Sociotherapeutic Day-care Centre
Our Day-care Centre is the place where we take day care of children from the families in need of counselling and money. We are trying to help not only children, but also entire families. To accomplish this objective, we:
- provide children with day care at our centre by offering them various sociotherapeutic exercises administered by the qualified staff as well as recreational activities and games with physical movement (centre's football team, workout and dancing classes etc.), ensuring a meal and regular counselling and childcare. By being involved in those activities (and mainly sociotherapeutic ones) students are given corrective treatment remaining in a complete opposition to their traumatic experiences. This treatment stimulates release of emotions and is a lesson of new psychological skills;
- ensure regular contact with parents;
- co-operate with school pedagogues and tutors.
Our Pupils and Students
The children coming to our day-care centre are in a difficult emotional, economic, social and biological situation. The most frequent problems their families struggle with comprise: alcoholism, long-term unemployment and lack of adequate funds for modest living. This often makes our students feel anxious and suffer from tension and uncertainty. In consequence, they lack self-confidence and trust in adults.
Our Work at the Sociotherapeutic Day-care Centre
At our day-care centre, we work with groups of children of similar age. The younger group is formed of children aged 7 to 10, while the older from 10 to 14. The number of pupils in one group depends on the number of tutors employed by the centre. Ultimately, each group may have twenty members. The number of rooms per group is crucial. These should comprise rooms where you can learn, where you can play and where you can meet with your friends. At the day-care centre run by the "Gniazdo" Foundation, children have rooms earmarked for doing homework, eating meals and doing exercises not requiring much space (drawing and board games, for instance). Besides, all students may use the so-called "big room" where sport classes usually take place. Children may use the ping-pong table and play table football.
Group Work
Group work stands for a therapeutic community, built on equal terms by adults and children. Everyday, there are meetings with children, tutors and various invitees; e.g. voluntary workers and trainees. The meetings provide a platform for sharing important information, taking crucial decisions and giving praise. As each person has the right to speak, children learn that they can exert influence on life in the day-care centre, negotiate the things they find important and solve problems. The diagnosis made by children and the group allows for developing a specific sociotherapeutic programme. We run both group and individual classes.
Voluntary Work
At our day-care centre, one may do voluntary work and a traineeship. Sociotherapeutic Day-care Centre signs agreements with voluntary workers and trainees under the Voluntary Activity Act. Voluntary workers gradually learn more and more about centre life. First, they meet the children by playing with and observing them. Then, we recommend help in doing homework. Depending on the growing skills and the term of voluntary work, we propose them to carry out various tasks and classes with children. Voluntary workers and trainees meet every week to discuss their classes and potential problems. At the meetings, they also participate in sundry workshops devoted to work with children at the sociotherapeutic day-care centre. The workshops are run by Katarzyna Cholewa, MA, and Małgorzata Gowik, MA. What’s more, voluntary workers and trainees may discuss their classes individually with instructors then.
Come and do voluntary work at our centre! We especially invite the students of psychology and pedagogy to join us. If you are interested in voluntary work, please
contact us.
What I like About the Day-care Centre Is That...
I can do various group exercises, play different games and break dance and with friends.
Karolina
Children find break dance very attractive.
A Youth Personal Development Club student shows the day-care centre kids
the arcanes of break dance
I can play board games, ping-pong, table football and others
Angelika H
Table football is among the our pupils' favourite attractions.
"Real" football has even more fans that table football.
In winter, football moves from the pitch to the room with exercise mats.
I like instructors and other kids. I like playing football and ping-pong
Sandra H
Instructor (Przemek) plays with one of his students.
I like instructors, classes and all kids.
Angelika P
I like group exercises, lunches and afternoon snacks, computer games, ping-pong, table football and soccer…and, on the whole, that there is such a place like the day-care centre
Dawid H
Everyone can play 10 minutes a day on the PC.
What do we do at the day-care centre...
we dance, do homework, practice and learn various things, we play ping-pong and table football
Karolina
we play games, do homework and play with friends
Angelika H.
we play various games, like football etc.
Sandra H.
At the day-care centre, we play and do homework. It's cool as a rule!
Angelika P.
Junior group during the Easter breakfast.
Senior group during the Easter breakfast.
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