Gust, you graduated from our department not very long ago, and yet you already seem to have found your way in your young career. Can you briefly tell us what you do?
After graduating, I started working for Re-Track, a Ghentian social company that provides people who need psychological help with support and guidance. The first two years, I worked as an operator, and for the past three years, I’ve been a personal assistant. Every day, we receive automatic calls from people who struggle with psychological problems through the Mobile Health Monitoring. It is our job to address these problems.
What types of problems are these exactly, and how do you deal with them?
Most of these problems are related to the spirit of the times we live in. Automation has taken over many jobs and because of robotics, we no longer have to worry about domestic tasks, either. This feels very liberating for many people, but we have also noticed that for a minority, especially single people over 50, it results in a sense of losing their self-esteem. It is my job to provide these people with guidance in their search for a purpose in life.
Is it correct that in doing so, you often serve as a ‘guide’ to other Ghentian initiatives?
That is correct, I really like pointing these out. For example, I often refer people with creative minds to one of the digital arts and culture exchange sites. And I regularly motivate people with a naturally inquisitive attitude to take short but intensive training courses. Although these training courses can also be taken from home, I always recommend that they attend live sessions in the Ghentian KnowLab to promote their social contact. On the other hand, I often encourage people with a sense of commitment to submit a project proposal to the GDDP (Ghentian Democratic Digital Platform, Ed.) and look for sufficient support for their proposal. Such initiatives allow these people to look for their own values and self-esteem and once again reap satisfaction from what they do. It is great to see them flourish like that.
