PEGKAP-NY in collaboration with the organizations Metropolitan College of Athens, DK-BEL of France, CSI-CYPRUS, INTRAS of Spain, SCMP of Portugal, implement the program entitled LEISURE SKILLS “SOCIAL INCLUSION FOR MENTAL DESABILITY AND LEISURE SKILLS”, funded by Erasmus + of the European Union, with the National Authority, the Foundation for State Scholarships. The program is aimed at adults with disabilities and specifically with mental disability, their educators, special education academics and families with disabilities. The DSM 5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 2013) defines mental disabilities as neurodevelopmental disorders that begin in childhood and are characterized by mental difficulties as well as difficulties in conceptual, social and practical areas of life. The aim of the program is to develop and improve the leisure management skills of people with intellectual, and developmental difficulties. An additional goal is to develop a toolkit, based on educational tools, which will be provided as an open source of information for educators, academics, professionals and parents, as interactive and supportive material to achieve the above goal.

In the LEISURE SKILLS project, the recreational behaviour of people with mental disabilities will be redefined through questionnaire research, in the context of developing skills for social interaction. The long-term goal is to create an easily accessible electronic material that will help people with disabilities in their social integration and in the development of leisure management skills.

This project innovates with an easy-to-use interactive e-learning toolkit to offer a) awareness and to be used by experts and those interested in the importance of teaching these skills and at the same time b) an easily accessible tool for everyone. The tool will be shared through the project’s learning portal along with the training materials / methods that make it up. The goal is to identify both changes in leisure habits as well as the relationship with mental health and self-esteem of the beneficiaries. The portal will be a meeting place for professionals and academics for discussion (as there will be a forum section), exchange of views and use of educational tools. The portal will also be available as OER (Open Educational Resources) to those interested. A publicity strategy has been designed to disseminate the results for all project outputs. Finally, a policy report will be produced and promoted on the integration of the project theme into the new social inclusion strategies of the European Union and its Member States.

More information on the project’s website http://leisureskillsproject.eu/