ABD hosts the third Home4Health transnational exchange in Barcelona

On 27 and 28 January, the Welfare and Development Association ABD hosted in Barcelona the third transnational exchange of the Home4Health project, a European initiative focused on developing training resources for professionals working with people experiencing homelessness and facing complex health needs and/or substance use.

This meeting followed the first two transnational exchanges held in September in Cork (Ireland) and November in Lisbon (Portugal). The Cork exchange marked the first pilot testing of the training materials, intending to validate their relevance and responsiveness to the real needs of professionals in the fields of health and social care. Afterwards, in Lisbon, the project took part in É um Congresso, a summit focused on Housing First and harm reduction, and carried out further testing of several training modules with partner organisations and key stakeholders, including professionals, public administrations and policy-makers.

An exchange focused on peer work, mental health and public policy advocacy

Over the two days in Barcelona, the exchange combined internal coordination spaces, pilot testing of training materials and participatory evaluation activities, with the involvement of partner organisations (HVO Querido, Crescer and Cork Simon) and professionals from different fields related to homelessness, public health, harm reduction and community-based intervention.

On 27 January, following an internal coordination meeting of the partnership, training sessions were held to test modules focused on peer work in contexts of homelessness and drug use, as well as mental health, homelessness and substance use.

The day also included visits to reference services in Barcelona, such as the Galena Integral Residential Centre (CRI Galena) and Metzineres, allowing participants to gain first-hand insight into intervention models based on harm reduction and a gender-sensitive approach.

On 28 January, the work focused on the module on public policy and advocacy, followed by a focus group for evaluation, where feedback and proposals for improvement were collected in order to strengthen the applicability and impact of the training materials at the European level.

Towards the final phase of the project

The third Home4Health exchange in Barcelona reinforces the project’s collaborative approach, based on pilot testing, continuous evaluation and the active involvement of professionals and key stakeholders. The final transnational exchange is scheduled to take place in February in Amsterdam, where the validation process of the training materials will be completed. Following this, each partner organisation will deliver national training sessions in their respective countries, with the aim of building the capacity of professionals at the local level. The project will conclude with a final conference in Barcelona next June, where the main outcomes of Home4Health will be presented, including the training programme, the Toolkit, the MOOC and the European Guidelines aimed at improving interventions with people experiencing homelessness and complex health needs through a gender-sensitive, transcultural and trauma-informed approach.