Slowly but surely, the Corona measures are becoming more flexible. The face to face conversations between Castle Craig patients and practitioners are also taking place again, albeit sparingly. High time to look back with Castle Craig Rotterdam team leader Nike on the past few weeks, when everything was suddenly different.
She is pleased that the new figures and measures allow her to receive patients who desperately need it again Castle Craig Rotterdam. 'The conversations via Zoom are better than via the telephone,' she says. 'But you still miss a lot. You do not get to know how someone really is. You only see someone's head and you don't get any body language, for example. In addition, it is much more tiring for both patient and carer. Because you have to be completely there with your attention all the time. Research shows that it makes no difference to the experience whether you have a real conversation with each other or via Zoom. But I am really happy that we are going to have face to face conversations again. '
When asked what she personally found most difficult in recent weeks, she says resolutely: 'The fact that I couldn't share anything with my colleagues. For example, if you have had a major conversation, you miss being able to walk in to a colleague to share it. You are very alone. And I'm sure patients have that too. The physical meetings have also been canceled for a while. You have to do recovery alone, but you still need support from each other. This can be nice for people with avoidant characters. They think: take some rest in the tent. But the more outspoken addicts in recovery really miss out on contact, especially if they don't have a partner or other loved one around them. '
Nike is visibly moved when she talks about people who fell back into use during this period. 'What I found difficult is that a lot of people fell back and there was nothing you could do about it. That there were people who really needed to go to the clinic in Scotland and could not and were angry about it. You can't do anything about it, but it still affects you, yet you also feel responsible. '
What made her happy was that the entire Castle Craig team put their shoulders to the wheel to make this Corona switch possible. 'We tried very hard to make it happen. It was an operation for me! Phones at home, computers at home, logistics, all very intense! Some employees were also really difficult in terms of space. They live small and you want to keep your private space or your bedroom to yourself. It really took blood, sweat and tears and then it feels good that it worked. And now slowly back to a situation that benefits the patients the most. Because no matter how you turn or turn it, it's all about them here. '