Sol del Solsonès, Associació de Familiars de Malalts Mentals i Drogodependents, detected the need to create a leisure space for the affected people where they could carry out several activities and they could use it as a help, orientation a assessment.
The association consulted with the health and social services of el Solsonès about the need of creating several resources for the mentally ill people, as it is a social club, because it saw the deficiency in Solsona and the region of resources for this group of people. The association wanted to increase, via its resources, a service that increased the healthcare network in the area.
Looking at the needs of people who suffer from severe mental disorders, we realize that they are people who show complex problems, which is not only the symptoms derived from the own disorder but also the impact on other scopes of functional aspect and of participation in the community. We are in front of people who show important limitations in their psychosocial functioning, and that makes it difficult from them to establish relationships and to face the demands of the daily life.
As a consequence it is of vital importance to provide and encourage a healthy environment which promotes the wellbeing and stability of the person who lives together and interacts with the mentally ill, which provides opportunities and promotes the growth and individual development, which makes it easy to acquire and develop the adaptive skills with the goal of providing a improvement in the quality of life of the people who live together and are related.
The access and increase of several resources in the mental health network was of essential importance so that people with mental illness take advantage of a better care. But it is also necessary the creation of spaces and complementary resources which, in a coordinated way, develop tasks and functions which help the mentally ill recover and acquire capabilities and skills necessary to establish relationships and live entirely in the community.
Therefore, the leisure activities create many benefits to the individual, improving considerably his or her quality of life, which are the last aim of any rehabilitating intervention.
- They provide emotional wellbeing, favoring the personal growth and self-esteem, giving positive experiences, of personal competence and self-confidence, they act as a mechanisms of prevention and containment of stress and of isolation problems and depression.
- They foment and make it possible the learning and improving of social skills and personal competences.
- They promote the interpersonal relations with other participants, monitors and with the rest of the community, fomenting relationships of friendship and affect.
