Training for addict support workers for the Kosovo Correctional Service

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Published: May 3, 2023

The IRZ has been working closely with the Lipjan Correctional Facility in the area of juvenile penitentiary since 2017. Since 2020, the focus of the cooperation has been on how to treat young addicts. A training course for prison staff on support work based on the German model is intended to help them learn how to treat young people with addiction problems in prison enforcement to enable them to free themselves from the addiction and to improve their prospects of social reintegration after release. A joint concept for “treating young addicts in the penitentiary system” was therefore drafted in 2021 and 2022.

Against this backdrop, a “Train the trainer” workshop was held for addiction support workers in the Lipjan Correctional Facility (Kosovo) from 6-8 March 2023. The event was attended by two employees each from the juvenile correctional service, the juvenile detention centre, the girls’ and women’s correctional service, the diagnosis unit for the correctional service and the probation service. Ms. Katja Liebmann, Head of the Social Therapy Department and Psychology Counsellor at Hameln Juvenile Institution, and Mr. Siegfried Löprick, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Jugendhilfe Göttingen e.V. (youth support service), provided comprehensive theoretical and practical knowledge to the participants on the focal points of “addiction anamnesis” and “treatment measures for addiction” in a joint exchange.

The aim of the training was to provide the participants with the necessary professional skills to implement the addiction treatment independently in their respective institutions. In the future, the participants see themselves as multipliers for “addiction support” in their institution, and will therefore also be able to train other suitable employees. In addition, the participants and the Head of the Correctional Service discussed the possibility of visiting suitable inpatient addiction treatment facilities in Kosovo to enable the participants to continue their professional training after the workshop.

The event was generally characterised by a particularly trusting environment for the discussions, lively and active participation by all participants and an extremely practice-oriented and interactive implementation of the workshop.

The cooperation with the Lipjan Correctional Facility takes place within the framework of the project funding for “Support for several states in the Western Balkans in the consolidation of constitutional and European standards” and is funded by the Federal Foreign Office. After the first independent implementation of an addiction measure and observations on site, a follow-up event can be organised to discuss and reflect on the measures in the second half of the year.