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Volunteer Impact
In the year of the launch of the European Solidarity Corps CEV featured different testimonies of beneficiaries of volunteering across Europe. Showing how these Helping Hands put in practice European values of solidarity in order to promote human rights, equality, dignity and health and well-being for all. Share your testimony to communication[at]cev.be.
Portugal
“Being with Jose, is good, he brought me more freedom. With him I feel understood, he is a person who listens to us, he is a person with whom I share my ideas.” (Mr Domingos)
Portugal: The project “Out of Doors with Saint Rafael” encourages independent participation of people with mental illness, which have a significative cognitive dependence, in the basic activities of daily living and encourage their participation in the community, reducing self-stigma. In the framework of this project volunteers develop activities to promote and support users and participate in the routines and activities planned by the Mental Health Centre. They establish interaction with users through listening and dialoguing and accompanying them outbound, promoting socialization. The volunteer Jose Martins and the project were awarded by CPV the Portuguese Trophy of Volunteering 2013.
The Instituto São João de Deus – Mental Health Centre São João de Deus of Barcelos stresses that “volunteering has positive effects and represents several gains in daily life, specifically in terms of improving the quality of life of people with mental illness“.