The police at our doorstep.

Last week we spoke with someone who was not doing very well. He had “discharged” himself from the clinic, because “they weren’t doing anything there” and “I don’t have any problems anyway.” He had walked out and was definitely not going back. When we asked what problems they said he had, he told us they had said he had an aggression problem.

And that made him angry. VERY angry. Aggressively angry.

  • “If I smash the windows here right now, will the police come too?”
  • “I’m never going back, because then I’ll beat them all up”
  • “No, I don’t need medication, because I’m fine”
  • “How strong are you actually?”

As you can probably tell… the problems he thinks he doesn’t have… are definitely there. And quite seriously too. He just doesn’t see them. When we asked if the clinic knew he wasn’t coming back, his answer was: “No, I’m definitely not calling them.” And then our game number 1 begins.

Get a cup of coffee somewhere, sit down calmly, talk very sloooooowly, use a calm voice, create distraction, position yourself between him and “the angry world.” And in this case, quite literally. Because his remarks toward other passersby were seriously aggressive as well. So you stand between him and “the rest of the world.” He only sees you; the rest temporarily disappears. He can no longer react to it, and that brings a bit more calm. Take it easy.

At some point, we managed to get him to call the clinic himself, and over the phone they managed to arrange an appointment for him to return and check in at time x.

However, before we approached him, he had already seriously “stepped on a few toes,” and those people had already called the police.

And then the game begins, part 2.

He was calm now. But when the police suddenly “show up at the doorstep,” there is a huge risk that that hard-earned calm will disappear instantly. That things will escalate again—or even much, much worse.

(the photo is fake, of course we don’t take pictures of clients in moments like these)

So now it becomes an art to explain to the police that things are calm now, explain what’s going on, that we’ve already spoken to the clinic, and that we’re working on motivating him to return there. Yes, the police could also “bring” him, but that would create even more unrest in his mind.

In the end, we managed to calm everyone down again. The police also called the clinic, exchanged information, and we were able to get the man back on the tram to the clinic, in (relative) calm.

Just one moment in one day in our lives.

He is doing a bit better now, he is calmer and still receiving treatment.