Varstveno delovni center Novo Mesto

Varstveno delovni center (VDC) is a public social institution in which there are 168 people involved with special needs as users and 91 employed people involved. Institution provides people with mental and physical disabilities two basic services: Management, protection and employment under special conditions, which we organize, so that we enable users to maintain the acquired and expand new knowledge and working skills, soft skills, acquiring new social and work habits, implementing one's own ideas and creativity and stimulate a sense of usefulness and self-assurance. We also perform additional activities such as athletics, table tennis, football, hiking, birthday celebrations, dancing, visiting theater performances, bowling, conducting cooking workshops, exercising, celebrating holidays with events, etc. VDC Novo mesto is functioning in 5 different units. 3 of them are housing units, where there are 85 living there 24/7 (61 of them are in Šmihel, where it is the seat of the organisation, 12 of them are in Trebnje unit, 12 of them are in Cesarjeva unit in Novo mesto). Their daily work is taking care of the household, gardening, afternoon activities such as playing games, singing, dancing, and implementing different sports activities. Next to 3 housing units, there are as well 2 additional workshop spaces dedicated to the working environment, where people are actually employed under special conditions and are working in different working units, that are adapted to their level of mental and physical abilities. All together, there are 170 users of VDC (68 in the unit Bršlin, 32 in Trebnje, and 70 in Šmihel). Professional staff consists of 90 people, who are different profiles: working therapists, nurses, animators, social workers, administrators and specialists in certain areas. Institutional care is organized in a way that accommodation replaces beneficiaries, complements or provides the function of home or own family, and we provide them at the same time also special forms of protection. It includes basic care and social care, as well as health care and physiotherapy treatment in accordance with health care regulations. We provide institutional care in Unit l VDC Novo mesto Šmihel and in two housing units. Vision and mission are based on general and professional principles that guarantee the user human dignity, solidarity and social justice by considering the user as an active participant in service delivery process. We provide security for users and their relatives, socialization and assistance in integration into the real social environment. The goals of our organization are: ● Care and protection for our users, people with mental and physical disabilities ● Enabling satisfaction, pride and success ● Training for as independent life as possible We cooperate with a variety of local stakeholders such as high schools, big and medium companies from local community such as Krka, organisations like DRPD Novo mesto - association to support local volunteering, ŠENT, Sonček, Mali princ, Sožitje and others, that are helping us to be more integrated in local environment and enabling us to participate in different activities, that we could not afford without a great local network.