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PEER COUNSELLING FOR SCI (SPINAL CORD INJURED) DURING REHABILITATION

: In between professionality and voluntary action

Mirja VauramoKäpylä Rehabilitation Centre, Helsinki

Finnish Association of People withPhysical Disabilities

Kiljava 2009

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Finnish Association of People with Physical Disabilities

: One of the oldest disability organizations in Finland

: Promotes and supports equal opportunities, promotes human rights and opposes discrimination among people with physical disabilities. The association influences societal development and produces services required by the disabled.

– Accomodation services– Education services– Rehabilitation services

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Käpylä Rehabilitation Centre

• A rehabilitation operating unit of Finnish Association on People with Physical Disabilities

• The centre provides public health care and rehabilitation for persons with spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, stroke and polio.

• The services and treatments are based on internationally accepted methodology, multidisciplinary team work and patients own initiative. Essential is the cooperation with local social and health care, insurance companies and several other authorities.

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Käpylä Rehabilitation Centre

• 75 in-patients, yearly over 700 clients

Services:• Tailor-made Residential Programmes

(1-4 months)• Rehabilitation courses and Programmes• Assessments• Out-patient services

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Social work unit

• 7 social workers• peer counselling–coordinator and his team • 1 secretary• Every client receives social work services

: individual social work / client – relative : multidisciplinary work

: network• Social workers of the Center are specialized in the themes of

the rehabilitation social work, to meet recently injured patients and their families ,the questions of empowerment, participation, legislation concerning possibilities and rights ,cooperation and psychosocial support in different forms etc.

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Peer counselling after the spinal injury

• The aim of peer councelling is to promote persons with disabilities to overcome their problems due to their disorders. Peer councelor helps and supports the fellow patient in daily living with .Peer councelor can stimulate activities of daily living, hobbies, education and return back to working life. Peer element offers something else and something more as rehabilitation professionals do.

• Peer counselling activities have been and are confirmed a regular part of sci-rehabilitation services .

• terminology - peer counselor, peer supporter• -voluntary - professional

• the background of the conscious development work - peer element at the acute rehabilitation phase was often

occational and rare, no organizing at all, no planning ,occational resourses

• Why was this developing work so strong also social workers intresse?

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Peer counselling activities nowadays

PEER COUNSELLING ACTIVITIES• are organized by the full-time working person

– coordinating activities and also meeting personally patients

– having expertise of sporting facilities• and by the team of 10 peer counsellors

– various sci-disabilities, different ages and both genders – peer counsellors receive a modest reward for their work.

• a peer relative participates in the relatives program

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… continues

INDIVIDUAL COUNSELLING

• individual conversations include the following items: disability, family, work, study, sexuality etc.

• physical training, for example using a wheelchair, dressing, different transfer styles.

GROUP COUNSELLING• Functional and other training-groups with different themes,

for example wheelchair technics, transfer styles, kitchen-groups, managing in the nature, travelling, hobbies etc.

The connection to the local peer support person after the rehabilitation period

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Evaluation, discussion, research

• What are the impacts of peer counselling?

• A special development project and a follow-up study in 2000-2003 : What are spinal cord injured own desires after the injury?

hospital - rehabilitation - home

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… continues

• Scientific study ,2008 / Sari Pakkala-Österholm:• Peer counselling for SCI during rehabilitation: In

between professionality and voluntary actions• what is the position of peer counselling in the field on peer

support and voluntary action• how can professional aspects and on the other

hand,voluntary and layman aspects be combined in peer couselling activities

• how does peer counselling function in rehabilitation• qualitative research interview with four peer counselors and

four patient in Käpylä Rehabilitation Center. The data was analysed by content analysis methods. The theoretical framework used was the theory of social comparison and research on peer support.

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Thanks !Mirja Vauramo,senior social workermirja.vauramo@invalidiliitto .fi