On 25 September 2014, GGZ Delfland presented the Cokky Kraaij Prize to Suraya van Bruggen, according to her colleagues “a golden force”. The prize included a bronze statue and a cash prize. On the same day, the philosopher Rene ten Bos gave the Cokky Kraaij lecture.

The prize was intended for care providers at GGZ Delfland such as Cokky: people who devote their heart and soul to their patients every day and who have a clear vision of what good mental health care entails. The Cokky Kraaij Prize and the Cokky Kraaij Lecture were created to encourage such wonderful qualities in care providers, to stimulate the quality of care within GGZ Delfland and to honour Cokky’s spiritual heritage. Based on the criteria for this prize, all GGZ Delfland employees could nominate a colleague via scout candidates. This could be (student) nurses or teams of nurses within GGZ Delfland.

Although Cokky herself had a cheerful character and positive attitude, she was able to empathize with the suffering of her patients. Through her perception of human vulnerability, she was able to assist them in gaining insight into their problems and the possibility to do something about it, without lecturing them. In doing so, she approached them more as one person to another than as a nurse to a patient. Her (fellow) humanity was a characteristic feature and everyone who has known her will recognize this. Cokky has always played a major role in empowering patients and nursing staff. Where she saw opportunities to increase the participation of patients in their treatment, she took them or discussed them. The same applies to enlarging the role of the nurse in the treatment. If desired, close relatives or partners were also involved, because Cokky had insight into the social context of certain problems. She also set up a detox family group, which was highly appreciated by the participants.

The lecture was intended to contribute to reflection on care, while the award served as an encouragement for the quality of nursing care at GGZ Delfland. The Cokky Kraaij lecture was given by Rene ten Bos, philosopher and organizational expert, professor at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. The lecture focused on the progressive bureaucracy in mental health care: ‘the bureaucracy in health care is a squid’. The winner of the award distinguished herself on the basis of three criteria: humanity, collegiality and contemplation. For more information, see also my news items: Cokky Kraaij Prijs/

The lecture and the prize were created by Cokky’s husband, the philosopher Henk Oosterling, in collaboration with GGZ Delfland to keep alive the memory of Cokky Kraaij-Oosterling and what she stood for. She died of cancer on March 16, 2013.

Cokky Kraaij was a household name within GGZ Delfland. She started working there in 1975 as a psychiatric nurse and has worked there her entire working life. In 2003 she first became a member and secretary of the Works Council, then vice-chairman (2009) and chairman (2012). During her membership of the Works Council, Cokky was, among other things, committed to the development of the AVR (Working Conditions, Absenteeism and Registration) policy within GGZ Delfland and the position of the prevention officer.

Illustrative of her motivation to actively engage in good health care is the following quote from her presentation as a member of the Works Council:
“Although I have always been interested in the policy side of mental health care, my heart was mainly in the qualitative side of direct patient care. Acting concretely and the importance of good care has always appealed to me more than abstract policy. However, with the current tendency to increasingly measure quality in quantifiable terms, a trend that I find quite worrying, I think it is time to delve more deeply into the policy side.
Current developments in mental health care are more radical than I have experienced up to now and, in my opinion, are forcing us to reconsider what actually is good care and how it can be achieved. In short; what conditions must be met in order to be able to speak of good health care at all. Policy and the vision behind that policy determine the possibilities and limitations that everyone in the workplace is confronted with.”

Cokky Kraaij has been my best friend for 30 years.

Zie website: drimble.nl/../suraya-van-bruggen-wint-cokky-kraaij-prijs