Farah Viotty, director of the French Red Cross establishments in Saint-Martin, and the Mobile Social Intervention Team (EMIS) presented last week the results of the first cycle of the Self-image, bond and social integration project which included around sixty of participants.
In the presence of representatives of the Community, the State, the ARS, the Opal room of the CCISM was decorated for the occasion with the work carried out by users following the 2022 call for projects from the DEETS entitled Support vulnerable and weakened people in the context of food aid 'Getting away from a logic of assistance and moving towards sustainable support for people'. For Farah Viotty, who will unfortunately leave her position as director at the end of January, the project aimed to innovate in the support provided by the Red Cross, in a broader way and less focused on administrative issues, often the gateway to entry of support. The objective was multiple: to mobilize the capacity and autonomy of the participants brought back to a spatial-temporal reality, to restore their image and their self-confidence, to fight against isolation and to promote mobility, social and civic integration. Based on a multidisciplinary approach, the project welcomed 60 participants, 21 women and 39 men, benefiting from food aid surrounded by the EMIS team and external professional speakers for the following workshops: photography, socio-aesthetics (particularly popular with gentlemen), empowerment (professional coaching, know-how/savoir-être), board games (creation of social bonds and respect for the basic rules of living together), psychomotricity (body awareness and relaxation) and finally the workshop art therapy because “to name, to draw, is to make exist”. In terms of figures, the “Self-image, social connection and integration” action will have lasted 10 months for 47 workshops with a peak of activity last May. Of all the workshops, only one did not meet its audience: “People came and returned despite their difficulty in fitting into a schedule,” explains Farah Viotty. Before receiving his certificate of participation like the other users, Éric, 65 years old, wanted to testify: “I sleep in the street but I am clean, I thank all these people who helped me, it helped me. done a lot of good and still does now.” Ultimate proof of the need for this type of project which advocates values essential to a united society. _VX
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