Rome, 30 January 2023 - Registrations are open for the training course for volunteers, family members, youth workers and mental health workers promoted by the Don Luigi Di Liegro Foundation and the Fondation d'Harcourt, with the support of the Lazio Region. The course will be held on Saturdays from February 17th to April 20th. Eight lessons held by experts who aim to train participants on youth issues, including bullying and addictions, promoting a psychosocial support network.
Rome, 28 December 2023 - In this article Luigina Di Liegro, general secretary of the Di Liegro Foundation, highlights the "Christmas depression" and the importance of assistance to those suffering from mental distress. Remember the commitment of Don Luigi Di Liegro, founder of the Diocesan Caritas of Rome, for the continuous support of those in need. He thus takes this opportunity to announce the start of the 2024 courses of the Di Liegro Foundation to train volunteers and families in the mental health support network.
“I believe that our solidarity is simply a channel through which people must realize God's solidarity with man. I believe in the celebration of God in the sacraments, which ultimately is the celebration and contemplation of this infinite love of God for man, especially for man who feels desperate, defeated even by the conflicts and tensions of life. And God sent his only begotten son Jesus Christ to become incarnate in these problems, to incarnate himself in this story of desperation and hope, to help man realize that God is not far away, but is always incarnate, he is now a God present, that is, a God who becomes the servant of man”.
Don Luigi, 6 April 1990
Christmas occupies a central place in the thought and action of Don Luigi Di Liegro. It refers to the mystery of the Incarnation of Jesus, through which God enters the history of people, makes himself visible, becomes close. Starting from this mystery, God - to use Don Luigi's words - is no longer an abstract principle, an idea, but a reality which can be experienced. You can hear God, you can see God because he became man in Jesus. The humanity of Jesus is the face of God. This mystery - which is at the center of the Christian faith together with the great mystery of the Trinity, which is the mystery of relationship - however for Don Luigi it is not something that concerns only God. This mystery of God's becoming neighbor towards man concerns us too from that moment on. Because we too are now called to be neighbors, to incarnate ourselves, to bring love into the concrete lives of people, into their needs, into their questions. Which we must first of all discern, know how to recognise. Because through our closeness, through our presence, through our sharing, people can also today, where they are, experience the love of God that saves. Which saves every time sharing, brotherhood, takes the place of solitude. Thus we understand why for Don Luigi charity was never just a question of clothes to offer, of packages to donate. Charity is not enough to save people, it is only love that saves. But to reach people, God's love needs our love, our presence, our incarnation. The credibility of Christmas passes through each of us.
In the context of restraint prevention, the SPDC hospital department of San Filippo Neri of Asl Roma 1, in collaboration with the International Foundation Don Luigi Di Liegro, proposes a pilot project aimed at building a network pathway against isolation that can help hospitalized people better cope with an inherently complex situation.
The project includes the activation of a process that is not exclusively medical but also social and supports relational skills and personal effectiveness, respecting the condition of fragility of the participants and enhancing their resources. Through art-mediated communication (music, painting, manual work objects, writing and reading, body movement, etc.), exchange becomes possible, and the professional acts as a mediator of interpersonal communication in the group.
The content and form of the workshops were designed and chosen to promote socialization among participants, listening, and mutual recognition, respecting each individual's space and the free choice not to participate or simply to observe, depending on the participants' feelings. The aim is to foster an atmosphere of harmony and mutual acceptance as much as possible.
Each meeting is complete in itself, considering that the composition of the group is continuously changing. Users are given the freedom to participate or not, as they choose, each time.
The Art4Me project connects mental health and art and aims to create a unique opportunity to provide a new platform for sharing knowledge across borders and stakeholders, and a path for better citizen empowerment with or at risk of having mental health problems. A long series of new tools is therefore needed to address mental health. While art and creative expression have been a central element of European culture for millennia, the use of art as a tool for mental health has been poorly mapped and experiences often not shared.
The project aims to:
In order to prevent isolation and social marginalization, the project proposes the activation of a listening and assistance service in the area, which provides information on mental health services, orients users and supports them in defining a personalized project with territorial services.
To raise awareness among citizens about mental health, the project organizes training courses, information and annual conferences on topics such as Recovery and addictions. The training objectives include the creation of a group of volunteers to facilitate the social inclusion and therapeutic path of people with mental distress through socialization workshops, such as theatre, music, photography and art therapy.
In order to combat the loneliness of family members of people with mental health problems, the project promotes self-help groups with weekly meetings and monthly supervision by professionals, such as psychiatrists and psychologists, to provide supportive support and share experiences.
The project is conceived following a Recovery approach, which aims to give users an active role again, transforming them from passive recipients to protagonists involved in their own choices and committed to fully developing their potential.
The area of intervention of the project was mainly the ASL Roma 2 area, but it was aimed at citizens of the entire territory of Rome Capital. The project allowed a broad involvement of users, family members, citizens and institutions. The activities implemented largely represent examples of replicable good practices and an example of civic participation, empowerment and social inclusion of isolated or people in difficulty. The activities are free for participants, open to all citizens, supported by a monitoring system and the use of systems to protect individual privacy.
Good practices in the field of mental health certainly emerged from the project activities, such as the effectiveness restored to people with discomfort through the creation of inclusive socialization spaces. In fact, often in mental health services laboratory activities are exclusive to those with a psychiatric diagnosis and people risk being ghettoized and self-excluding themselves. Supporting not only professionalizing activities with art masters but also socialization with volunteers and non-clinical operators allows for better use of the tool e.g. artistic in favor of rehabilitation and the acquisition of safety by the person. Another good practice is to encourage the meeting of family members of users who come from different contexts: through discussion and networking between people who face the same caregiving difficulties it is certainly an element of help for the whole family and the valorisation of resources .
Rome, November 2023 - RomaSette Avvenire returns to the activities of the Di Liegro Foundation to promote socialization and combat the isolation of patients hospitalized in the Psychiatry, Diagnosis and Treatment Service (SPDC) of the San Filippo Neri Hospital in Rome.
The piece tells of a pilot project, promoted by ASL Roma 1 and financed by the Lazio Region, managed by the Don Luigi Di Liegro Foundation, which uses art therapy to support the mental health of psychiatric patients at the San Filippo Neri hospital. Through music, reading and painting workshops, the project aims to reduce patients' isolation and limit the use of physical restraints. It offers a social path for patients, promoting a non-judgmental environment open to personal expression. The objective is to reduce "mechanical restraint" and improve emergency intervention strategies, especially after the increase in serious psychiatric disorders post-pandemic. In addition to this activity, the Foundation supports the SOSS, an active Orientation and Social Support desk, which becomes a useful tool for the patients' relatives.
Rome, 9 November 2023 - Talking about bullying and social isolation with lower secondary school children. The Don Luigi Di Liegro Foundation launches a series of meetings to promote awareness among young people on the issues of social inclusion and acceptance of diversity. Today the first meeting was held with guest Guglielmo Scilla, aka Willwoosh.
The meeting program is:
Rome, October 2023 - Promote socialization and combat the isolation of patients hospitalized in the Psychiatry, Diagnosis and Treatment Service (SPDC) of the San Filippo Neri Hospital in Rome, also providing support to families. This is the primary objective of the pilot project promoted by the ASL Roma 1 Mental Health Department (DSM) financed by the Lazio Region, which entrusted the Don Luigi Di Liegro Foundation with the rehabilitation laboratory activities at the SPDC of San Filippo and the purchase of materials that facilitate the stay of patients in the SPDC departments of the DSM, both at San Filippo Neri and Santo Spirito. The initiative was launched during the month of October.
