Crafting Supported Living in Greece

Author: Loukia Chaidemenika 

The Parents’ Association for the Supported Living of persons with intellectual disabilities, “Petagma” was founded in 2002, by a team of concerned parents of persons with disabilities, who were anxious about their children’s future and what would become of them once the parents were no longer around. As we progressed, “Petagma” grew into an innovative housing service for people with intellectual disabilities. 

As is defined in Article 19 of the United Nations Convention for the Rights of disabled people, which our country has signed, these individuals should live in houses with a small number of housemates and be included in the community. By implementing contemporary practices, in direct opposition to the out of date logic of institutionalization, our service supports the rights of people with disabilities to live with dignity as equal citizens. 

Today we are running three Supported living Homes in Vrilissia, Attica where eight people with intellectual disabilities live permanently.

Our tenants are receiving 24 hour support from support workers staff, in order to develop their personal and social skills through an enriched and creative daily life, adapted to their needs and desires. At the same time we offer our services to other people with disabilities, who participate in programmes such as outings, holidays and short term respite care. The aim is to prepare them for their future inclusion in one of our supported living homes. The families and immediate circle of the persons we support benefit from the Association's activities. Parents and siblings are included and there are continuous programmes on awareness, counselling and training, offered by specialized professional staff. 

PETAGMA currently employs 12 members of staff (administrative staff, social workers, special educators, psychologists, support staff etc) and has 10 active volunteers.

PETAGMA's achievements:

• We have undertaken over 20 years of field work. 
• With the support of international (i.e. PLAN Canada, LivesThroughFriends UK) and national advocacy networks (Panhellenic Federation of Societies of Parents and Guardians of People with Disabilities) we have piloted, developed and created sustainable gold standard services for the supported living of people with intellectual disabilities in Greece. 
• We are grounded in strong values with a focus on advocacy which is found in the structure of the organization as being a shared-entrepreneurial project of families as leaders. 
• We have great expertise in the design and application of individualized services (i.e. Individual Plan & Good Life Planning Methodology) and the creation and development of social support circles around each individual (i.e. Natural and Individualized Social Support Circles methodology).
• We deliver training to families, allies and professionals and runs advocacy projects with people with intellectual disabilities through participatory workshops and mixed-media methodologies (i.e. new media approaches/Literacy Through Photography, community art projects).

Petagma Bros: A Siblings' Group for People with Disabilities

Petagma Bros is a community group created by and for the siblings of people with intellectual disabilities who live in the Association's Supported Living Homes. Its name carries a double meaning: "Bros," referring to brothers and sisters, and the Greek word embros ("forward"), symbolizing a step toward the future.

The group began in 2020 and grew organically over time through shared activities with our siblings: Sunday outings and picnics, gatherings around the table, music, and conversations that often lasted late into the evening. Through these meetings, we gradually opened up to one another. We began talking about things that had been on our minds for years but had always been squeezed into hurried conversations during family celebrations: our concerns, our parents' fears as well as our own, and our relationships with our siblings.

The group has been supported by two psychologists who embraced it as a new community. Betty Mantadaki has been involved since the group's conception and formation, while Loukia Chaidemenaki, the Association's Scientific Manage/Psychologist, serves as the vital link connecting siblings with disabilities, their parents, and the association. 

Petagama Bros is a:

• Space for mutual support and community, where every brother and sister can share experiences that only someone who has grown up alongside a person with a disability can truly understand.
• Network for action, bringing people together through shared initiatives and new ideas.
• Bridge to the future, as our parents grow older, we as siblings gradually reflect on taking on a more active role in the lives of our brothers and sisters and in the work of the Association.

Discover more at: https://petagma.gr/en/

The publisher is Citizen Network. Crafting Supported Living in Greece © Loukia Chaidemenika 2026.