Monasteries have traditionally offered the weak and the poor help and support. This was also the case at Ittingen Charterhouse.
The care concept is therefore still lived in the residential home and workshop. In the heart of the monastery premises, the Foundation runs a residential home with employment for 30 psychologically or mentally impaired men and women.

In nicely furnished single rooms, most of them with their own shower and toilet, the home residents lead a life that is adapted wherever possible to their needs and potential. They are supported and accompany in all social issues by a support team. Cosy day rooms invite the residents to play, do handicrafts, read or simply to meet one another. The home’s own bar with controlled, restricted serving of beer, wine and different mineral waters rounds off the possibilities for a home life according to normal human requirements.

Particular attention is paid to the leisure activities for the residents. In addition to external offers, a variety of options are available for use by our supported men and women in the wonderful monastery facilities, in the nearby surrounding or on Lake Nussbaum.
In the former vine house in the garden centre, nearby but outside the monastery wall, three people, usually apprentices, have the option of preparing and training themselves in living training for a life outside a protected home framework. In the vine house, different activities that running one’s own household entails, are practised. For instance, the residents learn to draw up a household budget and to manage with the funds available. They practice cooking, washing, simple laundry washing, cleaning their rooms, keeping their house and the surroundings tidy, in planning their own leisure activities, etc.

An important aspect for our supported colleagues is their acceptance in the environment of the foundation companies, a worthwhile and esteemed employment and also above all the contact with guests to Ittingen Charterhouse. There are encounters that can be exciting and sustainable for both sides.