SAVA - Autonomous Living Support Servicefor people with drug addiction (Barcelona Province)

The Autonomous Living Support Service (SAVA) is a service of Fundación Salud y Comunidad (FSC) that accompanies and supports the autonomy processes of people with addictive behaviours. It is designed for people who are abstinent and need support in their day-to-day lives.

This service guarantees individualised care from professionals who provide socio-educational and emotional support to the person. The service is funded by the Department of Social Rights and Inclusion of the Generalitat de Catalunya through the ordinary call for grants (CONVO).

BENEFICIARIES

SAVA is aimed at all people over 18 with drug addiction who:

• Are currently abstinent.
• Need educational and emotional support to cope with the difficulties they encounter in their daily lives.
• Need support and guidance in finding leisure and occupational activities and a social network.

OBJECTIVES

The general objective of SAVA is to support service users with their day-to-day tasks and difficulties in order to consolidate their autonomy and abstinence. The newly acquired autonomy after completing treatment can bring day-to-day difficulties, and SAVA provides support with these.

The main objectives are therefore:

• To promote the maintenance of abstinence and a healthy lifestyle.
• To maintain the lifestyle changes initiated in previous treatments.
• To strengthen the person’s autonomy by incorporating healthy habits and projects and avoiding those that pose a risk.

The professionals working in this service help each person with their personal needs and goals. To achieve the proposed objectives, these are agreed between the educator and the service user, so that realistic objectives can be set that are adapted to each person’s needs, situation and abilities.

SERVICES PROVIDED

These services will be established at the start of the support process according to each person’s needs. They may be chosen from the following range:

• Socio-educational support and setting of personalised objectives.
• Support in finding housing
• Accompaniment to follow-up appointments and other community resources.
• Psycho-emotional support.
• Follow-up of medical appointments and prescribed medication regimens.
• Follow-up of healthy living habits: personal hygiene, diet, exercise, sleep…
• Follow-up and reinforcement for financial management.
• Follow-up and reinforcement for autonomy in household matters.
• Support in carrying out procedures that pose great difficulty.
• Promotion of and guidance on community resources.
• Guidance in finding leisure activities.
• Guidance on training activities.
• Guidance for active job searching.

WHERE SUPPORT TAKES PLACE

Support may take place:

• At the service user’s home.
• In the office set up for support sessions.
• Online.

ACCESS TO AND DURATION OF THE SERVICE

Starting the process is voluntary and responds to the needs of the person requesting support. The duration of the SAVA service is flexible, and its completion will depend on the objectives set and the time needed to achieve them. This process is expected to last from a minimum of two months to a maximum of two years.

Once the person and their referring centre have contacted SAVA, an interview is arranged and held between the applicant and the person in charge of the resource. Once both parties have agreed, the process and the meetings with the key professional can begin.