OUR SCHOOL – Caritas SOB – Institution of Higher Education in Social Care

The focus of our training lies on the support of people with learning difficulties, mental health problems and people with severe disabilities.
We have qualifications and practical experience in assisting them in their daily life, we have also learned how to support them to live in an independent way and get additional support from agencies, assurance, government and so on.
Therefore, our training includes aspects of social work, occupational therapy, nursing and - above all - special education and training.

The name of our diploma is Diplom-Sozialbetreuer. The term cannot be literally translated, but it means supporter, social care assistant and trainer of people with learning difficulties and mental health problems. The level of our diploma is equivalent to school leaving (A-Levels) examination. Students study three years to obtain the diploma.

About 40% (that are 1,800 hours) of all the training hours we spend in practical courses in different services and programs for people with learning difficulties, as well as people with mental health problems and people with severe disabilities (children, youths, adults and seniors).

In Austria our diploma prepares students best for any kind of work in day care and residential services: our graduates can also get employed as a ‘Sachwalter’ (a mixture of professional guardian, care manager trustee and advocate) or they get offered jobs in information and advice centres dealing with educational and training issues. We do not consider ourselves special therapists or teachers.

Our central issue is supporting, training and assisting people with various disabilities to help them to achieve a higher level of independence in coping with their daily life and occupation.