The centre, a refurbished farmhouse in an idyllic setting in Putscheid, offers therapeutic care to young people aged 12 to 18 with psychiatric disorders.
With the Putscheid therapy centre, the Rehaklinik in Ettelbruck is expanding the range of juvenile psychiatric services that have been offered since 2006. This was requested by the Ministry of Health to care for adolescents who pose a danger to themselves or others.
The closed adolescent unit was established at the Rehaklinik in 2006 and has since expanded its services to include not only psychiatric care but also therapeutic and medical care. With its opening on 1 October 2020, the therapy centre in Putscheid expanded this offer with an open inpatient ward. A day hospital for adolescents and an inpatient unit for juvenile offenders with psychiatric disorders are also planned.
Dr. Thomas Karst, the medical coordinator of the Rehaklinik's juvenile psychiatry department and medical manager of the new therapy centre, emphasises that young people who pose a danger to themselves or others are often already exposed to highly stressful situations in their lives and have difficulty regulating their emotions.
Putscheid therefore offers the adolescents a warm and protected environment that stabilises them and encourages the development of a balanced personality. To achieve this, the team uses specialised educational and therapeutic methods for trauma, and applies therapeutic approaches aimed at regulating emotions.
Dr. Karst bases his work on a systemic understanding of each patient's situation, which means that the adolescent's referees and usual living environment are included in their daily activities. With their cooperation, the staff and adolescents alike prepare the reintegration into age-appropriate life tasks, such as family and home, school or vocational training, as well as social relationships.
All admitted young people first attend the centre's internal school. After an orientation phase, it is also possible, depending on the needs of the young people, to continue their education in an external school.
The therapeutic centre was created thanks to good cooperation with the Ministry of Health and the municipality of Putscheid, emphasises Dr Michel Nathan, chairman of the board of the CHNP. Both the municipal authorities and the population itself supported the project with great sympathy and goodwill. With its sober but modern architecture and the preservation of an old farm building, the new structure fits perfectly into the village landscape, he states.
At present, the centre can accommodate eight teenagers. At maximum capacity, planned for the start of the school year, 16 girls and boys aged 12 to 18 will be able to be cared for. If a stay is intended not only for the short-term resolution of a psychological crisis, but also for the inpatient therapeutic treatment of a psychiatric disorder, a stay of four to twelve months has proven to be appropriate. In exceptional cases, however, adolescents can also be treated for up to 18 months in this new facility. So far, nine treatments have been successfully completed.
Staff consists of several psychiatric nurses, a care assistant, an occupational therapist, a sports therapist, two psychologists, a social worker, a teacher, a general practitioner and a doctor specialising in child and juvenile psychiatry. In the coming months, the team will be reinforced by more experts.
