Field social work

Our professional social counselling mission is focused on countering indebtedness and is designed to motivate, assist, and support people in unfavourable social situations. Often the users of this service do not have the information, skills, or resources necessary to solve their issues on their own. 

Objectives of the service

The objectives of the service are the following:

• inform users about the possibilities of solving their situation,
• improve users' situations through the provision of practical assistance,
• enable users to address their situation actively,
• educate users to enable them to avoid similar situations in the future,
• provide further professional assistance to the service users as needed. 

Who is the service for?

We provide specialist social counselling to individuals over 18 in an unfavourable social situation related to debt and cumulatively face one of the other types of social exclusion. These include:

• substandard or unstable housing,
• long-term unemployment, difficulty in entering the labour market,
• difficulties in managing a budget,
• social disadvantage due to prejudice,
• dysfunctional or non-existent social networks, lack of resources to deal with difficulties,
• dependence on social transfers (benefits, pensions),
• socially pathological phenomena within the family (crime, addictions, children's educational problems...),
• the need for more support in dealing with adverse social situations.

Principles of the service

The principles of the service are as follows:

• Confidentiality—all personal information communicated is considered confidential, and privacy is strictly maintained. Our case workers do not disseminate personal information without the service user’s knowledge and consent (except when there is a legal obligation to notify).
• Non-Judgemental—the service is provided in a way that the user is not stigmatised by it and that their relationships with people close to them are not restricted or negatively affected.
• Voluntary—the service is provided at the user's request and to the extent they choose. The service user can choose from offered solutions at their discretion. The proposed methods of solving their situation are continuously verified. Our case workers respect the client's right to maintain different perspectives on the solution and accept the solution they see as most in their interest. However, our caseworkers will always fully inform the service user of the possible risks of their decision. The user can terminate the cooperation at any time without justification.
• Individualised approach—a solution is always sought according to the user’s specific situation. We know that our service users are individuals, not a group (family or so-called community); thus, the service provision criteria are based on the individual’s needs (not the so-called group affiliation). Our counsellors respect the uniqueness, dignity, and independence of the service user, their privacy and their right to make their own decisions. Our caseworkers are aware that a generalised approach leads to ineffective solutions.
• Equal access—the service is provided regardless of ethnic, national, social, religious or other affiliations. Service users are not discriminated against based on age, colour, mother tongue, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, or economic situation.
• Empowerment—throughout the cooperation, the user is supported so that their abilities and skills are strengthened so that they can deal with similar situations in the future by themselves.
• Active cooperation—professional counsellors do not solve the service user's situation without the user’s active participation; the user must take steps independently or with the accompanying and temporary assistance of a professional counsellor.
• Free of charge—the service is provided free of charge.