healthcare professionals where the person's medical situation allows, with the objective of a "progressive move towards autonomy" The CGLPL believes that respect for the autonomy of patients involves liberty to choose meals. The right of patients to take their meals in a self-service canteen or in the institution cafeteria is an initiative which should be welcomed. Preparing for leaving: daily life activities Therapeutic activity may result from medical prescription (they are in this case prescribed by doctors) or from patient choice. The CGLPL has found that these are often insufficient in number and quality and that the patient's own choice is seldom sought. Sporting activities such as swimming or team ball games in a gymnasium or on a pitch are only marginally accessible to patients admitted without consent insofar as the necessary authorisations make the possibilities of last-minute visits complex or impossible according to healthcare professionals. Individual or team activities offered are therefore for the most part within units or specialised units: card games, board games and on a more complex basis, artistic activities, coordinated by occupational therapists. One experiment deserves to be highlighted, in a hospital in the West of France where the accent is placed on conviviality and on discussion with patients, where professionals join with patients in activities that are liable to develop confidence in themselves and increase their autonomy. But these activities should also aim at participating in rehabilitation to real-life, to daily social life and to social reintegration. Moreover they are a means of assessing patients’ autonomy and capacity for human relations and must be capable of developing their self-confidence. How can this paradox be avoided which consists on the one hand of rehabilitation and on the other of reducing the level of self-responsibility? Leaving the institution involves relearning daily skills and actually being responsible for oneself when for months or even years patients have been infantilised and assisted in all areas: washing, laundry, cleaning their rooms, shopping, cooking etc. We know that for these patients the success of plans for rehabilitation into society depends on their capacity to face actual problems of daily life and to regain their lost skills. Some institutions have integrated this necessity by developing activities linked to preparing meals with patients after making the purchases that are necessary in their company, in the context of "cooking workshops" In others, where possible, patients are asked to take part in providing services by carrying out simple tasks: putting out the tablecloth or laying the table. Involving families and friends in the patient’s path and throughout hospitalisation can be a major benefit in supporting the increase in autonomy and self- responsibility in patients. Moreover, the partnership which is built by healthcare professionals by activities is an essential link when planning to leave the institution. Once care has been put in place, the objective could be, based on the patient's capacity, that of rehabilitation to social life, moving forward step by step. A practical programme accompanied by an assessment of progress accepted by doctors and patients would in particular enable them to plan for a future outside the walls of the institution. The CGLPL would like to see activities enabling social rehabilitation whilst respecting patient choice to be preferred where a patient's condition is stable. 141