What's included in the third stage of the client journey, and typically, how long does it last?
So after an initial assessment process, which is quite laborious and demanding on our clients, their actual treatment starts, and our treatment is quite intense, so clients have between five and eight individual sessions every day. They have several layers of professionals working with them, so they have their immediate team: the living counsellor and the chef. They have their leads, their lead psychiatrist, their lead psychotherapist, lead BIO-R doctor, lead medical doctor, the client experience manager, the ones that oversee the whole treatment process - myself as head of programmes, I'm always keeping an eye and making sure that nothing from the initial plans and goals for the client is overlooked. And around 30 professionals are working with each client from different points of view. So the lead psychiatrist would manage the psychological interventions in their team. The Biomolecular Restoration doctor would manage the complementary therapies, and the medical team would make sure that the client is investigated and assessed from a medical point of view, and will involve any of the other partners from outside of our practice for super-specialised assessments. There is quite a comprehensive and complex structure around the client that would carry the client through this treatment process. Our treatment follows what we like to call a 360-degree approach. This means that the client's problematic diagnosis presentation goals are presented and addressed from all points of view from somatic, psychological and spiritual. We look into their family system, into their social integration, career aspirations, risks, challenges, resources, strengths that the client might have. And we are moving with the client through this healing and recovery journey, trying to achieve the client's goals while also enhancing their lifestyle, giving them tips on how to improve their coping strategies, how to improve elements in their daily structure, and also, very importantly, helping them create a vision for the future, something that our clients sometimes, after decades of being sick or dysfunctional, find very hard to do.
Do clients participate in specific leisure activities or other elements during treatment?
So, our treatment is very intense and very complex, and it sounds like it might be something that some clients find hard to cope with. That's why we are trying to carefully balance the intensity of the medical interventions and psychotherapeutic work with moments of joy and relaxation. Just as any other aspect of our programme, the leisure activities and personal development, outdoor activities are also carefully tailored to our clients' needs, fitness level, preferences and wishes. There is also an opportunity of introducing the client to new hobbies and activities that they haven't done before. Recovery is not only about physical and emotional healing; it's about rebuilding your life, creating a strong foundation for your future, and adding bits and pieces that you didn't have in your previous life that would help you remain sane, healthy, and happy.
How does The Kusnacht Practice support patients in returning to normal life after treatment?
After a very complex and intense treatment, our clients eventually approach the discharge day. This is quite anxiety-producing because it means returning back to an environment where you are not as sheltered by the team and by the environment that we're trying to create in the villa. Our clients go back to their real lives, and this is quite a difficult moment, and we are trying to prepare them, as well as we can. Discharge is something that's carefully planned from all points of view. Our clients go home with resources to cope with all the stresses. They go home with a carefully planned Continued Care Support Plan that stretches over at least the first 12 months. We are especially careful with what we call the transition period, so the first two weeks of immediate discharge, they are planned and prepared by the medical, BIO-R® and psychiatric team with the most important elements that the client would need to make a successful recovery. The discharge day is also a bit of a celebration because the first step in the client's treatment with us has ended, and it opens the door for new challenges and possibilities, but also great opportunities for our clients to implement and make some changes in their real lives back home, after learning so much about themselves and creating a new vision of what they could be.
