On Friday 4th of May 2018, in the premises of the Regional Centre for Professional Development in Nis – Serbia, the training named “Prevention against burn-out syndrome of professionals in social protection“ was held. The training gathered staff members of Caritas Belgrade Archbishopric and Caritas Srem, involved in direct assistance of refugees and migrants, while the accredited program training was guided by Marina Vukotic and Ivana Koprivica from the Provincial Institute for Social Protection. The goal of this one day training was to strengthen the capacities of people who are active on the field of assistance to the refugee and migrant population. The training was equally useful for psychologists and social workers, as well as animators and translators, with the goal to respond professionally to the refugees requests and, at the same tame, safeguard personal mental health.

Taking into consideration the current migratory movements and the fact that a great percentage of migrants and refugees staying in Serbia are women and children, the accent of Caritas aid in psycho-social work is more directed to parents with children.

By strengthening capacities for stress management on individual and organizational level, the quality of services provided to beneficiaries is being increased and conditions are being made for the respect of rights of users, based on basic principles of social protection. The participants gained basic knowledge about stress and burn out syndrome, their sources and symptoms, recognizing risk factors, strategies for facing stress and burn out syndrome. All the participants successfully completed the training and they will receive certificates from the Republic Institute for Social Protection. The training was organized within the project financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany and Caritas Germany.