There is an economic crisis in most countries of Europe. The unemployment rate is high and remains on a high level in the next decade. The current depressed mood affects the unemployed people and the professionals dealing with them. There get very easily unemployed a depressed person, and an unemployed person gets depressed easily. The job center workers are not prepared to face and manage the people being in this status all over Europe. They face the symptoms of the mental status that means they meet mostly with low motivation of the job seekers.
The low motivation of job seekers is a very well known phenomenon in job centers. Low motivation creates obstacle in the co-operation of clerks and the unemployed in their effort to find a job for their clients. Low motivation decreases the possibility of success and lasts for a limited period of time, but the lack of success and failures may lead to an illness and depression. Decreased cognitive competencies can be influenced in a different way. Low motivation is one of the symptoms of depression, but the lack of motivation does not necessarily mean that the client is depressed. Depression and low motivation are two different psychological states and need different care. The treatment of depression can lead to better introspection and self-confidence and depressed person can return into action.
Job-center workers needs some continuing vocational training strengthening expertise using by working situation, widening mental knowledge and an effective communication method with the people touched by these problems. In some cases the job center workers ought to send the job seekers to the mental system, but they doesn’t know how to do this in an un-stigmatizing way. They do not know where to link them because this is a very complex problem. From this point of view we are focusing our project on 3 different aspects:
Exchange of existing methods, survey and analysis of needs
Finding new ways to support our target groups
Developing training for job-center workers
