VOLUNTEER IN ASTRADE
IT IS A PREREQUISITE TO BE VACCINATED AGAINST COVID-19
COFINANCED BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION UNDER THE EUROPEAN SOLIDARITY CORPS PROGRAMME
Start date: As soon as possible
End date: 09.08.2024
European Solidarity Corps Programme (ESC)
As a volunteer, the European Solidarity Corps lets you learn through non-formal experiences, improve existing skills or acquire new ones for your personal, educational or professional development.
The volunteering service offers you:
- Free accommodation: a single room in a flat shared with other volunteers.
- Allowance for living and personal expenses (370€ per month).
- Local transport to get to your volunteer activities.
- Arrival and midterm training (midterm evaluation).
- Private medical insurance that will cover all the expenses not covered by the public health system (health, accident and civil liability insurance).
- Your travel expenses from where you live to Murcia at the beginning of the project and from Murcia to your place of residence once the project is finished.
- Visa and residence permit fees (if required).
About the volunteer project
IT IS A PREREQUISITE TO BE VACCINATED AGAINST COVID-19.
Start date: As soon as possible
End date: 09.08.2024
The schedule of volunteer activities will be between 25 and 35 hours per week.
The volunteer will develop the activities of the project in the "Day Center" in Molina de Segura. In this center, users with autism spectrum disorder receive a comprehensive treatment that includes all dimensions of adaptive skills, in order to integrate them into society. In addition, the volunteer activities will also take place in the city of Murcia, where the users spend their free time and carry out different sociocultural activities. In this case, the volunteer will accompany them (with the support of one or more people) to facilitate their mobility and participation in these activities.
The main tasks of the volunteer are:
- Support in the development and implementation of employment programs and the transition of users from adolescence to adulthood.
- Support in occupational activities and basic skills workshops.
- Support in daily activities of the users, inside and outside the center, for example: swimming pool workshop (Intervention in the aquatic environment), organic gardening workshop, ecological shop, sales of products, craft workshop (ceramics, glass and leather), activities of daily living (cleaning, cooking, etc.), speech therapy and communication skills workshop, multi-sensory workshop and music therapy, employment workshop, leisure activities, sexuality workshop.
- Promotion of European projects and programs and mobility among young people in the Region of Murcia, as well as among the users of our organization.
- Participation in workshops and presentations of the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) program in youth organizations, secondary schools in the city of Murcia and the University of Murcia.
The volunteer will carry out all these activities with the supervision of professionals, assistants and tutors in the different classrooms of the centers located in Molina de Segura and in the city of Murcia.
ASTRADE offers the opportunity to learn with the support of our technical team the main areas related to intervention on the autism spectrum. The volunteer will acquire the basic skills and knowledge about a specific disability profile.
In order to develop activities with young people affected by autism and/or Asperger's syndrome, ASTRADE has different methodologies and types of work:
- Non-formal educational activities.
- Psychological treatment.
- Emotional support.
Most of the activities take place mainly in the center of Molina de Segura, a municipality in Spain with a population of 68,511 inhabitants (2012) located 8 km from the city of Murcia.
On the one hand, ASTRADE develops most of its actions in the "Day Center" in Molina De Segura, guaranteeing the basic support to the users and developing the daily activities with them. On the other hand, the project activities take place in Murcia, where our users spend their free time and carry out different social activities.
Our volunteering project seeks to promote the values promoted by the EU and the ESC Programme, such as solidarity, equality, justice, respect, the fight against exclusion and xenophobia, etc.
Accommodation and maintenance
The volunteers who participate in our project will live in a flat located in the center of the city of Murcia together with other volunteers who carry out their volunteer project in other organizations in Murcia.
The flat will be rented by the Euroaccion Association, the coordinating organization of this project. Each volunteer will have his/her own room to guarantee privacy and space. The coordinating organization will pay the rent of the apartment and the bills on a monthly basis, to free the volunteers from these tasks.
This project is funded by the European Commission and covers, in addition to accommodation, the costs of food, pocket money and local transport. This money will be managed by the volunteer in a free and independent way.
About Astrade
ASTRADE is a non-profit organization born in 1996 from the union of families who have at least one person with autism. The main objective is to improve the quality of the life of people with mental disorders and their families. The ASTRADE Assembly includes more than 300 families spread throughout the Region of Murcia. ASTRADE has a Board of Directors whose main function is to manage and represent the Association. In addition, to develop the plans designed by the Board, ASTRADE has a professional group of one hundred people and an important group of volunteers who work with them.
Our goal is to ensure the well-being and improve the quality of the life of people with disabilities or autism and their families, throughout the different periods of their lives.
The specific objectives of ASTRADE are:
- Empower the person with autism by providing comprehensive care, starting with prevention and going through specific interventions, to carry out an improvement in their quality of life.
- Working with families (welcoming, information, counseling and training) with the aim of achieving family integration as a basic step towards social integration.
ASTRADE is a member of the "Murcia Region of FEAPS"(The Spanish Confederation of Organizations in favor of People with Intellectual Disabilities) and the "Spanish Confederation of Autism".
ASTRADE provides the following services to its members and users:
SERVICES FOR MEMBERS / USERS: psycho Pedagogical evaluation, educational support, psychosocial support, Asperger's group, workshop activities, swimming pool, summer camp, summer school, leisure activities for adults and academics, psychomotor education, music therapy, speech-language pathology, toy library, multisensory stimulation, employment support.
SERVICES FOR PARENTS: psychological support, family care service, family rest support, school for parents, “School for siblings and grandparents”, family visit, general intervention in the family context and Collusion support.
Currently, ASTRADE is developing its services in the Region of Murcia, intervening in more than of 100 educational centers throughout the region. It has four centers in four different cities:
⋅ Molina de Segura
⋅ Cartagena
⋅ Ribera de Molina
⋅ Lorca
Volunteer profile
This project is aimed at young people between 18 and 30 years old who have not participated in any European volunteering project (EVS or ESC) before.
Our association will prioritize the selection of young people with fewer opportunities, young people who face geographic, economic and/or educational barriers.
Given the profile of our users, the volunteer must be motivated by our project and must be mature enough to carry out the activities involved.
Secondly, ASTRADE strongly appreciates the interest of the participants in doing activities and interacting with people affected by autism (especially with Asperger's syndrome), as well as his/her interest in psychology, pedagogy, special education and the world of disability in general.
We also value the interest in creative ceramics, glass management and activities in organic agriculture.
No young person willing to participate in our project will be excluded for any reason (economic difficulties, social or geographical obstacles, cultural or ideological differences, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity, gender identity and sex, etc.).