The Day Center of the Agios Stefanos Foundation is the educational and recreational space for people with intellectual disabilities who live with their families.
The aim is to prevent marginalization and to develop, maintain and improve the skills and abilities of each individual through various creative, productive and educational activities. This contribution to improving the quality of life is evident both in the lives of individuals with intellectual disabilities as well as to their families.
At our Day Center you can purchase crafts for weddings, baptisms, birthday gifts and more, made by the people of the Center. The funds are used to cover the needs of the Center.
Our Day Center is open Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The monthly charges include the access to therapies and programs along with the meals (branch and launch) of the day. Transportation assistance is also available with an additional fee.
For more information about the Day Center program and services, please contact +357 25 725 136 or visit our Facebook page: Agios Stefanos Foundation Day Center.
The Day Center is the place where adult people with intellectual disabilities are served by programs that offer them:
- special education from instructors
- speech therapy
- musical therapy
- crafts in laboratories
- cooperation with external educational institutions
- educational and recreational walks and excursions
- cooperation with the Vocational Guidance program for pre-vocational
- education and training
- sports and participation in Special Olympics
- physiotherapy (where necessary)
- psychological support
- structuring everyday life and the family environment
Department of Creative Activity
In our effort to increasingly flourish the creativity of individuals, we created the Creative Activities section of the Day Center.
The purpose of this specific section is to encourage beneficiaries in terms of developing initiative, teamwork, cooperation, imagination, fair play, and learning correct ways of behaving in all areas of their lives.
The entire above, are cultivated daily through the help of experiential games, crafts, storytelling, screening of educational films, educational excursions, and discussion groups.
The Creative Activity department provides participants with all the necessary supplies they need to free themselves, enhance their social interaction, learn, have fun, explore, discover, and create.
Through creativity, we achieve a direct connection with the personality, emotional world, and thoughts of all beneficiaries. Maintaining creative thinking, expressing emotions, and nurturing each person’s skills, combined with values such as acceptance, love, self-esteem, respect and mutual assistance, create the foundations of this department.
Laboratory Department
The newly established soap making, candle making and support work workshop for people with disabilities operates daily with absolute success at the Day Center of the Agios Stefanos organization. The employment of people with intellectual disabilities is an innovation of this specific program, which aims to develop their skills and abilities.
The products of the laboratory are 100% handmade and natural, without the addition of chemicals during their production. The organic soaps made in the laboratory are completely environmentally friendly and are ideal for people with allergies or sensitive skin. They cleanse and moisturize at the same time.
What certainly characterizes the workshop is its diversity, so for the manufacture of both soaps and candles. Various molds are used and products with different shapes, sizes and colors and therefore magic is created.
Undoubtedly, all of the workshop’s products are created with great care and love by all of the employees.
Services
Physical Education / Physiotherapy
Residents of the Institution as well as individuals of the Day Center and Social Integration Centers have the opportunity and access, with the help of the staff, to exercise daily in individual and group programs.
The benefits that regular exercise offers cannot be limited only to improving our physical condition as a consequence, but also extend to so many other areas such as relieving physical and mental stress, improving mood, increasing our ability to concentrate, and sparking our productivity and creativity.
With these, we have resulted in the participation and distinction of our individuals in Special Olympics both locally and internationally.
Physiotherapy is applied after evaluation to individuals presenting with musculoskeletal problems, to athletes and as a therapeutic exercise.
Special education
Special Education is a relatively recent science, but the role it plays in the Education of People with Disabilities is of crucial importance.
Its main concern is the integration of people with special needs into the family, school and social context in which they live, as well as the elimination of their marginalization and isolation. The Department of Special Education enrolls individuals with intellectual disabilities and mainly individuals with developmental disorders, i.e. individuals on the autism spectrum.
Most of the department’s programs are individualized and are based on the unique needs and capabilities of each individual. The aim of the program is to engage these individuals creatively and to improve their quality of life as much as possible. This is achieved through the practice of social skills, self-care skills and independent living.
All programs operate with the personal happiness and well-being of individuals.
Independent Living
Beneficiaries develop self-care skills that are useful in their daily lives, such as personal hygiene and care, safe living, and participation in everyday responsibilities.
Psychological counseling
It offers its services in parallel with the work of the rest of personnel, on an individual or group basis and in special areas of the center, with the sole aim of the all-round development of the intellectual, mental and emotional capabilities of each trainee, adapted to their abilities and aiming for their greatest possible development.
Social Support
It aims to make learners capable of managing and dealing with social and ethical problems that often arise in their lives, cultivates social relationships, encourages learners to critically evaluate issues of freedom, equality, justice, human rights, as well as rights and obligations to the society.
Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapists assist in the functional activities of individuals of all ages and in areas such as self-care, self-service, productivity and leisure management, fun and entertainment. The ultimate goal is to achieve the highest possible level of functionality, but also to develop the individual's adaptive behavior.
Music Therapy
Creation, the expression of emotions and ideas was not and is not a gift of only a few people, but of special people. A systematized science today, it becomes the means of communication and interaction between the individual and the therapist and the therapeutic goal is achieved. Music eases tensions and creates outlets for communication.
Education
Improving the lifestyle of our guests and improving their behavior is our primary goal.
Behavior improvement is achieved:
1) Through special education
2) By creating a consistently pleasant environment
3) By the cooperation and education of parents-guardians.
Speech Therapy
A specialized scientist undertakes to help individuals with speech disorders, in chewing-swallowing due to neurological, developmental or functional causes, especially when this hinders the normal development of individuals.