The Pan Cogito hotel: Łukasz Cichocki at TEDxKraków

Łukasz Cichocki talks about his work with the mentally ill and about the Pan Cogito hotel, whose employees are exclusively people suffering from mental disorders and which represents a revolutionary approach to combating an important health and social issue on many fronts simultaneously.

Welcome, everybody.

My name is Łukasz Cichocki,

and I will tell you something
about Pan Cogito Hotel,

which was mentioned just right now.

But before, I would like to tell [you]

about the way to Pan Cogito Hotel.

So, Pan Cogito is an element

of an integrated
community treatment program

for people suffering
from schizophrenia, in Cracow.

And this integrated community program

was supported by the spirit,

by the [ideas]
of Professor Antoni Kępiński.

I hope that some of you,
especially [people] from Cracow,

know this name.

This man was a Professor of Psychiatry.

He lived in the 20th century,
died in 1972.

And he taught
Cracow's psychiatry many things.

I would like to mention three of them

that are, I would say, the most crucial,
or most important things

in the [relationship]
between the psychiatrist and the patient.

The first [one] is respect.

Respect as, I would say, the basis,

and the thing without which
we can't help other people,

especially people with mental disorders,

with mental problems.

I was not sure whether to say
what I will say now,

but German Nazis were present
a couple of times

during today's sessions,

and I would like to mention them
once again.

Because disrespect for mentally ill people

sometimes leads to very horrible things.

In the German Nazi [era],

more or less 200 thousand
mentally ill people were exterminated,

just because of the fact
that they were mentally ill.

I know that it is, say, the most --

The biggest example of disrespect.

But this disrespect
is quite common also today.

And we as professionals,

but I think also we as people,

we should [point out] this disrespect

to our neighbors, our colleagues,
our friends, sometimes,

or our family [members].

Because, as I [said], without this respect

we can't be helpful,

and we can't be effective
in this relationship.

The second thing
that Prof. Kępiński taught us

that is very important,

is listening to these people.

There was a time in psychiatry,
quite a long time,

that psychiatrists or professionals
"knew better"

what was good for people
with mental disorders.

And let's say that this inequality

was also in this [aspect of]
"We know better,

and so we don't need to listen to them."

And we learned from Prof. Kępiński,

but we also learned it from our patients,

how important it is to listen to them.

To listen to what they say,

to pay attention to what they feel.

To listen to what they need from us.

Because it's not so --

Everybody needs something else,

something that is [unique to] this person.

Respect, listening,
and the third thing is supporting.

Because it's not enough
to respect and to listen.

These people are very often
in very big pain, very big suffering.

They are very often isolated,

socially isolated,
they are withdrawn emotionally.

And they need some kind of encouragement

to go out of this isolation,

to start to be with other people,
live with other people,

to cooperate with other people.

And this support has different aspects.

Because, of course, there is an aspect
of verbal support,

where we say some words
that are supportive for these people.

But it's sometimes not enough.

Sometimes, we need to create
some kind of social space

for these people.

Some social space that would be more safe,

or more nice than usual social spaces,

in order to help them
to make this step from this isolation

towards the outer world.

In these three things,

we use different tools,
or methods, to help these people.

One of them is, of course,
pharmacotherapy.

There are many situations

in which we can't help
these people effectively

without the help of the [medication].

But it is, in many cases, not enough.

Many of these people
have such a difficult life history,

such difficult events in their lives,

that they really need
different kinds of psychotherapy.

It could be individual,
group or family psychotherapy.

In order to make their lives
more understandable,

in order to share their problems,

in order to see that other people
understand them,

but also to see
that they can change their lives,

that they can cope better
with various kinds of stress,

or the various kinds of trauma
they encounter.

Another important aspect
we try to use in helping these people

is the social approach.

In many cases,

they need not only psychotherapy
or pharmacotherapy,

but they need a safe place to live in.

For example, a sheltered flat.

They sometimes need their free time
[to be organized].

So, I've often gone with my patients
to therapeutical camps

or therapeutical excursions.

They need other people
they can trust, or cooperate with,

to do different things in life together.

Some of these people need rehabilitation.

So, different methods
that will help them to --

Or --

to recreate some abilities
they had before,

in order that they come back to work,

or come back to [college] or to school.

But in many cases what they need
is help in finding [a job].

Or in coming back to work.

These people are in many areas
more vulnerable,

or [sensitive]
than it is usually [the case].

But without [a job] --

I think that many of you
have or will have jobs.

And work is one
of the most important things

in finding,
or in building a sense of life.

Or the sense that "I am a useful person."

That I can give other people

something that is valuable.

And therefore, we also try
to make the step between --

Or help these people to make the step

between their [current] situation

and [working] in the open market.

And this way,

or [with] this program,
we try to help them.

This program [is] "Treatment, Living
and Working in the Community."

I would say that the most --

visual, or the best example
of this program

is the Pan Cogito Hotel project.

Pan Cogito Hotel is a hotel,

in Dębniki, in Cracow.

Bałuckiego 6 -- street.

And this hotel is run

mostly by people
that survived a mental crisis,

or a mental disorder.

23 or 24 people with mental disorders
are working there.

And for many of them,

it is the best workplace
they've had in their lives.

It's a place [where] they don't need
to hide with their problems.

They don't need to --

let's say, to be afraid
that their problems --

will be mistreated,

or will be the cause
of some kind of mistreatment.

They can talk with other people
who are working there,

because they have similar experiences,
or similar problems.

And they trust or understand
these people better.

They work with people,

and they say that this work with people

is very important to them,

because they [get]

a lot of positive or warm feedback

from the guests of this hotel
or the restaurant.

And it is not only a workplace,

but it is also an educational place.

A place which many people
from all over Poland are coming to,

and observing that it is possible

[for] people with severe mental illnesses,

with severe mental disorders,

[to] cooperate and build
a project that is successful.

And these visits [are]
from all over Poland.

But also, [the fact that]
this idea is spreading

not only in Poland, but also in Europe,

is also a kind of example for people
from other cities, other places,

that they can create similar places.

Places that will be safe, nice,

and, I would say, good places to work in

and to, let's say, be together
with other people,

with other members of society,

Yeah, with other people, to be together.

And this aspect that --

These people start to feel
that they are not [different],

but they are similar

and they are together with other people.

It is, I think, one of the most important
effects of the therapy

we would like to achieve.

Thank you very much for your attention.

(Applause)