Family Support Centre Labirynt

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Operating since 2021, the Center is the first facility that comprehensively supports families with neurodiverse children in Tricity. Labirynt offers therapy and psychological support for children from migrant and refugee families, mainly from Eastern Europe. The major group of beneficiaries are children with disabilities, in particular on the autism spectrum. The center is run by intercultural staff – people from Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and Poland.

The Centre also focuses on the social integration of migrant families, that includes classes providing an opportunity to get to know children and adults from Poland, as well as to get familiar with Polish culture. Labirynt is also an open and safe space for job seekers.

The Center cooperates with the Psychological and Pedagogical Counselling Centre – with specialists, including speech therapists speaking Ukrainian and Russian. They also cooperate with UNICEF and the City of Gdańsk.

The idea

The Centre was established in response to needs of people with migration experience. Being a migrant herself, has shown the initiator of the project the difficulties of starting a new life in a foreign country. Working with children in various kindergartens was an inspiration to create a safe place for people with migration experience.

At the beginning, the Centre operated as a place of psychological assistance and integration space. Over time, the founder noticed the lack of available, comprehensive support for children with developmental difficulties and began implementing assistance activities for children with various disabilities, and their parents.

How do they benefit from BU Programme?

As a part of the Programme, the Centre receives legal and institutional support. In addition, we provide the institution with additional tests that will facilitate professional assessment and diagnosis of children. Thanks to this, the Centre will become one of a very few institutions in Poland that will diagnose autism spectrum of children in Russian and Ukrainian languages.