Passionate Parenting

Most expats love the life here in The Hague and enjoy many benefits for expats with children. But what if your children have challenges and special needs? What if you need an expert to help you understand their behavior and offer you guidance and support.

Carolien Sleijffers (see biography below) is a young qualified psychologist (with a private practice) living in The Hague. She has put together this document for expat parents so you know what existing (Dutch based) services are available to you, on the short term and the long term – in English.

You can get a private consultation with a Dutch psychologist (in English) within a week if you are prepared to pay for it. There are many services and many alternatives, so read on…

Subject: Parental support / Mental Health Care

1. Parental support

For:parents whohave questions concerning raising their children. The guidance and interventions are not so much focused on, for example, teething and potty training, but more so on situations in which you are slightly concerned, worried or actually frightened by your child’s behavior. For example, your child refuses to sleep, has extreme nightmares for a longer period of time, or extreme temper tantrums for a longer period of time and you as a parent, though you feel your have tried anything and everything you can, doesn’t know what to do anymore.

- Opvoeden in de Buurt (OidB)
For:parents who have questions concerning subjects mentioned above.
Opvoeden in de Buurt (‘Educate in the neighborhood’) is a cooperation bond of Jeugdformaat, the organisation for youth & ‘opvoedhulp’, and the Jutters, the centre for jeugd-GGZ (mental health care). Employees of both organizations cooperate in a multidisciplinary team. Opvoeden in de Buurt offers short term ambulatory aid for parents or attendants of children of 0 till 23 years, who have questions concerning raising their children.

WaldeckPyrmontkade 872 F
2518 JS 'S-GRAVENHAGE
T: (070) 3080420
I: www.cjgdenhaag.nl
E: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

1. - Bureau Jeugdzorg (BJZ)

For:parents who have questions concerning subjects mentioned above, but also in caseinstant help is needed in the home environment, for example, when your child is threatening to hurt himself or others or you as a parent are at your wits’ end and don’t think you can deal with the situation for another day, BJZ can offer the help. So, like Opvoeden in de Buurt, BJZ also offers help to parents who have questions or face problems raising their children, but has more means to turn to than ‘Opvoeden in de Buurt’.
BJZ rarely provides psychological assessments. They screen, can provide parental guidance but if more help is needed, like psychological assessment of therapy, BJZ refers to mental health care organizations like De Jutters (see below).

I: www.bjzhaaglanden.nl
Go to ‘contact’ and there you will see their different locations in and around The Hague (Zoetermeer, Leidschendam-Voorburg)
With choosing the location you’d like to contact, always choose the location nearest to you childs’ school. It’s a rule BJZ uses. Good to know in advance.

3)  Mental Health Care
- When?
For: Whenever you would like your child to be trained in social skills, assessed psychologically (for example: Intelligence test, ADHD/Autism/Depression assessment) or when your child already has a diagnosis and needs further education/treatment, you can contact a private practice or government funded organization, consisting of multi disciplinary teams (psychologists, psychiatrists, doctors, parent counselors).
You can get a referral via BJZ, or when no parental guidance is needed really, you can get a referral from your family doctor (huisarts).
- Difference Eerstelijns (First line / private practice) en Tweedelijns (Second line / government funded)

The Difference between Private & Government
The basic differences between private practices and government funded organizations is that private practices usually have:

1. no waiting lists,
2. work in small teams and
3. the insurance will cover € 80, - of the € 90,- per session, eight (2011)/five (2012) consultations total yearly, and usually offer to do specific psychological assessments (like an IQ test or a test to check whether your child has ADHD for example).

A government funded organization usually

1. does have waiting lists, but
2. works with bigger teams (more diverse professions) and
3. the insurance will pay for everything. Organizations like these can go from assessing a child specifically (whether it has ADHD) or look at a broad range (cognitive and social emotional problems), to long term treatment, medical guidance (in case of medication, for example, like Ritalin) and has the means if treatment needs to be intensified (for example treatment and school in one place).

- What do you need to get started?
First: you will always need a referral from your family doctor (huisarts) or BJZ, and the BSN of your child (Burger Service Number, by which they can check the insurance policy of your child), whether you go to a Private (eerstelijns) practice or Government(tweedelijns) organization.
If you choose to start the process at Bureau Jeugdzorg, they usually write a report (screening) to a Government tweedelijns organization, which is then used as a referral note at the same time.

Private practice (0-23)
For this, you can contact (author) CarolinaSleijffers first, since there are so many. After hearing what kind of question you have, she can advise you a certain practice / route / plan. She can call them in advance for you and check if they have an English speaking psychologist available short term.

Government funded (tweedelijns)
De Banjaard - Scheveningseweg 90-92 070 338 60 07   (IQ < 85)
Stichting De Jutters – Dr. van Welylaan 2 070 - 8507850 (IQ > 85)
Curium – Endegeesterstraatweg 27 071 – 5159600 (Leiden)

Adults (18 and up)
If your child is about to move out of the house, already lives by his of herself or is around 17 or 18 years of age and most likely will need mental support for a longer period of time, you could decide to contact an organization that specializes in adult mental health care, whether it’s a private practice (eerstelijns) or PsyQ/ParnassiaBavoGroep (tweedelijns).
Or if you’d like counseling for yourself, next to or rather than parental guidance, you can also contact them.
Since also here the rule applies that as of 2012 you will most likely only get five sessions reimbursed when visiting a private practice, most people choose to contact a tweedelijns organization.
PsyQ
www.psyq.nl
You can call them between 9.00 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday – Fridays: 0900-235 77 97. You can tell them what kind of problem you are dealing with (different locations for different areas of mental problems) and ask for the address and phone number of the location nearest to you.

ParnassiaBavoGroep
www.parnassia.nl
Go to ‘contact’, then ‘allelocaties’. Here you can see all the locations and choose the one located nearest to you. If you don’t know which one is closest to you, just pick one, call them and ask which one you should contact. Parnassia doesn’t have a national phone number like PsyQ.

Intro of me
Ever since graduating in ’05, as a Child Psychology at Leiden University I have worked at Stichting De Jutters (child and adolescent psychiatry). Psychological assessments, social skills training, parent counseling and providing treatment for children have been part of my daily activities. Next to that, I have worked as a freelancer for different organizations, focusing more on ‘the classroom’, dealing with everyday problems at school, assisting parents, teachers and the children themselves by either assessments, training and/or counseling.
I provide parental guidance and advice as well as psychological assessment and treatment.

Looking at moving to the United States next year, my aim is to make it a very fruitful last six months in Holland. I am very excited about this next step, and at the same time realize there is a lot you need to find out when entering a new country. That is the main reason this overview was made.
In case you have questions, please contact me either by phone or email.

Kind regards,

CarolinaSleijffers
E: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
M: 06.34.31.67.69