As of: February 1, 2024, 9:03 p.m
By: Theresa Kuchler
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Working with your own hands, for example on a sewing machine, is a form of therapy.
In the new Marienheim building there are three workshops for the residents.
© Hans-Helmut Herold
A good three months ago, 57 residents of the Peitinger Marienheim moved into the new building that the AWO built on Bühlach.
Everyday life in the social therapy facility is now busy.
Peiting – Pop music is playing on the radio, the sewing machine rattles quietly away.
The four women sitting in one of the work rooms of the new Marienheim building in Peiting are engrossed in their textile work when Jörg Reiprich opens the door.
The head of the social therapy facility leads through the large building that the AWO ceremoniously opened in the summer and first stops at the work rooms.
A type of therapy takes place in the bright rooms in the basement: the Marienheim residents practice concentration, patience and skill.
Some residents sit there all morning and work on their projects made of fabric and wood, make jewelry, sort stamps or make the stove lighters, which are also sold at the farmers' market in Peiting.
Others only manage to concentrate for a while.
“It’s very individual,” says Reiprich.
You can't and don't want to force anyone there to do anything.
Marienheim in Peiting sees itself as a “protective facility”
The Marienheim sees itself as a “protective facility”: The clients, as the residents there are called, should be encouraged and supported in their daily lives, but not overwhelmed.
Often a balancing act.
57 people with mental illnesses currently live behind the new walls of the facility.
They have an everyday life between freedom and setting boundaries, protected from the dangers of life outside - and always from the effects of their own illness.
Many clients suffer from schizophrenia, says Reiprich.
Others have addictions, some even both.
Jörg Reiprich heads the AWO's social therapeutic facility.
For him, the new building is a win.
© Hans-Helmut Herold
In the new building, the Marienheim can now also accommodate groups of people that the facility previously had to turn away.
For example, sick people with a higher suicidality or people with a greater tendency to run away.
The building is now designed for these people so that they can be accommodated, says Reiprich.
After all, prison-like confinement was never an option.
In total, the new building offers space for 66 people - just like the previous building in the center of Peiting.
All seats in the new building will soon be full, says Reiprich.
But you need more staff for this: The new service agreement that the Marienheim has entered into requires a total of around 70 employees for 66 clients “in order to implement quality”.
There are currently 60 people working at the facility.
This number includes the entire team, not just the employees in the residential groups, as the facility manager explains.
The move was quick: rooms were occupied within two and a half hours
Thanks to good preparations, the move took place quickly.
The residents only had to take their hand luggage with them when they went into the new building on October 14th, and all rooms were occupied within two and a half hours.
Most of them have apparently already settled in well.
According to Reiprich, only one client had problems with the new environment in the first week and initially seemed a bit disoriented.
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Overall, however, the facility manager has noticed significant improvements.
“The nights have been much quieter since the move because the clients are calmer,” says Reiprich.
Especially because there is more privacy in the new building.
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In the old house, the residents sometimes had to share their rooms in pairs, but now everyone has their own area with a bedroom and bathroom.
The single rooms are divided into residential groups that function like shared apartments.
There are communal kitchens and living rooms, space for exchange and retreat.
The living groups that already existed in the old house could be reduced in size.
Instead of three, there are now six.
While living groups 1 and 2 can enter the inner courtyard but cannot leave their living groups independently, the other four living groups have more freedom.
“Clients live there who have more ability to negotiate and control because they have already been able to sustainably stabilize themselves psychologically,” explains Jörg Reiprich.
The terrace-like arbor courtyard is available to you 24 hours a day, and you are also allowed to leave the premises when you “exit”.
For example, to go shopping.
The local newspapers in the Weilheim-Schongau district are represented on Instagram under “merkur_wm_sog”.