‘We can always make contact with patients, safely’

The Van der Hoeven Kliniek is a clinic for forensic psychiatry. The patients are prisoners, often with complex psychiatric issues. In the Van der Hoeven Kliniek, they learn how to 'live in a responsible way – to be safe for themselves and others’.

The Van der Hoeven Kliniek operates at a high security level (Level 3) and since January 2022, has a Cowin 48 in one of their de-escalation rooms . Based on the successful experiences with this system, a second CoWin 48 was recently installed.

The care team sees the CoWin as a valuable expansion of their 'toolbox' that they can use to help their patients. During an evaluation of the deployment of the CoWin 48 media wall, the following positive experiences were shared:

• Simple, intuitive in use
• It's nice to be able to offer something that the patients really need, like music or images, for example
• It's good to be able to tailor the selection to a patient's individual needs
• Early de-escalation and diversion result in fewer incidents and violent incidents
• It's nice to be able to have safe contact with patients whose behaviour is out of control
• It's helpful to be able to increase stimuli gradually

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Floris Bots, team leader at the Van der Hoeven Kliniek: ‘What we appreciate is the simplicity of the system. It's easy to use. CoWin also fulfils a concrete need in patients. As a care team, we're therefore able to offer something as an interim measure to patients who are high-energy with a risk of using violence. Often, a bit of television or radio in the de-escalation room offers just enough relaxation to get them prepared for their own room. But we also see that there are patients who experience an awful lot of stress in a low-stimulus environment such as a de-escalation room. The fact that there is some entertainment for those patients has a calming effect on them. We're currently experimenting with all the options and learning from the system every day. There is however just one thing missing: the possibility of playing a game with a patient - so we hope you'll put that high on your development list.'

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