Ledovec

Ledovec is a Czech non-profit organization (spolek) that helps people living with mental illness or mental handicap, operating mainly in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It was registered on 22 January 2001 by Mgr. et Mgr. Martin Fojtíček, and its current director is Mgr. Petr Moravec. The organization is seated in a former parish house in Ledce u Plzně, from which it runs leisure activities, educational courses and therapeutic workshops for its clients. Ledovec's core mission is to help people with mental illness or mental handicap return to ordinary life. Its services include multidisciplinary community mental-health teams (Centrum duševního zdraví Plzeň, Centrum duševního zdraví Klatovy, Komunitní tým Plzeň venkov and Komunitní tým STachovsko), a crisis telephone line, professional social counselling, and housing-support services such as sheltered housing and Housing First. It has also opened the CHRC clubhouse and supports the involvement of people with lived experience of mental illness in the delivery of its own services. Beyond direct care, Ledovec works on prevention and destigmatization through programmes for schools and the general public, and it offers support to Ukrainian refugees. A "Tiché linky" (quiet line) service is available throughout the organization, with online interpreting and transcription provided by the non-profit Tichý svět o.p.s. The organization also runs a day-care centre, a counselling centre, social services and rehabilitation, and helps young people who become mentally ill to finish their education. Ledovec is also known for its sheltered workshops, where clients spin, sew clothing, make sheep-wool jewellery, decorative candles and other handicrafts; these products are sold in a shop at Tovární 3 in Plzeň. It organizes social, cultural and craft events, exhibitions, the "Dny Světlé" days, a special steam-train ride from Plzeň to Dobřany, and it organized the first Czech international conference on Recovery. Since 2008 it has engaged in social entrepreneurship, and since 2009 it has cooperated with Zdravotní klaun on the Cirkus Paciento project, touring Czech psychiatric hospitals. In 2015 it leased the mill in Ledce and began repairing it as a working activity for clients, aiming to open it to the public as a technical monument and tourist destination. In 2017 it announced plans for a Centre for Mental Health in Plzeň, which opened on 7 May 2019 with a multidisciplinary team of psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses and social workers providing field care so that people with serious mental illness can remain in their own environment.

Ledovec was registered on 22 January 2001 by Mgr. et Mgr. Martin Fojtíček as a non-profit association helping people with mental illness or mental handicap, primarily in the Plzeň Region. Its seat is a former parish house in Ledce u Plzně, which provides space for leisure activities, educational courses and therapeutic workshops. In the workshops clients spin, sew clothing, make sheep-wool jewellery, decorative candles and other handicrafts, with the aim of improving motor skills and self-confidence; the products are sold in a shop at Tovární 3 in Plzeň. Over the years the organization expanded its services to include a day-care centre, sheltered housing, a counselling centre, a crisis line, social services and rehabilitation, and support for young people who become mentally ill to finish their education. It also organizes social, cultural and craft events, exhibitions, the Dny Světlé days, a special steam-train ride from Plzeň to Dobřany, and it organized the first Czech international conference on Recovery. In 2008 Ledovec began to engage in social entrepreneurship, and from 2009 it cooperated with Zdravotní klaun on the Cirkus Paciento project, touring Czech psychiatric hospitals and hospitals. In 2015 it leased the mill in Ledce and began repairing it as part of its clients' work activities, with the aim of opening it to the public as a technical monument and tourist destination. In 2016, on the occasion of its 15th anniversary, Ledovec held an exhibition from 22 September to 6 October presenting its activities. The exhibition included a so-called "psychobudka" (psycho-booth) lent by the First Faculty of Medicine of Charles University in Prague, in which visitors could experience the feelings of a mentally ill person through headphones and a screen; Jan Vevera, later head of the Psychiatric Clinic of the University Hospital Plzeň, took part in its development. In the same year Ledovec co-organized the Dny duševního zdraví. In 2017 Ledovec announced its intention to establish a Centre for Mental Health in Plzeň and began negotiations with the city about a building. The Centre for Mental Health opened on 7 May 2019. It employs a multidisciplinary team of specialists — a psychiatrist, psychologist, nurses and social workers — who offer field assistance to people with serious mental illness so that they do not have to leave their natural environment. The centre's activity is intended to relieve psychiatric hospitals, which in the future should be largely replaced in the Czech Republic by similar field services of multidisciplinary teams. Today Ledovec operates multidisciplinary community teams (Centrum duševního zdraví Plzeň, Centrum duševního zdraví Klatovy, Komunitní tým Plzeň venkov and Komunitní tým STachovsko), a crisis telephone line, professional social counselling and housing-support services including sheltered housing and Housing First. It has opened the CHRC clubhouse and supports the involvement of people with lived experience of mental illness in the provision of its services. It runs prevention and destigmatization programmes for schools and the general public, offers support to Ukrainian refugees, and makes the Tiché linky service available throughout the organization, with online interpreting and transcription provided by the non-profit Tichý svět o.p.s.

• Ledovec registered as a non-profit association by Martin Fojtíček.

• Ledovec began engaging in social entrepreneurship.

• Started cooperation with Zdravotní klaun on the Cirkus Paciento project, touring Czech psychiatric hospitals.

• Leased the mill in Ledce and began repairing it as a working activity for clients.

• Opened a 15th-anniversary exhibition including the psychobudka experience booth.

• Announced intention to establish a Centre for Mental Health in Plzeň and began negotiations with the city.

• Centre for Mental Health in Plzeň opened with a multidisciplinary team.

Non-profit community mental-health and social-service provider in the Plzeň Region, combining clinical outreach teams, social services and sheltered social enterprise.

• Centrum duševního zdraví Plzeň

  Multidisciplinary community mental-health team in Plzeň.

• Centrum duševního zdraví Klatovy

  Multidisciplinary community mental-health team in Klatovy.

• Komunitní tým Plzeň venkov

  Community team serving the Plzeň countryside.

• Komunitní tým STachovsko

  Community team serving the STachovsko area.

• CHRC clubhouse

  Clubhouse supporting involvement of people with lived experience.

• Tiché linky

  Quiet line service available throughout Ledovec, with online interpreting and transcription by Tichý svět o.p.s.

• Sheltered workshops

  Workshops producing textiles, sheep-wool jewellery, decorative candles and other handicrafts.

1. 1Ledovec - pomoc lidem se zkušeností s duševním onemocněnímledovec.cz
2. 2Ledovec (spolek) - Wikipediacs.wikipedia.org
3. 3Ledovec - Wikidatawikidata.org