize the treatment of the residents, train the rehabilitation workers, and prepare a personalized, individual intervention treatment program for each resident, according to his situation, desires, and needs. In addition, the social worker is in continual contact with the resident's parents and with the placement workers, in order to assist in case of need in the place of employment. Some of the residents are treated by the social workers on an individual basis. The social workers also conduct group treatment for the residents (e.g. groups of women etc...), and also parents' groups in order to make available support groups for parents and to plan the process of separation (between the parents and their child) that will allow growth and increased independence by the residents. Meaningful treatment work is done in preparation for life with a spouse and also in training and assistance of couples that are living together, at times as a preparation for life as a married couple.
The residents receive, if needed, psychological and psychiatric treatments. A portion of the treatment is funded directly by Nitzan. In other cases, Nitzan contributes in funding a portion of the costs.
One of the important issues in treatment of the residents is social rehabilitation. Nitzan conducts a complete set of programs within the framework and also contributes in funding additional activities within the community in order to allow the maximum social integration for the residents. In addition, Nitzan conducts a social club by means of an elected board of the residents themselves in coordination with the staff.
The Nitzan Association will be establishing at the Nitzan Center, an Adult Counseling Center with the goal to reach out and give assistance to children of Nitzan who've grown up and are having difficulty finding and navigating their way in life as adults.
We often witness the distressful situations of Nitzan graduates who invested long years of difficult coping during their formal schooling, while receiving a great deal of assistance, both at the different Nitzan branches with personal instruction, and assistance that was given to them within the different frameworks of classroom inclusion. These students also dealt with coping with distressful social situations, rejection, and insults, and after grinding their teeth and thinking they overcame their difficulties, they aren't succeeding to find their place in society as adults. Frequently, they aren't successful at fitting in or holding their jobs at places of employment, they're not successful "getting out of the family nest", and aren't finding an appropriate social framework.
The center wil be directed by a social worker that specializes in rehabilitation. Each adult will be given an extensive admissions interview in which the counseling program will be established. The center's staff will include the following professionals:
In addition, the center will be assisted by additional professional, community agencies, such as evaluation and neuro-psychological assessment centers. At the end of each series of counseling sessions, a comprehensive rehabilitation and assistance program for the adult and his/her parents will be formulated in order to tailor a personal program for each adult according to his situation, abilities, and needs with the cooperation of relevant professionals.
The center will offer a rehabilitation program in the following fields:
-
Professional guidance
- Social rehabilitation
-
Referral to Residential Training Centers for comprehensive rehabilitation
-
Referral to Welfare Services or Rehabilitation Services of Bituach Leumi (National Security Institute).
-
Referral to treatment agencies for the adult and family members
-
Monitoring implementation of the recommendations and when needed adjusting them according to the needs