Despite their vulnerability, many of the more than one hundred people living on the streets of Ibiza Town are unaware that they can turn to the City Council’s social services for help. “As a result of the danas, we discovered that many of those we assisted at the emergency centre were not even aware that these services existed”, explains the councillor for Social Welfare, Lola Penín. To support this group, who are experiencing severe social exclusion, the City Council has launched a first community care service (Sepac), aimed at helping them become familiar with the usual care channels.
This is a particularly complex profile of users, often facing addiction issues, mental health problems, dual diagnoses or broken family ties. Their marginalisation is further aggravated because, as Penín points out, “either they were not receiving support or they did not have social services as a point of reference”. “We are not talking about settlements, but about people living on the streets in situations of extreme vulnerability”, stresses the director of Social Welfare in Vila, Iván Castro.
The new urgent care service was presented this Friday to representatives from the Red Cross, Cáritas, Metges pel Món and Deixalles, organisations that work to combat social exclusion on the island and form a support network together with public social service professionals. “This model allows us not only to identify situations of risk, but also to accompany people through a process of stabilisation and real improvement”, Penín said.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.