How to choose a recovery home (Halfway House for people with mental illness)

Every disease has a process of recovery, but no disease is like a mental disease, which affects such extensive and non-linear improvement. In my social work helping others, there is a resource map of mental patients that has a profound impact on me. Every time I meet a sick individual or family, I think about and locate where the individual is currently, and discuss with them where they hope to go next:

In the process of recovery, it is not easy for family members and clients to be familiar with each of these resources or services. Even when making choices, inappropriate choices are often made due to lack of information, resulting in illness. Therefore, from the perspective of popular science education, this series of articles hopes to provide non-professionals or workers in the non-mental health field with a sufficient reminder to help patients make appropriate decisions in the face of mental illness. choice, and for the first article in this series, we begin with a recovery home.

Rehabilitation homes in Taiwan belong to the full-time care of mental rehabilitation institutions, that is, patients can live in rehabilitation homes and enjoy related rehabilitation activities at the same time. Provide a good living experience and individual rehabilitation advice, so sometimes it will form another kind of social exclusion

Therefore, based on the above reasons, I hereby provide a few reference aspects, so that individual cases and families who need to live in a rehabilitation home can choose a relatively equal position when choosing to live in a rehabilitation home:

1. Hardware equipment: first enter the rehabilitation home, the first to feel a clean, tidy and odor-free environment, at the same time, you can also observe the cleanliness and safety of the living room, room and bathroom equipment of the rehabilitation home, whether they have basic Although the general design is still a distant luxury in the current rehabilitation home, as the residents grow older and the need for long-term care gradually emerges, this is bound to be a problem that needs to be solved.

In addition, you can also ask if you live in a location after moving in, and some will need to climb stairs or sleep on the upper bunk, which needs to be taken into account. In addition, the location of the rehabilitation home is located in the urban area, or in the middle of the mountain. The choice of external environment has advantages and disadvantages. It is recommended to respect the preferences of patients.

In the part of hardware equipment, it is suggested that you can use the standard of renting or buying a house to see if you need to live in such an environment, whether you will feel comfortable, and if you are not satisfied, you can look at a few more rooms to compare with each other.

2. Arrangement of rehabilitation activities: In a good rehabilitation home, the overall space and the activities of the residents are purposeful. It is not a simple collective action or locking up the patient. Therefore, you can ask about rehabilitation here. The person in charge of the home or the specialist, what is the weekly schedule of the rehabilitation home? How many people work outside? How to encourage patients to go out and work? Are there social workers, psychologists, and occupational therapists who regularly lead therapeutic activities? To what extent does the patient live independently or participate in public discussions?

In the process of actually visiting the rehabilitation home, observing the living style of other residents, we can clearly see whether everyone lives with a purpose or is just placed in an institution (some institutions will not be responsible for saying that this It is training the independence and autonomy of the individual cases, and it is recommended to further inquire about the specific training plan). Just as important as stable therapy.

3. Business attitude of professionals: Most of the visits are conducted by the person in charge to assist in the introduction or evaluation. However, there is a blind spot in this process, that is, the person in charge is usually not the person responsible for the main care. It is the special management staff in the house, so it is also necessary to observe the care strategies and attitudes of other staff members, so as to know clearly what kind of services will be received after living here in the future.

Human interaction is very detailed and complex, but it is often an important factor in whether a patient is willing to live, so a more careful assessment is required.

4. Opinions of the patient/recovery person: if possible, be sure to arrange the actual visit of the patient, be sure to arrange the actual visit of the patient, be sure to arrange the actual visit of the patient, because the actual living is the patient himself, the quality of the rehabilitation home It is also very uneven, so it is necessary to actually look at the on-site environment and at the same time allow patients to have the power to make decisions. This has a very important impact on the adaptation of subsequent admissions.

5. Discussion on living expenses : The subsidy of health insurance for living in a rehabilitation home is 508 yuan/day. Therefore, the expenses that the case or family members need to pay are usually food expenses. The expenses in Greater Taipei area are agreed between 9000-12000 per month. This part usually has the flexibility of discussion. It is recommended that you can compare more and choose the plan that is most beneficial to you.

6. Choice of food: The rehabilitation home usually prepares three meals, some of which are cooked by the residents, some are cooked by the residents themselves, and some are mixed. For readers, it is quite important, so this section also suggests that you can ask questions when choosing, and include them in the reference of subsequent selections.

The above six reminders are the information that I will share with the cases and their families in the process of practical work, but there are actually many details in this process. I also suggest that all cases and their families in need can consult the social worker of the hospital or other Relevant professionals, full discussion is a very important process.

Remarks: There is currently a community living home program for the mentally handicapped in Taiwan ( https://dosw.gov.taipei/cp.aspx?n=23469EF4A4D96C8A&s=E2F14F8BC4D3C0D2&ccms_cs=1) , which is a more humane and friendly living environment. In the future, there can be more and more choices, and when the environment becomes more and more friendly, patients will truly have the opportunity to take responsibility for their own lives.