At the beginning of the confinement, in March 2020, several municipalities requested the services of Grupo 5 to create emergency devices that could accommodate people living on the streets. A year later, the same company has launched a post-COVID-19 neurological, cognitive and motor rehabilitation program. What unites these two initiatives is the social commitment and the vocation for innovation of Grupo 5, a company created 30 years ago to offer answers to the most pressing social health challenges of the moment.
– A company that bases its strategy and processes on ethical reflection and that, in addition, launches projects such as “Stigmatism” or “Good times for ethics” … goes beyond the stereotype of the company in use. Where does this commitment originate and where will it lead the company?
– This commitment is the DNA of Grupo 5. Our mission is very simple to explain: to improve the quality of life of vulnerable people in our society. The “Stigmatism” project aims to study stigma and promote actions that help change the social outlook of vulnerable people who suffer from it and within it is framed, for example, the creation of the extraordinary Chair Against Stigma promoted by Grupo 5 and the Complutense University of Madrid. As for the “Good Times for Ethics” project, its objective is to train our professionals in ethical aspects and give them tools to face situations and make decisions with an ethical impact, which are very common in our day-to-day lives. We believe that projects like these are essential to continue innovating from a social point of view for a company like ours and we will continue to dedicate many resources to them in the coming years.
– Sometimes work in the social sphere is related to welfare and charity. Grupo 5 values a professional approach based on scientific evidence. How is the balance between the two perspectives reflected in the day-to-day life?
– The management of Grupo 5 is based on professionalism in the first place because we are committed to hiring people with specific and specialized training who carry out their work based on specific theories and methodologies. Second, we provide innovative work environments with transversal processes for the management of shared knowledge. And finally we believe in rigor and evidence as a basis for continuous improvement that provide new perspectives and opportunities for people with mental health problems, intellectual disabilities, brain damage, homeless people or children and families. This translates into studies and research that evaluate our daily work and that favor the quality of life of our users. And all this is part of a vision of social services as the right of vulnerable people, who cannot depend exclusively on the goodwill or charity of the citizens of society for these rights to be effective.
– People who were in a vulnerable situation before the crisis caused by COVID-19 are suffering its consequences as much or more than the rest of the population. What is the response of a company like Grupo 5, whose mission is focused on improving their well-being and quality of life in the face of this emergency?
– At Grupo 5 we are adapting services to new needs. We did it during confinement when we had to reduce the face-to-face staff in direct care to minimum services to reduce the risk of the impact of COVID-19 and continue to provide care virtually with people with mental health problems, brain damage, disability intellectual or unprotected childhood.
Faced with this social emergency, Grupo 5 responded with a work coordinated with the social services of cities such as Madrid, Valencia or Tenerife, creating in just 48 hours devices capable of serving hundreds of people with a very important economic investment and human resources. This commitment as a company in the necessary public-private collaboration with Public Administrations in social services is an example of our work.
But we are not only adapting to the situation, but we are also conducting studies to be able to anticipate as much as possible and address the needs that people may have. Along these lines, we have carried out the study of post-COVID-19 needs in people with severe mental disorders, which indicates that we must enhance the evaluation of support networks, develop cognitive deficit rehabilitation programs, explore the use of virtual collective activities or put emphasis on suicide risk assessment.
We also develop new work materials so that professionals from the Child Care Centers can use them with the families they serve through illustrations with the #RetoConectarnos project with the aim of facilitating communication and listening.
– The emergence of COVID-19 and the need to quickly distribute vaccines is demanding a lot of investment, both public and private, for research and development. Are you afraid that the endowment for other social and health areas, such as disability, mental health or brain damage will be reduced?
– That investment is dedicated to end the pandemic seems to me essential to be able to get out of it soon, but we would have to analyze what the situation will be with the social and economic crisis in which we are immersed and that experts point out that it will worsen in the next months. In this context, the development of new public services can be delayed by the lack of resources, especially in those administrations that have only a short-term vision. The immediate fight against the pandemic with the maintenance of policies in the medium and long term is essential. In addition, it must be taken into account that we still do not have a very clear map of the physical, psychological, neurological and social consequences that this crisis will leave, so that the future has a greater degree of uncertainty even if possible.
At the micro level of Grupo 5, we currently have a solid investment capacity to bet on new resources that meet social demands and as happened in the previous crisis, we firmly believe that public-private collaboration will be key to continue generating new opportunities and solutions for the people.
– Among the socio-sanitary consequences of the pandemic, there is talk of a next wave of mental illnesses (due to the deprivation of physical contact, isolation, anxiety, fear …) and of an increase in people affected by brain damage (due to delay in attending medical centers at the first symptoms of stroke, for example). These are two of his areas of work. How is Grupo 5 preparing to face these next demands for specialized care?
