A passion and a workstation to start again
We are sharing the article published on the Spazi di Crescita website by Spazio Aperto Servizi.
F. is 18 years old and lives with his family in one of our social housing apartments. Until a year ago, he led a regular life: school, friends and interests, especially a passion for drawing and graphic design. Although he was a reserved and introverted young man, he had never shown any particular signs of distress.
Then, gradually, something changed. A sense of fatigue and disorientation began to make its way into his daily life. Absences from school, justified by headaches and exhaustion, became increasingly frequent. His afternoons out with friends also became rarer, until they almost disappeared. Little by little, the young man withdrew from school and social life, closing himself off in an increasingly evident form of isolation.
His mother, alarmed by this progressive withdrawal and by the emotional fragility that was beginning to emerge, decided to ask for help. On the advice of our team, she contacted a psychologist. At first, she was the one who began the dialogue with the professional, trying to understand how to support her son and how to gently bring him closer to a path of help.
Following the psychologist’s suggestion, and in order to unlock the situation, they decided to focus precisely on his passions, proposing that he enrol in a professional training course for hypermedia graphic operators at a specialised training centre. This path could help enhance his skills while also offering him a structured environment in which to gradually put himself back into play.
The decision to start from what he loved proved decisive: it rekindled F.’s interest and curiosity. Although with some hesitation, he agreed to enrol in the course, breaking the inertia of the previous months.
Enrolment alone, however, was not enough. The family did not have the financial means to purchase the necessary IT equipment: F. did not have a personal computer and could only use those made available by the school, with the risk of not being able to practise at home.
Without these materials, that opportunity risked remaining just an idea.
This is where our team stepped in, thanks to the Spazi di Crescita project. We supported the purchase of a computer, textbooks and essential furniture — a desk and chair — creating a suitable workstation for studying and practising at home.
This targeted intervention made it possible to remove a concrete barrier, making the pathway genuinely accessible and sustainable over time.
At the same time, F. agreed to begin an ongoing psychological support programme, to explore the reasons behind his withdrawal, the difficulties he had experienced and to gradually regain serenity.
The combination of training, psychological support and practical tools opened up new possibilities for him: an opportunity to come out of isolation, get involved again and develop skills that can be used in the world of work.
F.’s story shows how, sometimes, removing a concrete obstacle and carefully supporting the most delicate transitions is enough to reactivate energies and motivations that seemed to have faded.
This is the spirit with which we work through Spazi di Crescita: building tailor-made pathways together with people, capable of truly supporting their journey towards autonomy and confidence in the future.
Spazi di Crescita is a project by Spazio Aperto Servizi, carried out with the support of Fondazione Guido Venosta, to offer concrete opportunities for growth, autonomy and inclusion to people experiencing situations of fragility, including temporary fragility.
