Practices for child psychology in North Holland are dealing with increasingly longer queues. The aftermath of the restless, often lonely corona period and the performance society cause many complaints. “More and more young people and children are entering care. We have never had such long queues,” says practice owner and coordinating practitioner Christel Bos of child psychologists Noord-Holland Noord to NH News.
The waiting lists for child and youth psychology (0-18 years) in North Holland are increasing. After a round of telephone calls from NH News to child psychology practices, it appears that some are even too busy to speak to us at all. Other practices recognize the problem, including Christel Bos of Kinderpsychologen Noord-Holland Noord.
Bos says that the staff shortage in specialist care is large. Due to the decentralization of healthcare, many separate healthcare providers have entered the market. According to her, this has created a significant gap in the supply. “Many employees from youth care and specialist care have left and set up smaller organizations. The waiting times in that care are now longer than ever.”
“The reasons for registration range from anxiety disorders, depression, trauma processing to ADHD”
At Kinderpsychologen NHN, the waiting time has more than doubled. Bos: “In our practice we treat people from 2 to 18 years old. Normally we had a queue of five weeks, which has now increased to ten to twelve weeks, just more than double.”
Expectations
The corona period is partly to blame for the complaints experienced by young people today. For many younger families, a lot has happened at home during the ‘isolating period’. “Vulnerable families became even more vulnerable: young children encountered a lot of unrest and tension, often from their parents. Adolescents spent far too long in their room.”
Due to the COVID-19 virus, the youth has ‘missed out on a part of their lives’, she adds. “Corona was a fear they grew up with. They didn’t see anyone and were gloomy, or depressed.”
Moreover, there is a lot of pressure on young people today, says Bos. “Everything is expected: you have to look good, have a good relationship and things have to go well at work or school. Young people also grow up with many lasting fears. The world has become unsafe.”
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It is the performance society that causes many young people to come to Raquel Abrahams with complaints. Abrahams is a paediatrician and vice-chairman of AJN Jeugdartsen Nederland. The young people who talk to her often have initial complaints and do not yet need specialist care.
And that is precisely what is so important, according to Abrahams: to identify complaints at an early stage and to help young people preventively. According to her, this relieves the burden on specialist care and ensures that complaints among young people do not derail unnecessarily. “It has a big impact on someone’s life,” she emphasizes.
Increasing queue
The secretariat of Invivo Kids Amstelveen treats youth from 4 to 18 years old. The practice has been forced to expand the care team, because the waiting list is also increasing here. “Children who register at the moment will have their turn at the end of March, the beginning of April,” says the practice.
“Everything is expected: you have to look good, have a good relationship and it has to go well at work or school”
The reasons for registration vary from anxiety disorders, depression, trauma processing to ADHD. There are a striking number of adolescents among the registrations. “They sign up in large numbers. The largest group is in the age of secondary school.”
A practice in Amsterdam North – specialized in children and youth – indicates that the queues are ‘huge’. The practice does not want the name to be mentioned, because it does not want to hinder the accessibility of the practice for customers.
“At the moment the queues are about five months, before corona it was about two months,” says an employee. “The number of employees has also doubled, but that doesn’t matter. It remains busy. We cannot speed up the process, you want to provide the quality that is needed.”
Preventive care
Abrahams speaks to many young people with various complaints. You can help a large part with low-threshold care, she says. Only a part needs specialist help. That is why she advocates more preventive care. Schools can play an important role in this.
“We need parties that provide care for the young people in time.” Since the decentralization of healthcare, such gatekeepers have become scattered. Often the alarm is also rung too late. “As a society, we must provide aid earlier. Now you only receive care if you are already ill,” she concludes.
