My son is now a happy young man confident in life and in the future. We cannot thank FPDA and the IVEA project enough!
I came across IVEA project through the FPDA. My son has a borderline cognitive condition that interferes negatively in his social relationships and his ability to adapt to a common workplace.
He had several previous experiences with some internships. At his last job, he suffered from bulling from his workmates, who treated him poorly and made no effort to empathize with him. He also tried some gardening but the outcome was the same.
When we heard about this project, my son was going through a very difficult time, feeling hopeless and worthless and going a downhill path regarding life itself. We, parents, were very enthusiastic about this opportunity.
In the beginning, he didn’t like to have to go through another experience and reacted to the training as, in his words, he didn’t need any. But with a lot of pressure he made it to the end. IKEA was the workplace that was selected to him and I believe that three aspects made all the difference:
- IKEA’s culture is a very open and flexible one, with a modern attitude and a special kind of human feeling towards the society.
- It was not only my son who went through training, the staff who would deal with him also got a very thorough explanation of his condition, of the particular aspects of his behavior (all people with disorders are different) and were prepared, emotionally and cognitively to receive him properly. They were willing to have this experience with him, which made my son feel welcome and understood from the first day.
- The psychologist from FPDA, Teresa Morgado, made the professional link between IKEA and my son and, in my opinion was responsible for this fantastic outcome. In her smooth way of talking, she was always there motivating him and advising him when things could go less well, listening to him with a lot of patience. She put a lot of love and effort so that everything would end in success.
My son entered IKEA for a full time internship, which was a huge difference from his previous schedule of doing nothing. We were expecting a bad reaction from him but instead we saw him more and more motivated every day. His fellow workers cared for him. They even had a cake in his birthday and offered him an electric train model (his favorite toy) in his last week of internship.
On his last day, he was proposed a real job in IKEA, with all the privileges of the other workers. He is now a happy young man confident in life and in the future.
We cannot thank FPDA and the IVEA project enough!