People who have successfully overcome a mental crisis have a wealth of practical knowledge. The Bremerhaven Reinkenheide clinic is making use of it. In 2010, it became the first clinic in Germany to employ people once affected as in-patient accompaniers of people recovering from such illnesses - not as volunteer helpers, as but full-time employees, fully integrated in the treatment team. This opening of the team has proved successful: based on their own experience, convalescent accompaniers can serve as models for mentally ill people and thus effectively give them more hope of healing than doctors or therapists can.