On 14th and 15th of May, a group of professionals from Diagrama Foundation participated in Canterbury in the last meeting of the European project ‘Into Caring Europe’, organised by Action with Communities in Rural Kent. Also some representatives from Fundación Diagrama (Spain) and Group Ubuntu (Belgium) attended the meeting. This was the 5th encounter of the project and it allowed the participants to lay out some improvements that will ease the job of the health professionals who provide domiciliary care to people in need of support. Furthermore, the attendees had the chance to visit some social projects across Kent.

The project ‘Into Caring Europe’, initiated in 2012, is financed by the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning Programme, through the ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ programme, that has among its objectives the training of professionals, in this case those who work directly with people requiring care in their community.

Firstly, they visited a cafe managed by Skillnet Group, where all the employees are people with some sort of disability, favouring their integration in the community. Secondly, they visited Spadework, a garden centre dedicated to farming and gardening, with an own shop where they sell their products as well as gardening tools. All the production and selling process is done by the staff members: people with learning disabilities who find here a great opportunity to develop their independence and personal skills.

Lastly, the partners visited the Abbey Physic Community Garden, located in Faversham, where psychic rehabilitation and social integration of people with serious mental health issues take place, and which works through a model based on teamwork.

Through this visit, the project members had the chance to complete their knowledge to elaborate a training manual for professionals who provide domiciliary care, which will be useful to establish the bases of a future professional qualification in the UK.