INDEPENDENTLY

"It only takes something to happen or I shoot into stress," says Paul. "Fortunately, this kind of training helps me a lot." Paul is one of the participants of Op Eigen Kracht, a De Regenboog training where people get more overview of their money matters and more peace in their lives.

Paul was really looking forward to the training today, even though it was bad weather and slippery on the road. He prefers not to skip the course, he comes early. The course always peps him up, he says. Dressed in a cheery yellow sweater, he says when asked if he's had any laughs this past week. "Yeah sure, just this morning. I always take my phone with me to the bathroom so I can watch YouTube. This morning at 7:30 I laughed really hard at Richard Groenendijk." Tjitske Kooistra, who teaches the course, rounds up. Fatiha* has not laughed in the past week. "Not a smile moment either?" polls Tjitske. "No." "No grinning moment either?" A soft "no" is just audible.

Heavy depression

Zohra comes in. She is from Arkin and is giving a guest lesson today on dealing with stress. Paul immediately sits up straight. "I'm constantly under stress. My shoulders are completely jammed." He tells about his divorce, how he enjoyed going to work, but was rejected due to circumstances and afterwards, felled by severe depression, didn't get out of bed for six years. Only for his mother did he go out the door. "My mother is in a wheelchair. I have been a caregiver for seventeen years. For a year now she has been in a nursing home, but I still feel the tension. All in all, I lived under stress for twenty years." Now Paul does feel better about himself. He does volunteer work at Clubhouse Noord and at the meetings of Op Eigen Kracht he can tell his story. "I feel safe here. No one looks weird when you tell something and no one judges." Paul has come a long way and sees some light again. "To be honest, I had had it a little bit with people. But now I feel heard again."

Low threshold

The Op Eigen Kracht-training is given in our Huis van de Wijk in Amsterdam-Noord: De Meeuw, and is open to everyone. Fatiha says she was scrolling on her phone at night. "It was on a Friday. I was looking for a workout that could help me get out of the house and signed up. This could just be done on my phone and I was able to go on Monday!" There was no paperwork involved, just a call from De Regenboog. "Fatiha could indeed go straight away," says Tjitske. "Very nice, we have no waiting lists. Spread the word!"

We have confidence

It's already Fatiha's fifth meeting. "I can speak my mind here. And you get useful tips. Today I learned that you can master stress by paying attention to your breathing and that you shouldn't react to people from anger." A robbery at her work caused Fatiha a trauma, not physical but psychological. "I didn't dare walk the streets anymore and didn't see people. Then I lost my job and ended up in burnout." Through Op Eigen Kracht, Fatiha is learning to have confidence in herself again. "I learned here how to say 'no' and what to do when you need help: where to get help and also how to ask."

Learning from each other at On Own Strength

A priori, Op Eigen Kracht is about getting a grip on your money, but says Tjitske: "We find that the people who come to us are often isolated and dealing with stress. This often goes hand in hand with money worries. People feel confident here and dare to tell their stories. And they also learn from each other. Sometimes we see someone really thawing out. Sometimes there are tears. That is certainly allowed. Besides, we always have tissues handy."

* Fatiha preferred not to be in the picture