Yes we can youth clinics

Treatment started at Yes We Can Youth Clinics on Wednesday 16th August and for the first time English speaking fellows will be able to attend this centre specifically designed for adolescents suffering from addictions and behavioural disorders.

The world renowned treatment centre has a multi-disciplinary team, all of whom speak English. Their counsellors are experts by experience which allows fellows to relate and connect to them in a unique way.

Addiction Counsellor David Ketteridge is part of the team and has been working for Yes We Can Clinics since 2015 and has been in recovery himself since 2006. His problems began at school when he became more interested in the pleasures of food, sports, money and sex than learning. At 16, David began using alcohol and drugs and his life began to disintegrate. After the death of his father when he was 20 he fell heavily into addiction and by the age of 28 he attempted to take his own life with a cocktail of sleeping pills and alcohol. Luckily he survived and not long after David joined a recovery programme and began to understand that he was an addict and his addiction was a disease, but that there was a solution. He is now a very highly regarded counsellor at Yes We Can Clinics which he joined in 2015. David’s grandfather originates from North London and moved to Belgium during World War II.

Yes We Can Youth Clinics specialises in treating young people (13-25 years old) with complex behavioural disorders, addictions and related behavioural problems. Founded by Jan Willem Poot, who also struggled with his own problems between the ages of 12-27. At a young age, he started smoking marijuana and gambling. At 18, he progressed to using cocaine and he knew his life was becoming out of control when he was using cocaine and vodka to get through each day. Between the ages of 19 and 27 he spent almost eight and a half years in and out of treatment programmes. Based on his own experiences and the best-practices of other clinics, Poot started Yes We Can Youth Clinics together with a team of healthcare professionals. He has worked with troubled youths and their families for more than a decade now.

The international clinic is housed in a renovated and especially converted 14th century castle set in 17 acres on the Groenedael estate. With 24 beds for young men and women, Yes We Can Youth Clinics offers an intensive ten-week English speaking treatment programme. Seven days a week, fellows (clients) follow a structured schedule starting at 6.30am until to lights-out at 11pm; receive 40 hours of intensive one-on-one therapy, 200 hours of group therapy, 270 hours of (sports) activities and 100 hours of education. There is no access to internet, phones, tablets, TV or any other device that can distract youngsters from recovery. Half-way through the programme at 5 weeks, family members are requested to attend a 5-day family programme designed to motivate parents and carers to take responsibility for their changed role and to commit to a permanent recovery programme for both themselves and the fellow. The organisation also offers comprehensive residential secondary and tertiary aftercare.

For more information please visit www.yeswecanclinics.com.