Same-sex orientation in the work of the Health care centres
Tuesday, 18 May 2010 09:07
The report on realisation of the Project: Same-sex orientation in the work of the Health care centres
1.Carried out activities (from January 18th till April 30th)
a.The description of carried out activities
In the process of organising the seminar, the following tasks were carried out:
1.The meeting, was organised at Labris level, with the objective to establish the date and place of holding the seminar, the programme of the seminar, as well as the lecturers.
2.The translation, design and printing of the special handbook – „The guidelines for psychotherapeutical work with lesbian, gay and bisexual clients“ of the American Psychological Association.
3.The design and prepress of the promotional material – bags, pens, notebooks, notepads, stickers and folders.
4.Establishing contacts and making arrangements with the trainers and the lecturers.
5.The letter of support from the Ombudsman – establishing contact with the Ombudsman's office, with the aim of obtaining support for motivating and enrolling the seminar participants.
6.The creation of the website banner (a call for seminar attendance).
7.Choosing the hotel for the seminar participants – negotiating the prices, making reservations, etc.
8.Organising transportation for the organisers, lecturers, and seminar participants.
9.Mapping the Health care centres – an internet survey.
10.Agenda/Invitation/Application – creating the agenda/ invitation/ application. Sending invitations to the Health Care centres on the territory of the Republic of Serbia for the participation in the seminar.
11.Selecting the seminar participants – sending the invitations by regular mail, email, fax, as well as collecting the applications and making the final selection.
12.Email, telephone and direct communication with the selected seminar participants.
13.The preparation of the certificates for the seminar participants.
14.The procurement of the stationery needed for the work (such as flip charts, marker pens, etc.).
15.Providing the technical support (projector, laptop computer, etc.).
16.The preparation of the material and the publications for the seminar.
17.The realisation of the seminar, according to the estimated plan and programme.
18.The evaluation – the preparation of the questionnaire, filling in the questionnaires and the analysis of the questionnaire.
19.The report – the writing of the report and sending it to the Labris mailing list.
20.Follow-up activities (further email, telephone and direct communication with the seminar participants – making arrangements of including them in the LGBT friendly experts map of Serbia)
b.Accomplishments
The seminar „Same-sex orientation in the work of Health care centres“, held in Hajdukovo, from April 21st to 24th, was attended by 16 health workers – 3 gynecologists, 4 psychologists, 2 psychiatrists, 2 general practitioners, 1 specialist in social medicine and 4 nurse-practitioners. Unfortunately, out of the sixteen present, fifteen attendees were female, and only one male. Health care workers came from the following towns – Vranje, Leskovac, Belgrade, Novi Sad and Senta. The institutions in question are the following – Health care centre (Rakovica, Savski Venac), Health clinic (Vranje, Leskovac), The Institute for workers health care, The Institute for students health care and the Institute of Oncology of Vojvodina.
This was the first of Labris seminars where we have had experts who work very hard and have great results in their fields, some of them also engaged in the work with nongovernmental sector, as well as in various humanitarian actions and educational work.
A special success is the fact that these professionals replied to our invitations, although the programme has not yet been accredited (which we have been planning to do). We have had to turn down around 15 applications, since we were not able to cover financially the stay costs of such a large number of participants (30). The next seminar of this kind is planned for the beginning of December, this year.
During the course of the seminar seven thematic wholes were presented – Identities, same-sex orientation and lesbian existence, Lesbian and gay human rights, Social mechanisms of homophobia, Trans existence, Sexually transmitted diseases, Prejudice and stereotypes and Coming out.
Nine lecturers took part in the realisation of these topics, out of which – two trainers were from Labris, and all the rest were experts from various institutions and organisations.
Evaluation has shown a high level of satisfaction with the seminar. The average mark of the seminar, obtained by the marks from the evaluative questionnaire, was 4, 93. All the participants have expressed a wish to continue the cooperation with Labris for the following reasons – obtaining new literature, directing the interested parties to Labris, personal growth and gaining new knowledge, and since they believe that the experience they got from cooperating with Labris will be useful in the course of their future work. Furthermore, they found the support of activities of those oriented to struggle for human rights and freedoms essential, as well as providing help and support to same-sex persons. They also felt that further informing oneself on the matters mentioned is important in view of expanding one's perspective, with the aim of smashing the taboos and prejudice against gay population. Moreover, they found that mutual cooperation can bring about better understanding and progress in the LGBT population's status.
They perceive the application of knowledge acquired at the seminar in the following manner – gradually, but actively to change the attitudes and prejudice in the nuclear family and extended family, to inform their associates in workplace about the topics discussed at the seminar, to place the rainbow flag in a visible spot in the consulting room, and to establish a greater cooperation between a gynecologist and a psychologist within the institutions they work in. They also feel that the education of students on topics such as discrimination, better networking among all the departments in the institutions they come from and taking part in the work of local nongovernmental organisations is essential.
c.Problems in the course of work
One cannot say that there have been problems while working on the seminar; however, there have been circumstances which made it seriously harder and even brought the whole seminar and its upkeep into question. Same-sex orientation, as it has turned out, was too big a bite for our institutions in Serbia, but also for the health care workers themselves. We have been receiving telephone calls from the health care centres inquiring mainly about whether the programme was accredited. Once they learned that the programme had not been accredited, they did not contact us anymore.
At the seminar itself, the participants have told us that our seminar invitations mainly ended up in the garbage bin, without even being read first, and that they had to take comments from their colleagues such as: „ Why are you going there, why do you care about that, take care when you go there“, etc.
Towards the end of the deadline, we started lobbying nongovernmental organisations out of Belgrade, which have contacts with health care workers through the programme they are carrying out, in order to reach the planned number of participants, and this yielded results in the end.
2.Conclusions and recommendations for new measures, policies, and the rights at a central and local level for (in accordance with The National plan of action for the improvement of the position of women):
I.National level
II.Local municipalities
III.Beneficiaries
IV.Policy creators
The degree of homophobia in Serbian society, regardless of the level of education, profession, environment people come from, age, etc., is very high. The amount of prejudice and stereotypes which contribute to such a high degree of homophobia is also alarming. On the other hand, the situation in which the members of LGBT population find themselves is highly unenviable. Not accepted by their families, peer groups, broader environment, and the society in general, they have to suffer various forms of violence – psychological, physical and financial. Additionally, sensibilised members of the larger part of the population find it difficult to express support for marginal groups. It would be of great significance if the decision makers and the institutions of power at all levels started recognising the importance of supporting programmes and initiatives of the nongovernmental sector, and thus, help their execution.
3.Self assessment of capacities
We have included Labris volunteers in the realisation of the planned activities. This was the fifth Labris seminar, and the preparatory activities have been carried out well and on time, so that the organisation and realisation of the seminar have gone through without serious problems.
Written by: Mirela Pavlović
Translated by: Milica Jeremić
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