Vocational Training Groups
Our vocational training groups include participants that focus on the following individual actions:
The acquisition of the basic psychosocial skills that are essential for the beneficiaries’ ability to provide labour autonomously and for their social integration in general.
More specifically, care recipients get to improve their social and professional skills by developing certain work habits, such as punctuality, proper professional behaviour, decent appearance, personal hygiene and being considerate about the workplace’s common areas. Vocational training groups take place in excellently equipped areas, in order to provide the learners with therapeutic, educative and social enrichment. The main purpose is their proper social integration, while taking into account each recipient’s needs, skills and knacks.
The orderly implementation of techniques that aim at the acquisition, preservation and enrichment of the recipients’ academic knowledge, through their attendance of certain learning modules.
Technical education is supported by adapted programs and high quality logistical infrastructure, through the assistance of our highly qualified personnel. During their training sessions, beneficiaries learn to process orders and provide their services to public or private enterprises, while their participation in our foundation’s fundraisers is strongly encouraged.
The specializations offered are:
Recycling
Bookbinding
Secretarial Support
Product Processing
Canteen Work
Ceramics
Gardening
Cooking and Pastry
Silkscreen Printing
Carpentry
Laundry Service
Sewing
Building Maintenance
Typography and Lithography
Standardized Work
Weaving
Digital Media
3D Printing
Recycling
The aim of the workshop is to raise awareness among young people, their families and the community on environmental protection, by recycling materials such as paper, aluminum, plastic caps, batteries and electrical appliances and promoting them to appropriate disposal sites for this waste.
Bookbinding
The beneficiaries in the binding workshop are trained in making notebooks, note pads, diaries, photo albums, etc. and in binding leather-bound and binder books by processing orders from individuals and organisations.
Secretarial Support
Beneficiaries are trained to learn how to use the secretarial support machines and computers so that they can meet the needs/skills of the clerk’s assistant.
Product Processing
Beneficiaries are trained in the process of managing different types of materials and products, which includes the phases of inventorying the needs, procurement, storage and distribution of the necessary items for the operation of the educational departments and services.
Canteen Work
The program of the workshop includes the daily training of the beneficiaries in the distribution of the products that are prepared in the Culinary-Pastry workshop, in the preparation of beverages, in the processing of orders, in money and time management and finally in the organization / cleanliness of the area.
Ceramics
Ceramic creations and their decoration develop and promote beneficiaries skills, increase their concentration and organise their personality.
Gardening
The aim of the garden workshop is to train in the handling and use of tools and machinery necessary for garden work. Participation in green maintenance and land cultivation activities helps in general to develop the trainees’ abilities and skills in order for them to be employed in an auxiliary capacity in gardening and agricultural work.
Cooking and Pastry
Beneficiaries are trained in the preparation of sweet and savoury dishes which are supplied to the canteen of the Foundation and sometimes serve the nutritional needs of all trainees.
They also undertake catering for various events and handle orders from external partners such as, Benaki Museum, COSMOTE, HSBC etc.
Silkscreen Printing
Training in the process of manual screen printing on different surfaces and materials (paper, wood, plastic, fabric), producing useful and / or decorative products with a lot of imagination and artistic mood.
Carpentry
The training of beneficiaries in this particular workshop is achieved through the production of wooden objects – commissioned by external partners – and the creation or repair of the institution’s wooden equipment.
Laundry Service
The training in the activities of the laboratory includes the management procedures (sorting, washing, drying, ironing, distribution) of the various types of clothing, of the Foundation and of external partners.
Sewing
The training in this workshop initially focuses on serving the personal needs of beneficiaries, such as sewing buttons or hems, and progresses to the creation of simple and complex constructions (cushions, cushions, pillows, sofas, etc.).
Building Maintenance
The vocational training and work placement of beneficiaries involves damage prevention and building maintenance tasks in order to acquire the relevant work and social skills as maintenance assistants.
Typography and Lithography
The training focuses on learning how to print forms of various kinds (receipt pads, invoices, invitations, etc.) that on the one hand meet the needs of Theotokos Foundation and on the other hand result from collaborations with the community.
Standardized Work
In the context of learning standardized repetitive work skills, the workshop manufactures contemporary and original decorations and gifts, such as charms and candles, wood carved objects, business gifts, jewelry made of natural materials, semi-precious stones as well as handmade wedding and baptism gifts. There is also the possibility of assembly and standardization of specific items.
Weaving
The team of the weaving workshop produces handmade traditional weavings of various kinds. The variety of products, colours and materials enable the young people of the workshop to create while practicing their practical skills on the looms.
Digital Media
The Digital Media workshop designs and in collaboration with the Lithography – Printing Laboratory prints informative/advertising forms, corporate identities (envelopes, letterheads, business and personal cards), receipt pads, invoices and all kinds of other forms. It also undertakes the original design and printing of posters with dimensions up to 35×50, festive and seasonal cards, wedding and baptism invitations with images that come either from digital compositions or paintings of the beneficiaries of Theotokos Foundation, or selected by the interested parties / clients themselves.
3D Printing
3D Printing engages the beneficiaries of the Digital Media Workshop in order to gain knowledge about this innovative printing method. The aim of the course is to develop the skills necessary to operate the corresponding 3D design programs (3D modeling, 3D sculpturing, 3D scanning). Through these programs they will be able to extend their creative expression in the 3D environment, and to implement a variety of tasks through 3D printing.
In collaboration with other workshops of the Foundation (e.g. ceramics, carpentry, bookbinding, weaving, printing, etc.), it is possible to implement a variety of projects that require the use of the materials and knowledge of the respective laboratories. The ultimate goal is to produce products for sale in a bazaar, in a future e-shop of the institution and potentially in online shops and platforms.