EU-Project | |
Frankfurt Seminar May 25th - 27th 2001 |
Psychological Support for people with HIV/AIDS
LA
STRADA
La Strada is a center of the AIDS-Hilfe Frankfurt e.V. which offers support programs for il-legal drug users. Since 1990, when the work started in the “Café Rudolf”, the predecessor of the present center, various offers aiming at harm reduction, the satisfaction of basic needs and practical assistance ensuring the survival of the clients have been part of the program. The clients have access to counselling services, assistence is given when they wish to stop using drugs, and an injection room is available. Since its foundation it has been the aim of the institution to provide low-level offers for the clients, and to approach them with an attitude of acceptance. La Strada is a café where contacts to drug users can be established. It provides for the basic needs of the clients, i.e. food, non-alcoholic beverages, hygiene, condoms, exchange of syringes and clothes. The café is open from Monday – Friday for 11 hours a day and for 4 hours on Sunday and is frequented by approx. 150 persons per day. Injection room: the cli-ents bring their drugs with them and can legally consume them their under conditions which are not stressful to them, allow for a better standard of hygiene and make it possible to inter-vene in cases of drug-use related emergencies. Low level counselling service for intravenous drug users (7 places): crisis intervention, social assistance, introducing the clients into de-toxification programs or methadone programs or into outpatient or inpatient institutions pro-viding drug therapy, advice for intravenous drug users from foreign countries and for people with HIV or AIDS, support of people in a state of illness, assistance in finding a room. Facili-ties with 23 beds for emergencies (14 for men and 9 for women), open daily from 8 pm – 8.30 am. In addition, there are 5 beds which can be used by ill and feeble clients during the day. Crack-Street-Project: Project where
social workers go to see their clients in the places where they usally
stay and try to get them into other projects offering additional social
assis-tance and medical aid (in cooperation with the local youth authorities
and the Maltesers, an organisation which offers medical services). Streetwork:
social workers go to see intravenous drug users in specific areas near
the train station where the clients usually meet.
La Strada receives two thirds of its
finances from the local authorities of the city of Frank-furt and one third
from the federal state of Hesse. As far as the beds available to the clients
during day or night time are concerned these places are paid for on an
individual case re-lated basis by the social welfare authorities.
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Praxis Psychosoziale Beratung |