Leonardo

The wide use/ addiction of nicotine in the European Union necessitates the development of preventive strategies. The exchange  of  experience and know-how  among organizations,   involved in the preventive model, it is considered  of first priority , in order to adopt more effective preventive programs,  applied   to adolescents.

The project “training and professional guidance of health workers on smoking prevention” was submitted due to the necessity for smoking prevention in the modern societies. The proposal is innovative and pioneering because it deals,   within the framework of Leonardo’s mobility, with such a significant problem not only for the Greek society but for the E.U. too.

It corresponds to the Greek society’s special needs to train inter-scientific staff, which will promote smoking prevention strategies, introducing innovative tools and methodologies.

The proposed plan was realized through the placement of 14 beneficiaries in Edinburgh for the period of 20/03/2009 to 26/03/2009.

The organizations were:

 a) Sending Organization: The Non-Governmental Organization AENAO, whose main objective is the promotion of no formal health education through the creation of health promotion and health education networks.

 b) Hosting Organization: West Lothian Drug and Alcohol Service (WLDAS) whose main services include health promotion as well as education and training of health workers and volunteers. Moreover, WLDAS is an institution which first included smoking prevention as part of its work in Scotland.

The beneficiaries were professionals from different sectors (doctors, psychologists ,teachers  and  civil servants ) , who work as volunteers in  the NGO AENAO. There is a need to point out that they consist of an inter-scientific team.

The main objectives of the project were:

·         The development of the participants’ professional skills and the enhancement of knowledge on the preventive model

·         The exchange of experience and know – how in no formal education.

·         The training on innovative methods which will increase the effectiveness of smoking prevention policies

·         The improvement of linguistic skills on professional level

 In the outcomes were included:

·         The co – formation of innovative strategies and their utilization in the local communities

·         The promotion of inter-scientific approach, leading to the qualitative improvement of no formal education on health issues

·         The establishment of constant European communicational networks

·         The increase of gender equity in learning opportunities and skills development

·         The participants’ acquaintance on intercultural level

During the placement the beneficiaries visited the NGO WLDAS (West Lothian Drug and Alcohol Service), ASH (Action on smoking and Health)  και  NHS (National Health System) and were trained by their staff/ experts. They visited also the Libraries of WLDAS and ASH, and they made literature review on the topic of smoking/drug addiction/prevention, according to their needs.

All the participants were trained at the same time as a team on smoking/drug addiction/prevention. The methodology included lectures, team  or plenary discussion, video presentation , active participation etc.

The hosting organization certified the placement/ mobility action, providing an official certificate.