Day center

Day Center for Adolencents With Behavioral Challenges: A Place Where You Are Trusted

Day center for adolencents “United” is one of the projects of Jonas Valančiūnas Foundation. It is the first establishment of its kind in Lithuania.

Why?

Most of the teenagers from social risk families are basically left outside from social help circle when they reach age of 14 or 15, because existing Day Centers for Teenagers either don’t have assets to help them, or don’t possess the qualifications needed.

And it happens at the age when they need help most of all – left without guiding hand, they are vulnerable to negative influence from the streets and to far-from the best examples within their families.

Simple ignorance and negative approach from the society can possess higher risks of losing them in the non-positive environment with all the following consequences (unhealthy habits, dropping out from schools, etc.).

How the society will treat them in the next few years will lead these kids to what kind of values they will carry for the rest of their lives as community members.

How it works

Day center operates daily from 1pm to 7pm, so teenagers can come right after school and spend time till late evening when they return to their families.

During that time they are involved in various programs (sports, education, social behaviour, e-games, etc.).

Sports is the unified theme of this project:

– You learn how play be the rules not only on court, but in life as well.

– In order to succeed you have to learn play as a team.

– It is always better to have the trusted teammate you on your side, while facing challenge .

Everyday basketball coach runs practices for the teenagers, while social workers work with them on a daily basis through various aspects of life and on challenges they are constantly facing.

Other activities will also involve summer camps, basketball and other sports competitions, hiking marches through historical places in the country.