Step Together Association, previously known as FiSTA-Beirut is a non-profit organization for children and adults with special needs. Started in 1974 as a kindergarten, it developed into a diagnostic center to become a decreed NGO in 1993. Step Together is today an internationally recognized center for Therapeutic Education and is part of the International Council of Curative Education.
Step Together Association is located by the riverside of Mansourieh Al Daishounieh, a mere 15 minutes drive from downtown Beirut, a venue that lies amidst a peaceful environmentally protected area, surrounded by trees, mountains, and water. It is in this serene setting that we choose to cater to our students, up to 200 individuals of different needs of all ages.
Our mission aims to improve each of our students’ quality of life through love, acceptance, and individualized instruction and therapy. Our educational methods, inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy of holistic curative education, are designed to enhance physical and mental capabilities, including social and communication skills, thus empowering them to participate in their local communities. Our work also involves monitoring the health of our special needs while extending emotional and psychological support to their families, helping them to strengthen their bonding with their children. Step Together Association strives to create an effective environment, be it creative or practical, that can favor our children to contribute to society on an equal footing with human rights as everybody else.
Step Together community is a place of hope, where every member learns to love and to give. Our mission is to maintain a relationship of respect and acceptance towards all human beings. It is also about inspiring integrity and awakening moral and social responsibility. Step Together’s special identity is evident in the natural environment, its eco-friendly buildings, the chosen colors and elements in the different classes. In education, our mission is to impart purpose and direction into the lives of our students with special needs so that they can become active citizens who can contribute to the larger society in their unique way.
Our work involves monitoring our students’ health and physical conditions, and further extending the emotional and psychological support to their families. In this respect, we interface directly with the parents through regular engagements providing them with the necessary help and guidance on how to communicate with their children.
Our multi-disciplinary team believes education can change lives and generations in the future. The team’s main task is to bring knowledge into life and to develop human values based on the study of the human being. Our therapists, parents, and craft tutors are encouraged to develop the right attitude and to continuously reflect on their tasks. Working with students with special needs allows them to experience the joy of serving, where they learn to listen and receive and observe how the students think or feel and how willing they are. They seek development through kindness while working with clarity, detail, insight, and care and allowing everyone in our community to develop freely.
Step Together Association offers a comprehensive along with a holistic approach to education, care, and therapy for around 200 special needs with learning difficulties, intellectual disabilities, and different levels of autism ranging in ages between 3 to 60 years old. With a strong view to achieving our goals, we have partnered with Ruskin mill trust this partnership will allocate more research in the Arab world through the exchange of teachers and students.
Step Together Association strives to create a beneficial environment, be it creative and practical, that can empower its students and enable them to join and contribute to societies on an equal footing with humankind.
