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For the youth under our care this is the best possible preparation to enter adult life. Specialists focus on the aspects that help them find and keep a satisfying job, build and strengthen good relations with other people, and simply - arrange their lives - says Wojciech Woźny, who has been the director of the Chełmno Children's Home for 18 years. For the past six months the children and tutors at the Children's Home have been taking part in the "Recipe for Success" programme, developed and implemented by the Erbud "Common Challenges" Foundation named after Eryk Grzeszczak.

The epidemic has slightly thwarted our plans, but we have already managed to do a lot together under the project. What elements of the project are, in your opinion, the most valuable - for the children under your care and personnel of the Children’s Home?

Wojciech Woźny: The best barometer of the programme quality are the responses of children under our care. Young people do not appreciate, to use their terminology, rubbish. They will trust and open up only to a specialist who has knowledge, authority; who genuinely wants to listen to them and help.

And I have no doubt that under this project we are lucky to work with the best of the bunch. Our kids cooperate very well, they look forward to the project activities, they gradually open up to the specialists. By all means they mess up during project classes - you can't fool the age - but afterwards they praise classes and look forward to the next meetings.

The classes are also attended by the tutors…

This is an invaluable value of this project. Personnel at children’s homes such as ours are a special group of professionals: struggling every day with very tough challenges, and at the same time showing exceptional empathy and completely devoted to children. Such a combination is a simple way to rapid professional burnout. That is why training on how to deal with permanent stress, emotions and effective communication with children is so important for us.

Can you describe a typical day with „The Recipe for Success” at children’s home?

Each day is unusual. The only constant element is the final meeting, which take place every three weeks. It is the final day of training, long waited by our young people – crowned with pizza.

On a more serious note: what we really like about working with the Erbud Foundation is that the people involved in the program on the Foundation's side never come to us with "ready-made" solutions. They react in an empathetic and flexible manner, adjusting the course of the training or individual sessions with our mentees to the specific needs of each participant.

Has anything in the project come to you as a surprise?

We all know how important it is to have a fresh perspective taking a step back. But it is only when a good, committed specialist from the outside appears and suggests what could be improved that we see new opportunities, perspectives and solutions. Our joint project with the Erbud Foundation only confirms the power and importance of this external voice.

We have many such surprises, our eyes are opening. Good things are revealed, such as hidden talents or predispositions of our mentees, but also bitter experiences - when third party specialists dig deeply and identify hidden problems or experiences from the past, which we were not able to notice.

Our 15 oldest mentees participate in the project. What do you think they will get out of it?

The project prepares in the best possible way our youth for adult life. Specialists are able to find the key to our mentees, teach how to strengthen perseverance, build proper motivation, help to define their goals and life priorities.

Is it obvious? Only apparently. Although we try very hard, our mentees do not have an equal entry into adult life, they do not have the same opportunities as their peers to train their daily social skills. For them an option to pay for ice cream with „cash on a nail” is already a holiday and a distinction...

Watching the project progress, but also based on the stories of the youth staying at children's homes - what three "panacea" should be included under the title "Recipe for Success"? What do young people from facilities such as yours need most?

Strengthening motivation, perseverance and awareness that I am somebody. Not a kid from a children’s home, but Kasia, Tomek - and I will cope myself in life. And this project perfectly plays this role.

Do you have any tips for us and other foundations that want to help youth to enter into adult life?

The most important thing is to listen attentively to each other. Do not think using preconceived ideas, do not impose solutions, which objectively are great, but may not fit to the specific needs of participants. And our cooperation with the Erbud Foundation is a model example here. We are authentic partners who care about each other on a daily basis. We are not linked only by the meetings held every three weeks, but by dozens of phone calls, when we simply ask for advice or help.

We are full of admiration for the efficiency and decision-making power of the Erbud Foundation - all it takes is a signal that we have a problem and the Foundation, like McGyver, finds somebody or something for us, not matter what. We only had time to say that our kids could use a sandpit - and after 2 days they could already play in it. Even now, in the hard days of the pandemic, Erbud is supporting us by providing us with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). I would like to encourage the Erbud Foundation to write a handbook titled “How to Help Wisely” - its employees are real experts in this field.