Social Welfare Foundation for Helmond and environs (SMO)

History

SMO was created in 1995 by the merger of the crisis shelter Het Doorgangshuis and the shelter for homeless persons, Huize d'n Herd. In the years that followed, SMO developed into an organisation with a complete range of services for people at the lower end of society. SMO set up, for example, overnight accommodation facilities for drug addicts, work placement for social activation, sheltered housing and refuges for women.
For more information on the facilities, check Services.

Aid Federation

SMO is a member of the Aid Federation, the Dutch umbrella organisation for social welfare and women's aid. Approximately 100 organisations in the Netherlands are members of the Federation
( www.opvang.nl ).

Growth

SMO has applied a number of principles in its growth:

To ease the burden on the support facilities, efforts were concentrated on developing facilities for prevention and recovery. If people can be prevented from losing their own home and becoming homeless, they will not need to make use of the support (prevention). The aim is also increasingly to help people progress from the shelters to accommodation with home living support (recovery).
With each new facility, cooperation has been sought with a partner, such as youth welfare, addiction aid, reintegration companies, housing associations, mental health care organisations and social services.
In recent years, SMO also actively approached the region surrounding Helmond (the Peel region) to create facilities to relieve the pressure on the town of Helmond. This has resulted in home living support in Deurne, Asten, Gemert -Bakel, Laarbeek and Someren.

AWBZ (Exceptional Medical Expenses Compensation Act) care

In 2004, SMO requested and received recognition as a provider of AWBZ care. This means that SMO can support people diagnosed as in need of AWBZ care. SMO provides household help, personal care, supportive aid and activating support.

Management and board of directors

SMO has a management model with a Supervisory Board, a Board of Directors and a management team.

Supervisory Board

The responsibility of the Supervisory Board is to supervise the policies of the Board of Directors and the general running of the foundation.
The Supervisory Board consists of the following persons:

chairman

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors ensures that the activities of the foundation are organised administratively, legally, organisationally and financially and can be justified. Mr J. Feuerriegel forms the Board of Directors.
E-mail: j.feuerriegel@smo-helmond.nl

Management team

The foundation has one manager, Mr. B. Hendriks.
E-mail: b.hendriks@smo-helmond.nl

Clients Committee

The Clients Committee consists of members who are clients of SMO, or were so in the past. The Committee protects your interests and acts as a kind of loudspeaker. For instance, the Committee can amplify signals about poor quality of provided care. The Committee will bring these signals to the attention of the appropriate persons within SMO. The Committee has advisory rights on policies concerning the care provided by SMO.
E-mail: clientenraad@smo-helmond.nl

Complaint Committee

The SMO staff members try to help you to the best of their abilities. Still, something can occur that dissatisfies you. In that case you can file a complaint. First try to discuss your complaint with the staff member involved or with his or her superior. Many complaints stem from misunderstandings that can be cleared by discussing them. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of this discussion, you can file a written complaint with the Complaint Committee. The Complaint Committee consists of independent members who are not employed by SMO. When the Committee receives your complaint, they will evaluate the complaint. Then the Director of SMO will let you know if the complaint was found justified and, if so, which steps will be taken.

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