About the Helios Center

The Helios Center was founded in 1995 in St Petersburg as a special (correctional) education institution for orphan children and children without parental support. This center was aimed at accommodation and social rehabilitation of 35 children at the of 4 to 18. That time there were many economic changes which increased the problems of street children. These problems were more than obvious and were the subjects of wide discussion socially.

The Helios Center was an attempt to answer the new situation of that time. Small in its size, the center was organized as a family type opened to contacts with local population.

The center was developing as an innovative institute. It followed not only traditional type of such bodies, but it also tried to find new ways and means to create a system of children social protection and rehabilitation.

During 1995-2002 “Helios” was developing into multy-purpose, flexible institute including in its structure an orphan house, a halfway house (for children above 16 years old), a family club, a psychological counseling department etc.

Further, in association with reduction in financing, the innovative institute was adjusted to standard status and the organization of children help approach was significantly changed. So that earlier, we organized the process of social rehabilitation by creating and simulating rehabilitation environment, then nowadays the orphan home is just a multi-purpose institute, where the process of social adaptation and correction goes in a more complicated way.

However, during all these years the developing and educational work with children has been based on diagnostic and correction of charity-children without parents support and creation of pedagogical background providing social correction and adaptation.