Natalia Zachartzi graduated from the University of Lincolnshire & Humberside Hull Campus in 2004 receiving her BA(Hons) in Social Work. While in England she worked for Organisations such as Cornerhouse Yorkshire, SureStart & HomeStart Hull, Ravenswood etc. Since 2008 she is the Scientific Director of the Centers for the Prevention of Addictions and the Promotion of Psychosocial Health SEIRIOS (Municipality of Thessaloniki). In 2020 she received her MSc in Criminal Law and Addictions from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Her thesis focused on "Prisoners' experiences in the autonomous Therapeutic Community of KETHEA PROMITHEAS and in the day care Therapeutic Community of KETHEA EN DRASI" highlighting the importance of the provision of therapy instead of imprisonment for the addicted drug users. As of 2020 she is a member of the Board for ISSUP GREECE. During the past years she has organised /or participated in many conferences such as the 1st European Conference on Prevention (2018), the 17th EFTC Conference (2019), the Co-funded Health Programme of the EU Tob-g (2016) and the 10th Pan-Hellenic Conference of Public Health (2014). She is a certified INEP+ trainer and a certified trainer on the “Building competencies for the Social Work workforce in Europe and Central Asia” program. Since 2021 she is implementing training programs for the Greek National School of Judges and she is teaching as an invited professional at the Criminal Law and Addictions Postgraduate Program of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Social Inclusion Postgraduate Program of the Democritus University of Thrace. She speaks English, French, Spanish and can communicated using the sign language.
Abstract
Prisoners' experiences in the autonomous Therapeutic Community of KETHEA PROMITHEAS and in the day care Therapeutic Community of KETHEA EN DRASI
This research aims to capture, the experiences of the TC members in regards to how they experience the therapeutic community within the prison (difficulties they encounter, changes they have experienced, motives) so to establish whether a 24h TC or a day care Programme is more effective for their treatment and rehabilitation.
The research sample consisted of 35 members of the therapeutic communities KETHEA PROMITHEAS and KETHEA EN DRASEI that operate within the federal prison of Diavata (Thessaloniki) and the federal prison of Koridalos (Athens) respectively.
The data was collected via semi structured interviews and for the analysis the Interpretive Phenomenological Theory (IPA) was used.
The findings that emerged during the analysis of the data show changes in attitudes, perceptions, behaviours towards drug use and criminal behaviour of the participants. The usefulness of therapeutic communities is identified both as a means of treating addiction and as a means of reducing and / or eliminating the risk of criminal relapse. It also appears that the 24h TC is more effective than the day care programme for the members involved.