First the Netherlands showed us a brilliant way to provide care for those with severe dementia while still maintaining dignity and their sense of a normal life, and now a town in Belgium has paved the way for community psychiatric care, a notion most cities and countries have probably never even considered before.
In a small town called Geel, psychiatric care is not provided through medical professionals and psychiatric institutions, rather it is provided by warm-hearted families who take psychiatric patients into their homes. Through a sense of community and family, through love, and a sense of acceptance, respect and self-worth, this unique program seems to work, as patients appear happy and are well cared for. There is a lot to learn from Geel about supporting patients with psychiatric diagnoses (you can find out more by checking out the article and video below), but for starters we should consider just how well a place that has no labels (which means less stigma) and which emphasizes a sense of normalcy and everyday life experiences has the power to heal, as well as improve and enrich the lives of these individuals.
"Psychiatric Community Care: Belgian Town Sets Gold Standard" by Karin Wells (CBC)
In a small town called Geel, psychiatric care is not provided through medical professionals and psychiatric institutions, rather it is provided by warm-hearted families who take psychiatric patients into their homes. Through a sense of community and family, through love, and a sense of acceptance, respect and self-worth, this unique program seems to work, as patients appear happy and are well cared for. There is a lot to learn from Geel about supporting patients with psychiatric diagnoses (you can find out more by checking out the article and video below), but for starters we should consider just how well a place that has no labels (which means less stigma) and which emphasizes a sense of normalcy and everyday life experiences has the power to heal, as well as improve and enrich the lives of these individuals.
"Psychiatric Community Care: Belgian Town Sets Gold Standard" by Karin Wells (CBC)
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