The Bridge Builders
The purpose is to guide young boys into adulthood by providing them with good role models. Bridge building groups consists of boys and men who engage in a number of subjects and activities together, such as sports, camps, study visits, charity work and also studying and discussing such topics as morals, justice and ethics. The main component in the program is not the actual activities but the relationship and the support between the boys and their role models.
For more information, please contact davindy.wahlgren@fryshuset.se
Chaplin
The network Chaplin works with and for adult children of dysfunctional families. The goal is to make sure that all children of addictive or in other ways destructive families should receive the support they need. The name Chaplin was chosen because Charlie Chaplin is the world's most famous child of dysfunctional parents. His mother was mentally ill and his father was an alcoholic, a fact that makes him a role model for children living in difficult destructive conditions.
For more information, please contact beatrice.clarke@fryshuset.se
CIDES – Centre for information about destructive sub-cultures
CIDES works with developing and disseminating effective approaches for combating the formation of destructive subcultures, reducing their recruitment and facilitate in defection. By destructive subcultures we mean all kinds of groups such as street gangs, the white power-movement, soccer-hooligans etc. CIDES main belief is that problems with destructive groups cannot be fixed by the police alone. That there are a lot of stakeholders in society who need to assume their responsibilities and work together, and that we all need to start listening to what the young people, who live where gangs and groups are formed, claim that they need in order to keep out of these groups.
CIDES therefore works directly with young people who are or have been involved in gangs as well as directly with politicians and other key stakeholders. The young are providing facts about what they need to avoid joining gangs. Their proposals will be passed on to politicians, scientists, police and social services, schools and recreational activities, correctional agencies and the third sector. The goal is to obtain feasible and effective solutions to the problem.
For more information, please contact camila.salazar@fryshuset.se
The Easy Street Project
The project started in 1995 in order to counteract violence and vandalism within Stockholm’s public transportation system. Unemployed young people between 20 to 30 years of age were recruited to work as hosts in order to prevent problems caused by delinquent young people ‘hanging out’ around subways and buses. Since then Easy Street has become a comprehensive program of social integration and a way to get unemployed young people back into the employment market.
The hosts have proven very effective in preventing violence, vandalism and crime among youngsters, due to the fact that they are more than just ordinary security guards; Easy Street forms close relations with young people and function as great role models. Their successful approach has led to hosts being hired by schools and local communities and to an increase of the whole project. Easy Street hosts have also started local junior Easy street groups where teenagers can enrol and be part of the program by helping their own local neighbourhood stay safe and clean.
For more information, please contact aron.eriksson@fryshuset.se
Elektra & Sharaf heroes & Sharaf heroines
Elektra works against honor related violence and oppression. Tens of thousands of young girls and boys in Sweden do not have access to ordinary human and democratic rights. They are oppressed and inhibited by their families and are not allowed to choose how to live their own lives, whom to love, what to do for a living or even how to socialize. Honor related violence and oppression is an archaic and cruel way to execute control over daughters (and sons) in order to preserve the family honor. Elektra’s goal is that nobody should live under honor oppression. Elektra’s therefore works with;
- providing support, counseling and in acute cases a protected get away.
- prevention by changing attitudes among young people from honor affected cultures/backgrounds. This is done within the youth groups Sharaf heroes (for boys) and Sharaf heroines (for girls).
- educating and giving advice to authorities, schools, social services, the police and other agencies.
- lobbying in order to make the whole society aware of and committed to extinguishing honor oppression and violence.
For more information, please contact: zubeyde.demirors@fryshuset.se
The Emerich foundation
”If I could pick another path in life, I would want to be a teacher to the battered boy Adolf Hitler”. These are the words of Emerich Roth, who survived Auschwitz and four other concentration camps, but lost his parents, three little sisters and 40 additional family members in the Holocaust. Emerich came to Sweden after the war and worked as a social worker for 30 years. After his retirement he came to Fryshuset and started lecturing in schools about racism and hate and what to do about it. He also set up a foundation that rewards young people’s efforts to improve humanity and tolerance. Emerich has also written a number of renowned books about his own life and about hate, humanity and reconciliation.
For more information, please contact info@emerichfonden.nu
Exit
Helps young people to leave Nazi, racist or other extremist movements. Due to the sectarian and militant nature of these movements it is very hard to leave them.
Those who do are often persecuted by their former comrades and despised by ordinary citizens.
At Exit they get help both from professional social workers and from people who have left the Nazi movement themselves. This is an advantage because they are received by people who know exactly what they are going through and what they need. Exit offers everything from just listening to their stories to helping them create a new life. This can include obtaining a secret identity, psychotherapy or treatment against alcoholism, forming new social contacts etc.
As a result of its efficient, no-nonsense methods and real-life knowledge, Exit has been very successful. The organization also educates schools, authorities, police, the correctional system, social workers and parents in how to deal with Nazism/racism. Exit has also helped authorities in Germany to start a similar project.
For more information, please contact exit@fryshuset.se
Fenix
Fire prevention in schools.
Arson fires in Swedish schools costs around 68 million USD per year which is equivalent to the costs of 1000 teachers. In recent years young people have started using fire as a tool to highlight their dissatisfaction with society and their social situation. So far the fires have only caused material damage but the risk that people will get hurt or even killed is of course imminent. Fenix works with giving young people a deeper and better understanding and awareness of the risks. The work is partly done by survivors from the discotheque fire in Gothenburg in 1998 (when 67 young people died) who lecture about the disaster in schools all over the country.
