On 26th October 2021, Viola Stekelenburg, Tessa Hamers, Dimitar Ilchov, and Marek Mikulec discussed how loneliness is a bigger problem than simply an emotional experience.
Research shows that loneliness and social isolation are harmful to our health. In the Restoring dreams to tackle homelessness project the Dutch Hub Associate HVO Querido, together with partner organisations in Macedonia, Czech Republic, Spain, Hungary, France and Belgium, have developed training and tools to tackle this common issue.
This is the latest in a series of webinars on Housing First practice in Europe, and is ideal for practitioners of all levels, including frontline workers, managers and trainers.
If you have an interest in exploring a particular area of Housing First practice in a future webinar, please contact our Hub Coordinator, Samara Jones (samara.jones@housingfirsteurope.eu)
Meet our Speakers
Tessa Hamers – Project Leader, Centre of Expertise on Housing First/Social Worker, HVO-Querido
Tessa works as a project leader at the Centre of Expertise on Housing First and as a social worker within HVO-Querido. She uses her drive in various ways to combat homelessness with support from the Housing First model. Based on the knowledge and expertise gained at HVO-Querido, Tessa is also part of the national Housing First Platform Netherlands to share knowledge and inspire others in the field of Housing First and facilitated Erasmus+ projects for HVO-Querido within the European borders.
Dimitar Ilchov – Program Manager, Association MISLA
Dimitar is experienced in the civil sector field of social protection and healthcare. He is currently working for the Civic association for the assistance of socially disadvantaged families and individuals known as “Kindness” in Skopje. Dimitar is the author of several published studies and research-based public policy documents, as well as co-author of a draft laws on social entrepreneurship and performing accounting activities, respectively, and the editor in chief of the magazine “Mental health”.
Dimitar was a team member of the project “It can also be different – Restoring dreams to tackle loneliness” in which, among other things, he was in charge of data collection, development of a case study, and dissemination of results and information in North Macedonia, as well as of the quantitative analysis as part of the research within the project.
Marek Mikulec – Assistant Professor, Faculty of Social Studies, University of Ostrava
Marek is an experienced researcher, interested in topics including social work, social housing and homelessness, among others. He is Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Social Studies at the University of Ostrava, where he lectures on social housing, social segregation and ethnic minorities. Throughout his career, he has also worked with the local administrations of several different cities as a researcher, consultant, and methodologist, evaluating a number of different social housing projects.
Viola Stekelenburg – Coordinator-City of Amsterdam, HVO-Querido
Believing in the Housing First model and driven by passion Viola works for HVO-Querido to fight homelessness, with a focus on positive health, social and economic stability. Within HVO-Querido, Viola works as a coordinator for the city of Amsterdam, facilitating as a connector between the client, the social worker and the partners involved. In addition, she partly works for the Innovation department of HVO-Querido, where beautiful, new and creative ideas are expressed that are related to the Housing First methodology, which is based on inclusion for everyone.