EMPLOYMENT

1. INTRODUCTION

Thanks to the working performance, people with mental disorders acquire the role of worker over that of patient. In this way work becomes an element of double value for them. On the one hand, we have the intrinsic value of performing an activity which implies benefits (increased sociability, better time management, reenforcement of self-esteem, greater autonomy and social as well as financial independence, etc.). On the other hand, since work will have a direct impact on their defective state, the value of the therapeutic element will improve their performance, increasing their self-esteem, normalizing their conduct, and making them feel useful, active, stimulated through a task, and enriched for their own professional growth and relationship with others.

Work generates conducts similar to those society recognizes as its own and it fosters a behavior which identifies the individual as a member of that society. In the same way, work generates a behavior which the individual himself recognizes as pertaining to the group he belongs to. In conclusion, thanks to the work performance, the person with a mental disorder plays a normalized and active role as a worker as opposed to the passive role of patient.

It is vital to provide efficient resources and programs which make both occupational and personal rehabilitation of the group possible, facilitating and preparing their occupational integration in jobs offered in the market in an individualized and global scale.

2. ORDINARY EMPLOYMENT

Ordinary Employmnent is the most normal and regular method of occupational insertion, due to the fact that it offers more jobs to a diverse population, including those people with severe mental disorders.

Becoming an action, which more and more entrepreneurs are willing to hire and invest efforts in changing the image of people with mental disorders, is the main factor in the integration for these people.

Under this ordinary employment scheme, Fundacion Manantial, has up to this moment, placed SIX people with mental disorders in various positions throughout the organization up to today.

Another alternative for the occupational integration of people with mental disorders is that of protected employment, implemented in Spain through the use of Special Employment Centers.

Watch video of Fundacion Manantial and Employment

3. SPECIAL EMPLOYMENT CENTERS (SEC)

Special Employment Centers are those employment centers whose objective are to ensure a paid job and the rendering of services for the personal and social adjustment of those individuals with at least a 33% proven disability, and who are not able to access the ordinary employment market. These productive employment centers participate regularly in market operations, and their staff is mostly composed of individuals with disabilities, a factor not affecting in any ways the jobs held by individuals without disabilities. The structure and organization are similar to those of ordinary companies and most importantly, the source of employment should be stable. Moreover, occupational insertion at a Special Employment Center facilitates the transition for a future insertion in an ordinary job, a normalized one.

Poster presented by FUNDACION MANANTIAL in the 1st CONFERENCE OF THE SPANISH FEDERATION OF ASSOCIATIONS OF PSYCHOSOCIAL REHABILITATION.

The Special Employment Centers are defined in the Law of Social Integration for Disabled People (LISMI, Law 13/1982 of April 7) and regulated by the following development norms:

- Real Decree 2273/1985, of December 4, by which the Ordinance of Special Employment Centers is approved (BOE 09.12.85).

- Real Decree 1368/1985, of July 17, by which the work of disabled people Special Employment Centers, an employment relation of special characteristics, is regulated (BOE 08.08.85).

- Real Decree 427/99, of March 12, 1999, by which Real Decree 1368/1985 is modified. (BOE 26.03.99).

4. MANANTIAL INTEGRA

Interview with Sonia Carralón. Technical Director of the Social Economy Department of Fundacion Manantial. November 2007.

On the site www.psicosocialart.es www.psicosocialart.es Interview with Sonia Carralón

Fundacion Manantial's motivation to undertake a new business project, as mentioned in its statutes and presented directly or indirectly in any of the initiatives undertaken, may be no other than that of generating jobs for the occupational integration of people with mental disorders through specialized professionals. These guarantee the stability of the workers in their jobs and in the best possible conditions as far as professional and personal satisfaction is concerned.

This is how CEE "Manantial Integra" was born.

Carrying into effect the Charity's corresponding agreement of March 6, 2003, a unipersonal society of Limited Responsibility, "Manantial Integra S.L.U", was constituted under the denomination of "Manantial Integra S.L.U", having Fundacion Manantial as its sole partner.
Manantial Integra pursues:
- Having a stable business structure which offers employment to people with mental disorders (men and women) in the same conditions as any person, without any kind of disability, who wished to obtain the same job.
- Giving the necessary support to the workers so that they perform their work based on the design of a formative and practical plan which allows for increased opportunities of getting hired.
Creating a real job opportunity meant a job which has the ability to satisfy for people with mental disorders personally and financially.
Availing the person with occupational and social integration, as well as normalization.

Manantial Integra was qualified as SEC on October 24, 2003 and was registered in the Bureau for Special Employment Centers of the Community of Madrid with the number 177 C.M.

CEE Manantial Integra began its activities back in April, 2004, rendering catering, laundry and cleaning, services, and incorporating 14 people with mental disorders to its staff, all having documents certifying them as disabled.
In the beginning Manantial Integra began rendering its services to the centers belonging to Fundación Manantial. Its organizational and productive structure enabled it to render its services to other centers, making it a constant source of employment in the hospitality industry for people suffering from mental illnesses.
During these two years, and through SEC Manantial Integra we have been able to prove that, given the right amount of support and flexibility, both the work and production capacity of the workers was as expected. We have also been able to observe and confirm a better quality of life of the people with mental illnesses working under the SEC scheme, the fundamental function of work being the normalization and recovery of the patient and, the attainment of positive results regarding the inclusion and sense of belonging to the society thanks to both job insertion and job stability.

As a result of a positive experience, Manantial Integra finds itself in the middle of a growth process having developed two new productive lines in 2006:

- Secondary manipulation of medication for pharmaceutical labs.

- Plant production and maintenance of green areas.

FUNDACI0N MANANTIAL Arroyo del Santo Avenue, 12, 28042 MADRID | Phone: (+0034) 91.371.72.12

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