Youth Day Hospital, Inpatient Unit Planned for New Putscheid Therapeutic Centre

Luxembourg's Ministry of Health and the Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Centre (Centre Hospitalier Neuro-Psychiatrique - CHNP) have confirmed that additional outpatient and inpatient facilities are planned for the recently opened Putscheid Therapeutic Centre (Centre Thérapeutique Putscheid).

On Wednesday 4 August 2021, Luxembourg's Minister of Health, Paulette Lenert, visited the new therapeutic centre, housed in an old farm in Putscheid that has been redeveloped to offer therapeutic care to young people aged 12 to 18 with psychiatric disorders.

“With the Putscheid Therapeutic Centre, the Rehaklinik in Ettelbruck is enriching its offer in juvenile psychiatry that it has been developing since 2006 at the request of the Ministry of Health, in order to take care of adolescents presenting a danger to themselves or to others", explained Minister Paulette Lenert.

The closed unit for adolescents was created at the Rehaklinik in 2006 and has since expanded its outpatient offers not only in psychiatric care, but also in outpatient therapeutic and medical care. With its opening on 1 October 2020, the Putscheid Therapeutic Centre has expanded this offer with an open hospitalisation service. A day hospital for adolescents and an inpatient unit for juvenile delinquents suffering from psychiatric disorders are also planned.

“Our experience shows that young people who represent a danger to themselves or to others have often already been exposed to very trying situations in their life and have difficulty regulating their emotions", emphasised Dr Thomas Karst, medical coordinator of the juvenile psychiatry sector of the Rehaklinik and medical director of the new therapeutic centre.

Minister Paulette Lenert added: “In peace in Putscheid, adolescents find a warm and protected atmosphere which stabilises them and promotes the development of a balanced personality". To do this, the multidisciplinary team relies on pedagogical and therapeutic methods specialising in trauma and applies, among other things, therapeutic approaches aimed at regulating emotions.

“Our work is based on a systemic understanding of the situation of each adolescent. Thus, we include in our daily activities the reference persons and the usual living environment of the young people", continued Dr Karst. “Together with them, we prepare their reintegration into the tasks of life appropriate to their age, ie. family / home, school / vocational training, social relations, etc.".

All young people admitted first follow courses in the centre's internal school. After an orientation phase and depending on their needs, the young people can continue their education in an external school.

"The Therapeutic Centre was created thanks to good collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the municipality of Putscheid", noted Dr Michel Nathan, chairman of the CHNP board of directors. “Both the municipal officials and the population themselves have supported the project with great sympathy and benevolence".

At present, the centre can take care of eight adolescents. At maximum capacity, scheduled for the start of the school year, sixteen boys and girls aged 12 to 18 can be taken care of. When a stay is intended not only for the short-term resolution of a mental health crisis, but also for the inpatient therapeutic treatment of a psychiatric disorder, the length of stay may range from four to twelve months. In exceptional cases, adolescents can also be supervised for up to eighteen months in this new structure. So far, nine treatments have been carried out successfully.

The staff currently consists of several psychiatric nurses, a nursing 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, other collaborators will strengthen the team.