Fenix is also helping schools recruit students who are willing to work to create a better social climate and increased security and fire safety at their school. Young people who want to become more involved can get training in both fire prevention and social issues with a focus on the mechanisms that may be underlying causes of arson. These students will function as ambassadors and prevent fires by reaching out to other young people and work with bullying, social exclusion, conflict resolution and student democracy.
For more information, please contact raisa.lang@fryshuset.se
Fryshuset at Almedalen
Every summer Fryshuset participates in Sweden’s biggest and most influential annual political get-together Almedalsveckan. One week in July, politicians, lobby-groups, organisations, business and the media gathers on an island in the Baltic sea to debate economics, politic-, social-, environmental- and other issues concerning Sweden’s future. Fryshuset participates in order to emphasize on young people’s situation and their opportunities to develop and lead full and meaningful lives.
For more information, please contact martin.dworen@fryshuset.se
Fryshuset Web Coaches
The Web Coaches are out on the Internet in order to support, guide and listen to young persons (aged 12 to 20) and to help them become confident and strong. Our web coaches have established their own spaces and chat rooms on established web communities for young people. Our goal is to give young people the support they need to handle the situation they are in.
Another important task is to help young persons find their way in discussion forums. These often work as self help groups though in a quite unorganized way. The role of the coach is to ask relevant questions that can provide a perspective, without telling the person what to do. Our motto is “listen and speak as a friend – act as an adult.
For more information, please contact maria.soareslindberg@fryshuset.se
Job coach
Works with helping young unemployed people get jobs. Every client gets her/his own personal coach who focuses on their needs, interests, abilities, difficulties and dreams. The ultimate goal is to help them get a job, to strengthen their abilities and self-confidence. The project is run by the Swedish employment agency in co-operation with Fryshuset.
For more information, please contact jobbcoach@fryshuset.se
Mission Possible
The original Mission Possible project was started in 2002 in Paris by Judge Claude Beau who after many years has seen how children and young people end up in court. As a result she started a project designed to prevent them from doing just that. The Swedish version is run by Fryshuset at Västerholms friskola and was launched by a joint initiative by Stockholm and Paris Rotary Clubs.
Mission Possible is centered on afternoon activities for school children between 9-12 years. The work encompasses the whole family but the child is the main focus. We work with a multi-disciplinary team of social workers, family therapists, teachers and specialist teachers, recreation leaders and volunteers, in other words, different professional skills working towards the same goal – that a child should function both in school and during leisure-time, and evolve without falling into destructive behavior patterns or environments.
For more information, please contact lotta.samuelsson@fryshuset.se
Passus
Works with helping people who want to leave gangs and criminal organizations. Passus provides: mental and social rehabilitation in order to create a new life, and support to families of young people who are on their way to destructive gangs. Providing preventive measures among young people and courses and education for professionals such as school staff, the social service, the police, the prison and probation agency etc. Several coaches work at Passus (some of them with a background in criminal gangs), along with a counselor and a network of MI trainers, psychotherapists and psychiatrists.
The support each client get is based on his or her individual needs, which may vary a lot but often means that you have to start from scratch and build a whole new life and a new identity. Passus has been launched as a sister project to Exit (see above) which since 1998 has worked with helping people leave the White Power movements and has developed a well-functioning method also used by Passus.
For more information, please contact passus@fryshuset.se
Sea-life
A project aiming at kids who never had the opportunity to enjoy boating, sailing, the archipelago or other out-door activities. Sea-life organizes sailing courses, boat trips, camps and other sea-oriented diversions.
For more information, please contact anncha.liljeander@fryshuset.se
Single mothers & Children of single mothers
Works with single mothers and children living in economically and socially exposed circumstances, deprived of their basic needs such as decent clothing and leisure time activities. To strengthen their social network and give them the possibility to do things that usually costs money, the project organises activities for the families, things like going to the zoo, to amusement parks or having parties. One of our goals is to give the mothers strength and tools to change their life situation, so we provide them with trained babysitters so that they get some time off.
For more information, please contact fatima.asard@fryshuset.se
United Sisters
The purpose of United Sisters is to boost self-esteem and self-respect among young girls and guide them into adulthood. United Sisters provides the following activities;
Girl Groups where girls aged between 15 - 19 years old get together with grown up role models to do things like going to lectures, discussions, exhibitions, study visits, the theatre or the movies or they just hang out.
Night Patrol - is the night patrolling section. Groups of young girls walk around in the city on weekend nights in order to lend a helping hand to other young girls.
Girl Coaches – a support service offered to girls who need an extra adult mentor. The coach is there to listen, encourage, strengthen and guide the girl. The coaches are volunteers from all sections of society and all walks of life.
For more information, please contact marie.hugander@fryshuset.se
Young-in
The project helps young people (aged 16 to 24) who don’t study nor have any contact with the Employment Service – but want a job! Young-in helps them discover what they want to do and how to do it, how to find jobs and how to apply for them. Young-in is run by the Employment Service, Fryshuset, Friends and the authorities of Stockholm City with support from the European Social Fund.
For more information, please contact ungain@arbetsformedlingen.se
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