Donation of Multipurpose Vehicle

The Association for Regional Development and Mental Health (EPAPSY) was founded in 1988 to provide an integrated mental health care model to the community and to fight social exclusion. Since 2019, EPAPSY is responsible, among other things, for the operation of the Adolescent Psychosocial Rehabilitation Unit (Teen Residential Facility), which is a housing structure for teenagers aged 13-18 years with psychiatric symptomatology, who need special therapeutic intervention outside their existing family and/or social environment. The mission of the Teen Residential Facility is to provide individualised and integrated care aimed at the psychosocial rehabilitation and integration of teenagers with a psychiatric diagnosis and concurrent family and socio-economic difficulties, their empowerment through the strengthening and development of their individual and professional skills, and their preprofessional training.

In July 2020 the grant provided by the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation has allowed for the procurement to the Teen Residential Facility of a seven-seater vehicle, which is crucial in covering, in a safe, adequate and independent manner, the access and transportation needs of teenagers in the community for the purposes of education, recreation and treatment. Throughout 2020 the vehicle was used for summer vacations and excursions, transport of teenagers to and from the regular and special school units they attend, access to health services and participation in educational and recreational activities.

• EPAPSY has assumed the scientific and administrative responsibility for 23 Psychosocial Rehabilitation Units, 2 Mobile Mental Health Units in the Cyclades and 1 Day Centre, thus creating a large network of Social Psychiatry services and professionals.

“The support of the Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, which made the purchase of a seven-seater minivan possible, enabled us to ensure equal access to the community for our children, participation in new experiences, as well as the development of their social skills, contributing to making their day-today life fuller and thus improving their overall social functioning and quality of life. The immediate response of the Latsis Public Benefit Foundation and its support of our work in practice is a remarkable gesture of solidarity and social responsibility, in the delicate field of child protection and mental health promotion in young people.”

Konstantina Zervaki

Social Worker

Scientific Supervisor, Adolescent Psychosocial Rehabilitation Unit