Young people want quick and accessible help – and it does not have to come immediately from a professional

Thom was 16 when he first saw a therapist. His school results were poor, a full classroom scared him. No one realized that his home situation was unsafe at that moment, including himself. The conversation with the therapist led nowhere. A year later an emergency intake at a mental health institution followed. “I walked out with five diagnoses.” And then: “Care pathways, treatment plans and protocols.” By the time he was 19, Thom says (for privacy reasons he wants to remain in the newspaper without his last name), they were like: go to adult care, because we can’t do anything with you anymore.

Now he is 23 and he thinks: this could all have been much better. “I got quite angry about that.” A while ago he saw a call for Hoofdzaken, a youth panel on mental health care, and decided to respond. That turned out to be a good move, finally he could really do something. “We share our experiences, think along with policymakers and can provide input for scientific research.”

It is code red in youth care – that is clear to everyone involved. After almost two years of negotiations, the cabinet, municipalities, providers and client organizations concluded an agreement this spring to make youth care better, more accessible and more affordable. The so-called Youth Reform Agenda must deal with long waiting lists, costs that have spiraled out of control and substandard care. Outgoing State Secretary Maarten van Ooijen (CU) called the extensive improvement plan a “game changer”.

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National Youth Council

But what do young people themselves actually think?

The National Youth Council (NJR) tested the Reform Agenda among a group of teenagers and twenty-somethings. 574 young people completed a questionnaire, 73 took part in a dialogue session. The result of that is a report full of advice, which was published this Wednesday. See these, writes the NJR, as “weighty signals” to all parties that will be working on reforming youth care in the coming years.

Nina Staats (20) is certainly happy that young people have been asked for their opinion. She works at a youth foundation and was asked by the NJR to facilitate a dialogue session in her hometown of Hoorn. “It was a world café, a form of conversation in which you share knowledge. There were young people at the table who had been in youth care for years and had been through all kinds of things, but also young people with mental problems who had not yet received help.” She was struck by how much came out – she wrote down one catchword after another on her flipchart.

The young people consulted almost all agree on certain matters. For example: it should become easier to get help without too much hassle. They long for some kind of support point – an accessible place where they can go with questions. A listening ear does not always have to come from a professional, they emphasize. They prefer to contact parents, friends or teachers first.

Quick help, without suspicion

If professional help is needed, they want to be helped quickly and without suspicion. This does not seem self-evident in the new plans. Young people are critical of the criteria that will soon apply: youth care will only be used when problems cannot be solved on their own or with usual care. Who decides: the municipality or the healthcare provider. That feels, young people say, as if they are not being taken seriously. As if the importance of money outweighs their health.

Thom (23) initially received no help when he had an unsafe home situation and sees that young people “sometimes feel safer on social media than with their care providers.”

“It seems as if the focus is on: how do we ensure that fewer people ask for help,” says Thom, who also completed a questionnaire and attended a dialogue session. “That’s not exactly what you want, is it?” There were also comments about money during his treatments. “Then they would say, for example: if you don’t show up, we won’t get paid.” He hopes for more participation from young people in how they are helped. “First the child, then the money.”

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Costs increased to 5.6 billion

Since youth care was decentralized to municipalities in 2015 annual costs have risen to 5.6 billion euros – an increase of more than 50 percent. A lot of light help is given, for example for exam stress or dyslexia, at the expense of heavier and more complex care for which there are now often long waiting lists.

“What I agree with,” says Nina Staats, “is offering alternatives. Sometimes that is a good bridge. And also make it known, because where you can go is not always known. For example, a while ago I wasn’t feeling well mentally. Later I found out that there are psychologists at the university where I study. I had no idea.”

Thom thinks that certain knowledge is still lacking. “Take social media: there are corners of the internet where it is very normal to be depressed. Young people sometimes find it safer there than with their own care providers. I couldn’t always talk during my therapy sessions, but I could write. On Instagram I posted poems about how I felt, sometimes I took such a poem with me and we could talk about it.” Pay attention to who is sitting across from you, that’s what it really comes down to. “I think it would have benefited me a lot if I had paid less attention to protocols. And a little more to me.”