Then
Four ARQ employees have their say
Four ARQ employees have their say
Jannetta Bos
“For almost 12 years I worked as a therapist at ARQ, especially for the care programmes ‘Refugees and asylum seekers with psychotrauma’ and ‘Traumatic grief’. Besides being a psychotherapist, I am also a sexologist at NVVS, The Dutch Scientific Society for Sexology.
The work at ARQ Centrum’45 is tough, but there has always been a good working atmosphere. This makes you more resilient to everything you hear. People do such terrible things to each other. Peer support is essential to the well-being of the care provider as well as to the therapeutic relationship. The patient needs to feel your humanity if he or she wants to dare to trust again.”
“We are now striving to shorten the duration of treatments, without compromising quality. Treatment is more intensive than before to help people through a process of traumatic grief or severe PTSD more quickly. For example, I remember a woman who had been through a lot, including sexual trauma. She had to give birth and that would probably trigger her trauma. Thanks to the intensive treatment, she was better prepared.
Addiction is no longer a contraindication for treatment at ARQ. Studies have shown that – in cooperation with addiction care – it is possible. People with PTSD often use alcohol and/or drugs to self-medicate.
ARQ Academy initially ran with one person. Now it is a whole department with a wide range of courses in the field of psychotrauma. There are also English-language courses. All with professional support.”
“The human dimension has remained, and that is wonderful. Even though the mental health services in the Netherlands are under great pressure, ARQ has remained a caring environment for patients.
The involvement with the patients is also unchanged. They aren’t interchangeable people here.
There is still a tireless search for improvement in the treatments. ARQ is not afraid of innovation.”
Payroll administration employee
At the end of November 1980 I joined ARQ Centrum’45. The first 30 years were at ARQ Centrum’45 in Oegstgeest and the last 12 years have been at ARQ in Diemen. In the early 1980s, there was only the Stichting Centrum’45 organisation in Oegstgeest and about 40 employees. Due to the small-scale set-up, you knew all the clients by name, you often bumped into them in the hallway and had time for a chat. That is no longer imaginable.
Over the years, ARQ has grown into an organisation with 400 employees, and unfortunately you no longer know all your colleagues personally by name. Nowadays you work more together as a team, for the greater good, whereas in the past you worked more individually.
Receptionist/phone operator
I have been working at ARQ since 2010. As a receptionist/phone operator, you are the first point of contact for incoming calls and visitors. However, as one former director once put it, ‘for many people it is a big step to register with ARQ Centrum’45’. We therefore provide an accessible, friendly reception. We want people to feel welcome.
In my years at ARQ, I have seen the organisation grow and flourish, always responsive and in line with what’s happening in society. The common denominator is always a humane, compassionate approach to psychological distress. Over the years, I have experienced many touching, heart-warming moments with colleagues and patients. Moments when we could come together in our humanity in a smile, a kind word or gesture.
Visual therapist
“I have been working at ARQ for 27 years. A lot has changed in that time. In the past, treatment revolved around the first generation of war victims. Later there were other target groups, such as refugees.
Those different types of affected people are now also in mixed groups, something that didn’t happen before. In the past, there was a strict separation between the day clinic and the outpatient clinic. Today, that relationship is more fluid. In the past, treatment only involved the patient. Nowadays, the family is also more involved in the treatment.”