The Fundació Salut i Comunitat (FSC) is an organization based in Catalonia that develops actions at a state level and has been actively participating in international initiatives and projects for years.
Coordinator of international projects and volunteering at the FSC - Health and Community Foundation and teaching collaborator at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC).
During 2024, the FSC served more than 33,000 direct beneficiaries in its main areas of social intervention: addictions, social and labor inclusion, gender and families, child protection and care for people in situations of great dependency. Many of these people present multiple risk factors or associated problems. Although it is complex to estimate this precisely due to the overlapping of situations (prison, social exclusion, drug addiction, mental health, etc.), it is estimated that at least 7,000 people served in 2024 were problem drug users.
In recent years, the FSC has promoted and participated, together with NGOs from other European countries, in several initiatives to address drug-related problems from an intersectional gender and age perspective.
One of the highlights is the BeTrAD project (2016–2019). It involved eight entities from Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic, as well as the General Sub-Directorate for Drug Dependence of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the FSC. It was one of the first European experiences in generating inter- and intra-state synergies to identify and address the specific needs of elderly or prematurely aged drug users, following the criteria of the European Drug Agency (40 years or more).
Along these lines, from the Area of Addictions, Gender and Family of the FSC, and in collaboration with the evaluation and research team of the Technical Management and Promotion of Projects, an experimental project of therapeutic care has been developed with the support of the Department of Social Rights and Inclusion of the Generalitat of Catalonia. The program, called PRESERVA, began its implementation in the Can Coll Therapeutic Community of the FSC during 2024, with the aim of detecting and intervening early in the creation of protective factors in elderly or advanced-age people in treatment. The results show significant improvements in quality of life, reduced anxiety and decreased impulsivity in the treated group, compared to the control group.
Finally, it should be noted that, to date, not enough sustainable efforts have been made to promote or provide specific treatments for the elderly with drug addiction, as indicated in the monograph published by the FSC in collaboration with the Government Delegation for the National Plan on Drugs and the University of Girona (PNSD, 2023). Likewise, the lack of specific studies that aim to analyze the effect of drugs on their health is noteworthy, so it is necessary to continue research in this specific area to improve intervention with elderly drug users.
Finally, it should be emphasized that among the strategic priorities of the FSC currently we find both the approach to addictions and aging and the improvement of the evaluation systems of our treatment and social intervention programs, an area that is still underdeveloped in the treatment of addictions. It is for this reason that from the FSC we are promoting an Initiative for the Management of Knowledge, Ethical Reflection and Evaluation (ICREA) in the field of Addictions, which brought together during the year 2024 professionals from intensive psychosocial centers (therapeutic communities, day centers, etc.), dedicated to drug addiction care.
Along these lines, at the FSC we aspire to continue promoting the exchange of knowledge and debate around good practices in the treatment of drug addiction, both within our organization and in collaboration with other organizations at a national level.
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