As soon as he was through the door, he said a cheerful hello to the room and they answered ‘Hello, Geoff!’ – this made a couple of them smile because it was a routine, a ritual really, and they like routines and rituals. Milly thought this must be because it makes the world seem more predictable, and safer. If you’ve spent decades of your life feeling afraid because you don’t fit in and frightening things keep happening, being somewhere where the same things happen every day must be a relief. They’d had a staff training day last year about the risks of institutionalisation but Milly still
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