The family counsellor is there especially for you. She supports family members and loved ones of clients who are being treated by Arkin. Do you have questions or problems as a loved one that you cannot solve with the therapist? The family counsellor is there for you.
When to ask for support?
You can contact the family counsellor with questions about the care for your partner, child, parent, brother, sister or friend. Or if you don't know where to go, have a complaint or have problems contacting the practitioner. Maybe you just can't get hold of the right person. In all these situations, you can ask for support from a family counsellor.
What can a family counsellor do for you?
The family counsellor provides information, thinks along with you, gives advice, can mediate between you and the care provider and, if necessary, help with a complaints procedure. This means that a family confidant:
- together with you list the bottlenecks in healthcare and possible solutions for them;
- provides information about where care can be obtained, how the care works and what the formal and informal role of relatives is in this;
- gives advice on how you as a family or friend can contribute to the patient's recovery and to the continuity of care;
- supports in contact with care providers and practitioners;
- mediates if you do not agree with the treatment;
- support in submitting a complaint.
No referral needed
As a relative, you can go directly to a family counsellor directly and without a referral letter from the GP. You do not need permission from your loved one or from the treatment department. The support of the family counsellor is free of charge.
Confidential and independent
The family confidential adviser will turn your question, complaint or problem into a file. In it, he or she only includes the personal data that is necessary to handle your question. No one is allowed to see this file except the family counsellor and yourself. Not even the practitioners. The family confidential counsellor is employed by a separate foundation and works independently.
Arkin's family confidant
Arkin's family confidant is Kathelijne Groffen. As a family confidant of the National Foundation for Family Confidants, she is affiliated with Arkin.
"It makes a lot of difference whether loved ones tell their story to their own network or to me as a family confidant. I understand loved ones on a different level and can also really mean something in, for example, contact with social services. They notice that it is easier to communicate with the social services when I am there or when I help them in the preparation."
