Elien Neimeijer

83 “ My brother died last year suddenly, at the age of 22. That was a tensed situation for me (...) sociotherapists took really good care of me (...) Those days after his death I was not feeling well and constantly sad. And then the sociotherapists said: We are not going to stay here for lunch …. Then we made a sandwich together, we cycled to the camping and had lunch there with the two of us” (Emily). Instead of planning a meeting at the unit or a conversation with Emily’s psychologist about her grieving process, her sociotherapist chooses to picnic with her at a campsite near the clinic. They reminisce about her brother and talk about the loss. At that mo- ment she was approached primarily as ‘a human being’ instead of as a client. At the same time, the sociotherapist must remain alert to signals that indicate a potential dangerous situation for Emily and/or her environment. In day-to-day interactions, sociotherapists should navigate between the role of fellow human beings who interact with the client in a cooperative, equal and dignified manner and offer a human existence within the clinic and between the role of professional who approaches the client using their clinical ex- pertise and skills. Discussion This study established an in-depth account of the experiences of twelve individuals with MID-BIF about their group climate in a secure forensic setting. In the interviews about the four domains of group climate (i.e., repression, support, growth and atmosphere), five overarching dimensions appeared: 1) autonomy, 2) uniformity, 3) recognition, 4) competence, and 5) dignity. Depending on the person and the (treatment) context in which he or she resides, the five dimensions relate to a greater or lesser extent to all four factors of the group climate instrument (see figure 1). For example, the dimension of competence was connected to experiences related to the domain of growth, while the themes of autonomy, dignity and uniformity were strongly linked to experiences related to the domain of repression. In the interviews, the dimensions follow each other at a rapid pace and reinforce each other, as can be seen in the following quote: “ If someone calls you a mission impossible, that might be a joke, but it gives me a bad feeling (...) I recently made a very nice soapstone turtle. That turtle has become