Itaca is a private psychiatric care and psychosocial rehabilitation center serving patients of both sexes, aged 20 to 50, who have experienced psychotic episodes and are currently in psychiatric recovery. Located in Rome at Via Flaminia Nuova, 219 (tel. 36307831), it was founded about three years ago.
Here patients find a space to express themselves through small manual and artistic activities—drawing, ceramics, painting, collage—where they rediscover the parts of themselves that still work, and from there, gradually reclaim their lives as active protagonists.
Itaca currently welcomes 10 people, distributed across various days according to a personalized rhythm worked out together with families and staff. Never more than six at a time, they are followed by three dedicated staff members. In total, five staff work here—one psychiatrist, three psychologists, and one art consultant—all trained in psychoanalytic theory based on the thought and work of Wilfred Bion.
We visited them ourselves. The workshop operates in a bright, welcoming apartment. Classical music plays softly in the background. The concentration on the work, the visible closeness between patients, between patients and staff, and among staff themselves—all of it speaks to an attention to detail and a therapeutic intention in every gesture.
A room for individual therapy, a room for group therapy, a garden—all radiate from the central hub, the workshop itself. Everything here speaks of and to the patients through their work displayed on shelves and walls, the large tables for group projects, the music corner, and the small bar area where people can rest during work hours. A traditional exhibition and sale run by the patients themselves is scheduled for June 15, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The workshop's work is woven together with family sessions, summer stays, cultural visits, and outings. The staff actively coordinate with patients' personal physicians. In some cases, families have been able to cover fees through a "therapeutic stipend" paid by the local health authority.
We hope places like this will multiply, that they will find concrete support from institutions, and that they will help fill the enormous gap we see around us—the shortage of therapeutic interventions and protected activities for people like these.
- Natalia Livi, 1996