The Netherlands Institute of Psychologists (NIP), EFPA’s Dutch Full Member, has presented its plan Zorgen voor een mentaal sterke generatie (Building a Mentally Strong Generation), calling on Dutch policymakers to make the mental health and resilience of children and young people a structural priority.
Addressed primarily to policymakers and members of the Dutch Parliament, the plan highlights the need for a comprehensive, cross-sectoral approach to promoting mental health, preventing psychological difficulties and ensuring access to appropriate support and care.
The recommendations emphasise three key priorities:
- Strengthening mental resilience: Investing in young people’s psychological resilience, life skills and ability to cope with challenges, including through education and supportive social environments.
- Prioritising prevention and early intervention: Addressing risk factors and the wider determinants of mental health, including social and financial security, housing, inclusion and the digital environment.
- Improving access to psychological support: Ensuring that young people experiencing psychological difficulties receive timely and appropriate support and care.
A central message of the NIP initiative is that mental health cannot be addressed by the healthcare sector alone. Schools, families, social services, sport and other areas of public policy all have a role to play. The plan also calls for psychological expertise and scientific evidence to be more systematically integrated into policymaking and decision-making.
Through this initiative, NIP highlights the contribution psychologists can make not only to mental healthcare, but also to prevention, public policy and the creation of environments that support the healthy development of future generations.
Read the NIP plan: Zorgen voor een mentaal sterke generatie (PDF)