Where to stay in Denmark: Here the users decide

At the former Sankt Elisabeth Hospital on Amager, one of the wings on the 2nd floor is allocated to the patient-controlled workshop and community center Maskine.

Here there are no therapists, only users who come completely voluntarily to paint, sew, draw, play music, read books and cook together with other mentally ill people.

The Capital Region owns the room, which they make available free of charge to the users, who have to do everything themselves. Some take care of practical tasks, while others make things in the creative workshops.

There are not many rules – except that you may not be drunk or under the influence. But if you need a nap, that's totally fine.

A free space

"Come in and create yourself" is written in curved letters on one door. On another, a tattered cloth hangs that reads "Mind sewing". There are colorful paintings, sculptures and crafts everywhere.

The 600 m2 constitute a free space for mentally ill people in the Copenhagen area. Here, you can come and be with others without being judged and evaluated.

“Here, you are not diagnosed, but embrace. We judge on behavior, and of course, you must not let your behavior affect others,” says general manager Johanne Filipsen.

Patients are seen as a resource

In addition to Johanne Filipsen, there are 15 part-time employees. The majority of the employees also have a psychiatric diagnosis themselves, because the whole idea of ​​the Maskine project is to give patients responsibility, because it lifts and empowers. By helping others, you also help yourself.

It is Søren Dixen, who is the co-founder of Maskine Amager, which he started together with Nicolai Brie, who originally had the idea for a patient-led workshop at the Psychiatric Center Skt. Hans.

Søren Dixen has himself lived with a mental diagnosis for most of his life, and spoke about the initiative in connection with the Nunamed conference in Nuuk in October under the heading: ”Empowering and mobilizing mental health patients to take care of each other – a practical example from Copenhagen”.

– Patients can be a resource if they are given the opportunity to show what they can do, says Søren Dixen, who started Maskine in 2019, and who in 2023 received a large donation from Oak Foundation Denmark for the project.

– Every day, an average of 35-40 patients come here to participate in workshop work, socialize with others, read a book or have a meal, which can be purchased for 10 kroner. By the way, it is the patients themselves who cook the food, says Søren Dixen.

Greenlandic users

Panéraq Rémy from Nuuk and Martha-Marie Jensen from Qaanaaq are among those who use the workshops frequently.

Panéraq Rémy sews, while Martha-Marie Jensen prints on clothes.

– I love coming here because there are creative workshops and you can see what others are doing. It is a very welcoming place where you are acknowledged for who you are. It is not a treatment center and you are not seen as sick here, says Panéraq Rémy, who was born in Nuuk, but moved with her Danish father and Greenlandic mother to Djursland when she was 4 years old.

– I could also sew at home, but I like to come here and sew with others. It is nice and safe, she says.

There is room for everyone

Next to “sinssyning” there is a graphic printing shop. Here, for example, you can design your own print and have it made on a T-shirt.

24-year-old Martha-Marie Jensen has tried her hand at it.

– I'm not really very creative, but I had an idea for a text on a t-shirt, and so we just made it. It's a great place to come. You can be yourself here, and there is mutual understanding because everyone has something they struggle with, says Martha-Marie Jensen, who came to Denmark when she was 2 years old.

– I've gained more courage in my artistic expression because it's an offer here, and I like that there's so much art everywhere, because it gives me a feeling that there's room for me too.

A counterbalance to the treatment system

According to Johanne Filipsen, many of the patients have a lot of baggage with them from the treatment system, and here Maskine is intended to be a counterbalance:

– If you have tried being homeless and an addict, as many of those who come here have been, you have also experienced not having much power over your existence and life. Here it is about regaining power over your own life. Taking responsibility and being allowed to hang your own art on the wall. It is developing, says Johanne Filipsen.

Søren Dixen is working on opening a similar offer in Nuuk or Ilulissat.