We are working on a service development plan that can address these consequences. Among these services, for example, the opening of two residential mental health centers, a supervised apartment and living units in Madrid is imminent; and a Comprehensive Center for Neurorehabilitation Care (CIAN) that treats brain damage in Zaragoza.
In addition to the opening of these new centers this year, we have also launched a post-COVID-19 rehabilitation program, which is another of the consequences of the still little known pandemic, and is the neurological, cognitive and motor sequelae, among others.
And with our technical department we are conducting several waves of internal studies of the impact of the crisis on both our professionals and our users, especially in the area of mental health.
– Specifically, with regard to neurorehabilitation, Grupo 5 has Comprehensive Neurorehabilitative Care Centers (CIAN), specialized in specific and global care for people with acquired brain damage and other neurological pathologies. What are the differential elements of this proposal?
At Grupo 5 we design comprehensive and integrated centers for the care of brain damage. This means that we cover the entire physical, psychological and social rehabilitation journey of a person since they suffer brain damage and are discharged from the hospital after the acute phase, counting in the same space with a residence, day unit and outpatient treatments. We provide people with the latest technologies in neurorehabilitation and a transdisciplinary team that evaluates their rehabilitation needs by establishing a personalized plan that includes individual sessions of 45 minutes and group sessions of social development.
We work with a holistic perspective of the person, attending not only to the physical or cognitive needs, but we also take into account the family, social and work aspects of the patient, understanding and supporting them on their return home with an adaptation program back home. . For this we propose rehabilitation from a practical point of view, where each recovery we face in real life situations that they will encounter in their day-to-day lives.
Finally, we have a care model that is continuously nurtured and improved from the practices of specialized neurorehabilitation centers in Madrid, Zaragoza and Navarra.
– Towards what areas do you think investment in innovation in the social and health fields will be directed in the coming years?
– At a general level, it will be necessary to continue with significant investments in the development of residential and outpatient centers and services, especially in the areas of chronic mental health and physical and neurological rehabilitation. These investments can only be made with the joint effort of public administrations, relying for example on aid from the European Union, and with private investments from companies like us. The investment of private companies in social services will continue to be essential to accelerate care networks and guarantee the fulfillment of citizens’ rights.
In addition, at a more concrete level, I believe that if there is something in which the social and health sector should invest, it is in the management of Big Data to be able to make the best decisions with the greatest possible data detail, in addition to optimizing the information of each person and their needs between different services. There is a huge development field in this area that we are already starting to work on.
I also think that there is a long way to go in the development of technology, both in terms of software and hardware and new equipment that help and accelerate the physical and mental recovery of the people treated.
And finally, I am sure that part of the investments will go to tackle innovative projects with a gender perspective, taking into account that women have their own history and in some cases a situation of additional vulnerability on which work must also continue to be carried out. specific way.
Life is the moments
The person who suffers from a mental illness has room for improvement and it is necessary to stimulate his potential capacities that allow him to lead an integrated, socially useful and personally satisfying life.
For this reason, Grupo 5’s philosophy is to make sure that people live their life in the best possible conditions, enjoying moments of life, through a care process that takes into account their objective and subjective characteristics , and with a series of supports. tailored to your needs.
The Grupo 5 residences are care centers for people with mental health problems in which personalized and comprehensive care is offered to improve their quality of life and autonomy. They are community residences, based on the open door model (free entry and exit of residents) and on proven socio-community intervention methodologies. With an orientation towards the person and their capacities, we seek their involvement by working on self-determination and confidence through the search and development of their own resources.
The Group 5 centers have stable 24-hour support, open and flexible for people with mental health problems from 18 years old
Thanks to their multidisciplinary methodology, these centers provide all the necessary support to ensure that people achieve their own aspirations and goals , including plans for the promotion of the right to employment, housing and education. That is, they are organized to provide the continuity of care that the person needs, through coordination with health, social, work support services or with the resources of the environment where they are located.
Through these services, Grupo 5 is committed to ensuring that the people served can acquire, maintain and / or recover those physical, emotional, social and intellectual capacities necessary to live, learn, work and / or interact in their community environment with the highest possible degree of autonomy and independence and the least amount of support.
How do you work in Group 5?
First, a joint evaluation is carried out with the person in which the objectives and aspects are identified to work through individual and / or group interventions with the competent professionals in each area. Then, the objectives and strategies that involve the person’s participation in their own recovery process and the elaboration of a adjusted life project are planned. The third step is the review, monitoring and maintenance of the objectives as well as the design of new objectives if necessary.
About Group 5
A company with more than 30 years of history, made up of a team of more than 1800 professionals providing care to 4400 people daily to improve their well-being and quality of life. We provide care in more than 130 centers and services in the areas of mental health, neurorehabilitation, the elderly, dependency, social emergencies, homeless people, child protection, social education and early childhood education.
Grupo 5 is located in eleven autonomous communities of the Spanish territory and in Chile.
