L’intervenant, un accompagnateur social plutôt qu’un sauveur!
The philosophy of intervention at the Relay is summed up as follows:
Une démarche volontaire et interactive qui met en œuvre des méthodes participatives avec la personne qui demande ou accepte une aide, dans l’objectif d’améliorer sa situation, ses rapports avec l’environnement, voire de les transformer. (…) L’accompagnement social auprès d’une personne s’appuie sur le respect et la valeur intrinsèque de chaque individu, en tant qu’acteur et sujet de droits et de devoirs.
In short, the role of our stakeholders is to support the person so that it finds itself the most relevant solutions to solve their problem. Intervenors accompany those who seek their support without acting or deciding for them.
Here is an example: a member living in a situation of great vulnerability shared a room with a person with a similar situation. One of the interveners suggested that she be included in the Écono-Bouffe course in order to meet certain food needs. This member expressed some reluctance to the Intervener’s suggestions, not feeling ready to join a group activity and not knowing where to keep the prepared dishes since he was living in a small room without a refrigerator. He wanted to become more part of the volunteer team in order to benefit from the free meals offered to them. A solution more adapted to its current reality and which allowed it to emerge from its social exclusion while meeting its basic needs.
The listener, the welcome and the openness of the intervener took into account the limitations and the fear of the day after that person. In short, the Intervener was able to reassure the new member who exceeded her fear of not being accepted. She ensured that her basic needs were answered while allowing her to plan for the future. She accompanied the person to give meaning to her life, by “reunifying” it around a project and not in unrealized and unrealistic projects for him. By her look on the person “in the making”, she did not reduce it to her problem. She saw in her what she could become (with her possibilities and potentials) and did not focus solely on her difficulties.
Personalized support allows the person to deepen their interests, define their needs, develop or maintain abilities, attitudes or behaviors that could be useful, find ways to remove obstacles to personal progress and social. Its purpose is to participate in a better social integration through a global and personalized approach to the situation of our members.
In a way, it is a positive approach that relies on the forces involved and adapts to the specificities of the terrain and the different contexts (cultural, religious, historical, etc.).
