...addiction?

De Hoop's Christian view is especially expressed in its view on addiction and professional care. De Hoop's view on the addict results from its Christian view on mankind. Man is God's unique creature. An addict is someone who has become stranded in almost every area of life: physically, psychologically, socially and spiritually.

For many addicts, it eventually all comes down to the question of meaning: why do I live? Who am I? You can only answer these questions from a religious point of view. The addict is someone trapped in a certain way of life and he does not see a way out. He has fallen to sin and is not living but surviving; he is someone who is mentally, emotionally and behaviourally stuck. He is someone who should stop running away and someone who needs help in order to be able to break with his addiction.

All forms of care and treatment of addiction, including the Christian care, evolve around responsibility. The problems of addiction are very specific and complex. You need a very powerful instrument in order to be able to break the addict's patterns. There are two ways of doing that:

• Offering behavioural therapy

• Providing meaning

In itself, this is not a specifically Christian aspect of treatment. It indicates the core motivation of someone to change things in his life. An addict should get a clear view of (a meaningful) life. In the area of Christian social care and treatment of addiction, a large amount of inspiration and the strength of the profession is, therefore, a strong combination. Addicts need an environment and an atmosphere where people show a credible identity and an environment where they feel like they are being accepted.

The clients' view

According to the clients, De Hoop is characterised by the unconditional acceptance, the individual counseling, the faith, love and patience of the employees, the employees' humanity and involvement, the real interest in and respect for the person and the fact that the concepts of guilt and forgiveness are taken seriously. De Hoop's Christian identity is expressed in its integral view of reality which helps an addict to gain insight in all aspects of his life. He will know that he is being accepted and begins to realise that he could lead a different life and that there is forgiveness. He will know that he could return to society in a healthy way if he takes responsibility for his actions and choices.

The employees

All employees at De Hoop believe their Christian faith to be the motivation for their work.
They consider Christian professional care to be primarily dependent on the love of God and inspiration by the Holy Spirit and not on social care methods and techniques in themselves. The ideology of an institution determines which methods and techniques will be used by that particular institution. Clients do not have to be or become Christian before they can be admitted to De Hoop. However, clients are expected to respect the others' ideology.