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Information for loved ones
Whether you are a partner, family member or close friend of someone with mental illness or addiction, it is incredibly hard to see someone you care about suffer. In addition, it can have a huge impact on your own life. When your loved one stays at U-center, it may raise a lot of uncertainty and questions. You are faced with a lot and we pay attention to that as well.
Attention to you
First, catch your breath yourself. You have probably been considerably burdened by your loved one's problems. It is understandable if you feel gloomy, powerless or angry. Shame, lots of fretting and sleeping problems can also play a role. Also, take time for your own feelings and talk about them with a good friend, family doctor or psychologist if necessary. It is also nice for your loved one to know that you are taking good care of yourself. The problems that led to admission to U-center will have left their mark on the relationship between you and your loved ones: a lot has happened beforehand and it has affected both you and your loved ones.
Your role during treatment
As a loved one, you may play an important role in treatment. You have probably already been involved in the preliminary process and in motivating you to take action. You know the person in question well and play an important role in their life. We like to involve you as much as possible in the treatment: to get information from you and give it to you, to have joint conversations etc. Due to privacy laws, we always need the client's permission for this. For the same reason, we will also share all conversations we have with you with our client. Transparency within mutual relationships is a prerequisite for good treatment.
It is important to us that you too are well informed about the diagnosis and treatment. We may also give you advice on how to deal with your partner, friend or family member. We give you the opportunity to tell us what you need in this situation and are happy to think along with you.
Research shows that the risk of relapse decreases drastically when the client has an involved and stable network when returning home and normal life. So it is important to be involved in the treatment and the changes it brings.
Treatment Program
Your loved one follows a highly intensive program within U-center that aims to reduce the problem in a short period of time. All program components focus on discovery, becoming aware and learning. Your loved one is confronted with him/herself, his/her behavior and possibly with situations from the past. This requires an enormous effort from your loved one, and understanding from the immediate environment.
Typically, U-center's program takes seven- or nine weeks. Prior to admission, the client has a careful online advisory consultation. During this call, we discuss treatment, expectations and together set goals the client wants to achieve. This conversation is conducted by the practitioner alone with the client. Usely, right after the consultation the client is told whether he or she can definitively enter treatment and when the first day of admission will be. In some cases the advisory consultation will not lead to admission.
The approach we use during admission consists of an integrated and holistic model of therapies, interventions, group sessions, exercise, skills training and lifestyle modification. The client neighbor is part of a group with which fixed activities take place. It is an open group: every week someone joins and someone goes home. The group helps and supports each other and provides opportunities to practice new behaviors. The last week is devoted to the upcoming departure.
What can you expect from our treatment? After treatment, it is not that your loved one is completely symptom-free and that everything is "over. The goal is that the client has learned a lot about himself, has new insights, has learned new skills and will practice at home with this toolkit. This will involve trial and error. Similar to how we learned to ride a bike. Nothing is as difficult as changing your behavior. Our experience is that progress still occurs up to a year after treatment.
Contact and visit
On weekends, from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, there is time for relaxation and you are welcome as a loved one. If you wish, you and your loved one can always have a conversation with one of the sociotherapists present. To keep the peace a little we ask you to come with no more than three people. If you arrive earlier, we ask you to wait nearby in a restaurant or hotel until lunch is finished.
Staying overnight nearby
If desired, you can spend the night in one of the nearby hotels. These can be found within walking distance, but of course it is also possible to opt for a night in Maastricht. You have to arrange the overnight stay yourself, it is not possible to sleep in your loved one's room.
Children of all ages are welcome during the visitation days Saturday and Sunday. Some toys are provided and, of course, children may bring their own.
Other contacts
The stay at U-center is entirely devoted to treatment. This means that other contacts between you and your loved one must take place outside therapy times so as not to disrupt the program. A good night's sleep and day structure is important. Given the intensive program, we always advise our clients to get enough rest and go to bed on time. The TV and WIFI are automatically turned off at 11 p.m. for this reason.
Building together
recovery
Your loved one back home
The date of departure has enormous significance for our clients and sometimes evokes conflicting feelings. On the one hand someone is happy to go home again, on the other hand uncertainty about the world outside U-center plays a major role. With a future development plan (TOP) a lot of attention has already been paid to the homecoming, in which has been examined which difficult situations the client may encounter and how these can best be tackled. It is important that you as a loved one are also well informed about this plan.
A very important period begins in which the road to improvement must be continued. The client is going to apply what he or she has learned in practice and your role in this should not be underestimated. Try to ensure that the client returns to a stable environment where certain triggers (e.g. alcohol) are out of the way as much as possible. You can compare it to getting a driver's license. Passing does not automatically mean he or she is fully competent. This grows through daily application. It means there is still a lot to learn and discuss.
Outpatient care
After spending seven or nine weeks at U-center’s residential centre in Epen, you are ready to go home and continue your treatment as an outpatient. We know from experience that the period after leaving our residential centre can be difficult. More than likely, your home situation has not changed much and you need to start applying your newly acquired behaviour and use the tools you have been given at U-center. Your outpatient therapist can provide support and guidance at this time.
House Rules
We hope for your cooperation and that you understand and respect the following house rules: entirely aimed at ensuring a pleasant, healthy and safe treatment climate within U-center.
- You will understand that visitors are not allowed to bring alcohol or drugs to U-center. This also applies to candy and other food items that contain "hidden" alcohol, such as certain chocolates. We also assume that, as a visitor, you will make sure that you yourself are not under the influence.
- U-center stands for health and has a discouragement policy against smoking. Therefore, smoking is not allowed at U-center. Not in the treatment center, but also not on the balconies and terraces.
- Smartphones, tablets and laptops may not be used in the public areas of U-center.
Privacy
All information provided by the client within the treatment is subject to the privacy law (WBP) and medical confidentiality (WGBO). Information is only provided to third parties after the client has given written consent. Information from the file may therefore never simply be passed on to family, partner, employer or friends. The client always has the right to whom and what parts of the file are shared.
Similarly, when you, for example, pass on information about your loved one to U-center's therapists, this is always shared with your loved one. After all, openness and trust are necessary conditions for good treatment. A discussion without your loved one's presence is only possible with his or her written consent. However, we prefer to discuss such information or other important matters with you in an interview. Would you like a conversation with one of the therapists? Then always let this request go through the client to avoid misunderstandings.