Cur síos ar an eagraíocht

Association Play is a Croatian non-profit organization registered in 1999. The main objective of the Association is providing rehabilitative, educational, psychosocial and pedagogical assistance and support to children and youth in order to improve quality of their lives, as well as the quality of social community in general. Our field of work is prevention, treatment, and post-treatment of behavioral disorders. We focus on the development of services and work activities with direct users (children, young people and families), on the empowerment of experts and the activities of sensibilisation, research and advocacy activities. All our services and activities are divided into three main programs.
Within the SOCIAL INCLUSION program, we wish to ensure a greater level of equity and equality regarding access to social services and the realization of the basic human rights of the social groups we work with. We believe that we contribute to the empowerment of users (young people, children and families), quality of their lives and level of their participation in community development and decision-making processes that affect the standard and quality of their lives. The best example of activities within this program are those implemented through the "The Youth Care Center" (youth from homes, foster homes and nursing homes). The Center, thanks to professional and experienced employees, offers young people an accessible service created accordingly to their needs. They are being empowered to become independent and improve their skills in social networking, financial management, self-care and housing, relationships, job searching, support in the process of education, psychosocial support, additional education - all that is identified as necessary for independent life. We strive to be an organization and workers they can rely on when everything else in their lives is uncertain, to help them deal with challenges and problems and move away from the edge of social exclusion - whether they are still in care or have already started their independent life.
MENTAL HEALTH is the first comprehensive program in Croatia, developed by a non-governmental organization, which focused on the development of mental health of citizens. Mental health is an integral part of the overall health of an individual, but preserving mental health of the regular population is rarely talked about. It is defined as a state of well-being when every person realizes his potential, deals with everyday stress, works productively and is able to contribute to his community. Through mental health program we focus on protection, preservation, and improvement of mental health in local community through direct work with users, increasing competencies of socio-humanist orientation experts in direct work with users, sensitization and public awareness of issues and challenges within existing mental health, advocacy processes that influence policy-making, in order to highlight mental health as an important and necessary area which is currently not the case. Within the Mental health program there is a counseling center where the counselors are socio-humanist professionals educated in different psychotherapeutic orientations. Counseling services are focused on continuous long-term support to our users in order to respond effectively to their needs and impact the protection, preservation and improvement of mental health of individuals and families, which consequently leads to the improvement of active participation in society.
PLAY’S VOLUNTEERS is our third program. Since the very beginning, our work has included students and professionals from socio-humanistic field of expertise. In 20 years of collaborative work, a large number of experts, through implementation of our programs and direct work with users, have further developed their skills and improved their professional work and personal growth. At the same time, their engagement has enabled us to provide high-quality services to a large number of clients. Along with our users’ and clients’ beneficial effects, we strive to encourage and develop the community in its entirety. Each year, at the end of May, we organize a "Good Neighbourly Fair". In co-operation with citizens and organizations from local community, we create activities to which all members of the local community are invited. An exchange of experience and knowledge by enabling volunteers’ engagement for the common good, provides opportunities for the growth and development of all parties involved. In order to continue successful cooperation with volunteers, we continue to work on improving volunteer management in our organization. From 2017 through the project funded by the EU, we are also working on improving cooperation with other civil society organizations and institutions as well as with social welfare and healthcare organizations in order to increase the quality of services offered to users.