REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION PHASE IN BULGARIA

1. Duration of the implementation phase.

The implementation phase in Bulgaria has started at 1st February 2014 and finished on 30 June

2014. The training sessions took place in two cities: Plovdiv (the second largest city in Bulgaria)

and Sliven (one of biggest Bulgarian cities where the social services are very well developed).

2. Scope of the implementation phase.

The following institutions were involved in the process:

a) Plovdiv

a. Complex for social services “St. George” with its four services: Sheltered house

for people with mental health problems; Transition house for people with

learning difficulties; Daily centre for people with different types with disabilities;

VET school for students with special educational needs.

b. Centre for disadvantaged people with deviant behaviour

b) Sliven

a. Sheltered house for people with mental health problems

b. Daily centre for people with learning difficulties

c. Daily centre for youngsters with mental health problems

3. Involvement

The team of ZGURA-M recruited 16 coachers working in already mentioned institutions. Each of

them has extensive experience and knowledge in provision of services to people with different

kind of disabilities. All coachers have master degrees in the field of psychology, social work and

special education. One of the coacher has degree in health care. They were highly motivated to

take part in the process and participated on voluntary base.

30 people with disabilities (20 female and 10 male) have been involved as beneficiaries of the

coaching process in Bulgaria. The age average is between 18 to 53 years old. All of them are

users of the services of aforementioned institutions. The users have different disabilities such

as: learning difficulties, moderate mental health problems, neurological disabilities. 3 of the

users belong to the target group of people with deviant behaviour.

4. Aims of the coaching process

The specific aims of the coaching process in Bulgaria were:

To increase the self-esteem of people with disabilities

To provide clients with professional orientation and guidance how to search for a job

To make participants aware of the steps relevant to the job seeking process

To train clients how to make inform decisions

To identify clients’ strengths, abilities and work capacity

To train clients in order to develop their presentation skills, communication skills,

maintenance of appropriate image, tips for verbal and non-verbal communication,

appropriate behaviour during job interview

To prepare job applications

To facilitate the relationship with employer and other colleagues at the work place

To identify suitable job vacancies.

To make efforts to accommodate beneficiaries at suitable for them work placements

5. About the supported employment process in Bulgaria.

The process in Bulgaria went through the following stages:

I. Dedicated induction trainings for coachers

They were 2 induction trainings held in Plovdiv and Sliven at the very beginning of the process.

The trainings cover presentation of the T-EST project, presentation of the Supported

employment toolkit, presentation of the 5 stages of the coaching process, guidelines about the

coaching process itself, agreement on the schedule on the schedule of the coaching process as

well as its monitoring and evaluation stages. The presentations were followed by open

discussions on the essence of the coaching and practical guidance how to implement it bearing

in mind local peculiarities. At the end of the training the participants confirmed that they are

fully aware of the coaching concept and they are willing to participate as coachers on voluntary

basis. During the discussions the majority of the participants shared that they have been

involved in activities similar to coaching however they never had chance to participate in

structured and well-defined process as the supported employment.

II. Recruitment of beneficiaries with disabilities

As a result of the awareness rising campaign in Bulgaria we received 71 enquiries from people

with disabilities. After face to face interviews involving coordinators on behalf of ZGURA-M,

coachers and candidates 30 clients have been evaluated as suitable.

III. Matching coaching couples.

During the kick-off meetings of the couples they agreed on the schedule of their meetings.

Some of them preferred intensive sessions (everyday meetings in 3-4 weeks) while the rest

choose meetings on weekly base. They completed together the application form, the

confidentiality agreements as well as agreed on individual action plans. Since the process in

general was confidential and has been held in the form of one-to-one relationship we don’t

have photos from the working sessions.

IV. Identification of clients’ needs, expectations and preferences

At that stage the proactive people were coachers who met their clients and identified their

needs and expectation toward the coaching process. It was mutual process and the coachers

had task to encourage their clients to be active and more open in sharing their needs and

preferences. At that phase the main topics under discussion were: previous experience of the

clients on the labour market, faced barriers with employers and HR managers, type of

accessibility problems which they faced, reasons for failures. At the end of this stage the

coachers together with their clients have identified the steps for improvement of clients’

performance on the labour market. As supportive material the coachers used related parts with

guidance from the supported employment toolkit.

V. Setting up of process rules (additional training sessions, monitoring, evaluation and

certification).

As result of requests by the coachers for additional support project coordinators by ZGURA-M

have organised complementary trainings sessions dedicated to role play games for development

of presentation skills and improvement of social competencies as well as preparation for job

interview. After the sessions a positive change in clients’ behaviour has been identified by the

coachers. Clients also appreciated these sessions and become confident and less socially

isolated.

At the last month of the process the team of ZGURA-M conducted monitoring and evaluation

actions of the supported employment implementation phase. All coachers and clients have

completed evaluation questionnaires. The results will be summarised in dedicated report and

will be presented during the final conference and partners’ meeting in Izmir, Turkey.

On 16th and 30th of June the certification events have been organised both in Sliven and Plovdiv.

a. Clients certification events

b. Coachers certification events

All participants (coachers and clients) received a dedicated certificate with the features of the

projects as well as the list of learning outcomes achieved through the participation in coaching

process. The certificate was issued in Bulgarian language and printed in-house.

6. Impact on the participants

Soon after the end of the process the coachers shared that thanks to their participation in the coaching

they extended their expertise and thus become more competitive in the field of social services. In

addition the coachers have improved their communication with clients and become more flexible

towards identification of clients’ needs. They used as a supportive material the T-EST toolkit which

helped them to put their activities in a structured and comprehensive frame as well as confirmed its

usability. Furthermore the coachers did not expect any further amendments of its content so the T-EST

consortium can consider it as final.

People with disabilities also identified positive changes in their attitudes, knowledge and skills. First of all

those people with mental health problems became more open and less afraid towards communication

with unknown people. They considerably improved their presentations skills and now they can easily

answer to the question “What you can do better?” and “How you can be useful at the workplace?”. As

added value to the project we would to share that 3 clients in Plovdiv and 3 clients in Sliven have been

recruited for permanent jobs: in supermarket, in advertising agency, in beauty studio, car repair shop

and flowers shop. Bearing in mind the lower qualification of people with disabilities involved in the

coaching they were accommodated into positions relevant to their qualification and desire.