About the programme
The “You Are Not Alone” project is a comprehensive child protection programme through which we aim to build on our many years of experience beyond the walls of Élmény Tár and to foster broader professional collaboration.
The fundamental aim of the programme is to promote understanding between the sexes and to help disadvantaged teenage girls develop their self-esteem in a safe environment.
The programme is part of the 2020 NANE The Power to Change It was launched following a course entitled [name].
Our colleague Anita Fúrós took part for the first time, and a year later Ramóna Sütő joined her.
Anita and Ramses
Following their training, in 2020 they began running a self-help and support group for teenage girls at Élmény Táras on the topic of preventing intimate partner violence. These days, it is not just the two of them who run such groups, but four other members of our team as well.
In 2022, they began running group sessions at the Mandulafa Children’s Home in Pécs, where they continue to return on a weekly basis to this day. The methodology is the same, but unfortunately, in this case, the group sessions are no longer preventive in nature.
Subsequently, in 2024, a public group was launched which is no longer linked to any particular organisation; girls from anywhere in the city can join.
We felt it would be a great mistake to keep this wealth of experience to ourselves, so we have incorporated it into an accredited training programme.
In 2024, under Anita’s coordination, we began organising a partnership between victim support and child protection services in Pécs. As a result, our organisation regularly holds round-table and panel discussions for both professionals and members of the public.
Activities carried out as part of the programme
Resilience groups in several areas
In the Experience Gallery:
We are launching groups aimed at various age groups, which were initially led by trainees but are now led by the group leaders we have trained.
At the children’s home:
Groups led by Anita and Ramses.
Open, urban groups:
These groups are aimed at a wider audience.
The increase in the number of participants makes it necessary to train further group leaders.
Trauma-informed accredited training for professionals working in the caring professions
Our in-house training courses, which start every six months, can also be purchased by organisations as in-house training.
Roundtable of Experts on Child Protection and Victim Support
A monthly event attended by professionals and organisations involved in child protection.
The aim of the programme is to make the local child protection system more effective, so that it truly represents the best interests of children.
Public panel discussions
A series of events held every two months, which is open to everyone.
The aim of the programme is to explore the issues of abuse and child protection, to break down the taboos surrounding them and to foster a broad public discourse on the subject, so that those affected in our city can receive genuine help, and so that the wider community’s awareness of the issue is also raised.
Programme Principles
Roundtable of Experts on Child Protection and Victim Support
The model is based on a programme in the capital, developed with the professional support of the NANE Association, and an interdisciplinary forum held in Pécs in 2018.
The theme of the 2018 interdisciplinary forum was drug use during pregnancy and the situation of pregnant women who are addicted to drugs and/or have become victims of prostitution.
The organisers’ aim was to reach the widest possible range of professionals who encounter this issue. For this reason, representatives and professionals from educational and training institutions, the health sector, organisations working with people with addictions, as well as government departments and public authorities, were invited.
The Victim Support Programme run by the Óbuda-Békásmegyer Local Authority provides the other model for our initiative; this is supported professionally by the NANE Association, and it was through them that we came to know of it as an example of good practice.
The programme involves the local council, members of the child protection alert system, district-level stakeholders involved in victim protection and support, law enforcement officers, judicial, health and social care institutions, and the heads of the health visitor service.
The aim of the collaboration is to identify the blind spots in the current signalling system, to make existing processes more efficient, and to recognise the pitfalls of the measures.
Implementation
We have drawn on the experience, methods and tools from programmes that are already up and running and have proven their worth to form the basis of our current programme. We then held one-to-one discussions with various stakeholders in the reporting system, including staff from the police, the Victim Support Centre and the Meszes Professional Unit of the Family Support Centre. We also held discussions with two local health visitors, two school social workers and staff at the municipal residential care home. The strategy for the professional round-table discussion took shape during these conversations.
The alert system is currently operational in Pécs; however, at present it is mainly used in problematic cases and crisis situations, and meetings of the alert system are only held in such circumstances.
The essence of the collaboration we have established is precisely that there should be ongoing, preventative dialogue between professionals and across different fields, as this is the most effective way to help those who are suffering from abuse.
An important aim of the round-table discussion is to identify the local problems and shortcomings that prevent those involved in the reporting system from providing effective assistance to victims or preventing people from becoming victims.
Coordination, objectives
Our organisation does not wish to be the sole coordinator of this professional initiative; rather, we would like to launch it and lay the necessary foundations to ensure that this collaboration does not operate solely on a project-by-project basis.
With a view to ensuring the long-term operation of the round table, it is our intention to involve the local authority in its work. We would like to ensure that there is a designated representative from the local authority who regularly attends the roundtable meetings, understands the objectives and is able to keep abreast of the roundtable’s professional activities, so that, where necessary, they can feed all this into local decision-making processes.
In Pécs, there is a huge under-reporting of domestic violence and intimate partner violence. This is not discussed in public discourse; the subject is considered taboo, which is why many people do not dare to ask for help, and in many cases those struggling with similar problems do not even know where to turn.
Another issue closely linked to this is the problems relating to child protection, which are also evident at city level. One such example is the location of the children’s home in Pécs and the vulnerable situation of the teenagers living there.
Our aim is to break the silence and encourage more people to be mindful and considerate of their surroundings, thereby helping us to reach out to one another and offer support.
