The aim Welfare Department of Riga City Council is as much as possible to form a society free from addictive substances, gambling and immoderate computer use in its city and decrease the number of persons using drugs by offering them to jointreatment programmes.
The tasks of the Welfare Department of Riga City Council are the following:
• To carry out preventive measures of addiction diseases in Riga, by creating and implementing educational programmes for various target audiences;
• To form public opinion which rejects the use of addictive substances;
• To provide the society and youth in particular with truthful information about the negative consequences of the addictive substances and to create the ability to resist offers;
• To provide psycho-social help and to organize socio-pedagogical correction programmes;
• To facilitate prevention of addiction diseases by timely revealing and motivating to undergo treatment, as well as by ensuring availability of social and medical aid
• To investigate the public opinion, to form the policy of addiction prevention and a society free of the addictive substances;
• To support the projects and movements for the activities alternative to drug abuse;
• To cooperate with the other cities of the Baltic region and European countries.
A team of experienced specialists is established for attaining this aim.
The fundamental principle of the activity is to bring its services nearer to the population, to make them easily available. Therefore four branch offices of the Welfare Department of Riga City Council are opened in various parts of the city. There the inhabitants may obtain information and consultations furnished by specially educated specialists. There exist informative-educating and supporting programmes both for the young people and for their parents. The street social workers work with the young people and their parents in their place of residence.
There are organised regular informative-educating broadcasts, issued materials of informative, educative and guiding character.
The specialists of the drug telephone helpline +371 6 7037333 provide information and consultations.
The ensures implementation of more than 20 long-term programmes, most notableof which are the following: pupil leader programme, training programme for teachers, and educational programme for the children of the group at risk.
Over three years cooperation has been established with the colleagues from Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and St. Petersburg.
Riga has signed the declaration "European Cities Against Drugs" and is amember city of this organisation.
The anassociate member of the network of European drug helpline services (FESAT) and actively participates in its work.
Welfare Department of Riga City Council is a municipal institution which implements and coordinates the work of addiction (tobacco, alcohol, medicines, illegal psychotropic substances, gambling, computer and internet addiction) prevention in Riga.
