A look behind doors where you normally don’t just come in. That was possible today during the open day TBS Netherlands. The forensic psychiatric clinic (FPK) of GGZ Drenthe on the Dennenweg in Assen also participates in that open day.
“We have the responsibility to be visible,” says Christian Feij to the question why they are participating. FEIJ is a clinical psychologist and treatment policy manager within the FPK. “We have received a challenging task from society. That is why we want people from outside to know what is happening here. Sometimes there is negative image about TBS people. That is why we can now show what our patients should do before they return to society.”
In the forensic psychiatric clinic of GGZ Drenthe, patients from the age of 18 who have committed criminal offenses such as arson, aggression or sex offenses from complicated psychiatric problems. It concerns people with complex problems in several areas.
A maximum of 130 people can stay at the location in Assen, spread over 6 departments.
The people who are admitted to the FPK receive mental health care in a highly secured environment, so that they can eventually return safely to society. Within the forensic facilities there are four security levels, of which level 4 is the heaviest. The location in Assen is at security level 3. “That means that our patients have a low freedom of movement. They can’t just get outside the fences of the site,” Feij explains. “All treatments also take place within these walls.”
Each department has a living room, kitchen and patio. “There are 12 patients in each department. They all have their own room with toilet, they share the bathroom. The doors of their room are not locked, but they have to stay in their room in the evening.”
The living rooms are spacious and have a large kitchen. There are also all kinds of spaces where treatments take place. Feij shows the space of labor therapy. There the people can work out wood and metal. “This is a place where people learn work skills. We expect them to be here on time and we learn to work together and to follow instructions.”
They are skills that are normal for many people, but for people who are in the FPK are sometimes a challenge. “Don’t forget that many of our patients have had a lot to choose in their lives. As a result, they have not been able to learn everything that is very normal for us. An important skill that they learn here is to deal with your own emotions. We try to help people with that.”
But how do they ensure that the people sitting there can ultimately return safely to society at the FPK in Assen?
“We simulate a minimum company here,” Christian Feij explains. “People stay here for a longer period of time and are close together. In this way, just like in normal life, all kinds of different sides of a patient come up. So also risky behavior or offenses.”
A treatment plan is drawn up based on those findings. “Think of medication, conversations with a psychologist, visual therapy and guidance to train certain skills,” says Feij. “How fast that goes differs per person. In general, the patients we see here are already a long way within two years. But there are also people who have been staying here for ten years.”
The ultimate goal is to work in steps on the return to society. “That is accompanied by building more and more freedom. We are doing that in steps and we keep a close eye on.”
As soon as the patients enter the FPK, they do not yet have the option to go through the clinic alone; That is only allowed under supervision. “If we find it responsible, they can walk through the clinic after a few weeks without supervision.” Only after months or in some cases only after years, and after a careful assessment of risks, can someone get out of the walls of the clinic under supervision. “Often that is a walk on the GGZ site,” explains Feij. “If that goes well, we will expand it to a visit to a supermarket and then a walk, always under supervision, through the center of Assen. And so we expand the liberties.”
The vast majority of patients go back into society. “Often with aftercare, individual support or in a housing setting with guidance,” says Feij.
Curious about what things look like in the forensic psychological clinic in Assen? RTV Drenthe already took a look there last Friday: