The Prelomi Institute is a non-governmental and non-profit organisation founded in 2010 upon the initiative of Dr. Alenka Hebar. Alenka Hebar
came to the field of social welfare after studying andragogy, systemic family therapy, working in the field of education of older people and
after volunteering in prison. As a result of this various experience, she started developing educational programmes for adults belonging to the
socially deprivileged groups.
Financial literacy is part of functional literacy, which was the Institute's initial research area. Observing their own practice and studying various
sources, the finding of the Institute was that in Slovenia, debt advice was insufficient, dispersed, poorly known and poorly accessible, while the
level of indebtedness of individuals and households was growing rapidly. Thus, the social protection programme S.O.S. Debts, which had yet to
be developed, has slowly become the core social protection programme of the Prelomi Institute. The programme of integrated assistance,
advice and counselling grew out of an analysis of the needs of the indebted, the expectations and capacities of creditors, and above all the
situations and stories of individuals and their families.
Since 2016, in cooperation with the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana, the Institute has been admitting a limited number of andragogy students into
its practical training programme in the field of debt advice and counselling.
Since its very beginning in 2010, the Institute has been expanding the range of external experts and institutions with which it cooperates, as
indebtedness is a complex phenomenon requiring a broad perspective and in-depth individual treatment.
In 2023, the Institute became the Slovenian reference organisation for debt advice and debt counselling. It is being used as a reference
organisation by the European Consumer Debt Network (ECDN) to spread and promote adult financial literacy as well as debt advice and
counselling.
By 2023, the Institute helped more than 2,000 individuals and families to come out of debt, set themselves on a path of change and rebuild a
decent and fulfilling life.
