Our teams of caregivers has various options for treating you. In partnership with you, we select a treatment that can reduce your symptoms in a short time. And, if you wish, other people who are important to you can be involved in the treatment. The treatment can consist of supporting talks, but also of individual psychotherapy, cognitive behaviour therapy or group therapy.

Structuring treatment
Supporting treatment is a treatment which takes a careful look into measures of restoring and constructing structure in your life. Introducing structure (for instance regular sleeping and eating habits, sufficient activity) makes you less vulnerable to psychological hardships, stabilizes and strengthens your emotional condition. Supportive and structuring treatment places the accent namely on highlighting ways of reducing the impact that problems may have upon you and preventing them from recurring. It tackles with the vicious cycle of for instance: depression -> lack of sleep -> more vulnerability to depression -> etc.

The starting point for supportive and structuring treatment is that people are trained how to cope with their problems better through:

• Learning how to anticipate difficult situations better; a crisis is often viewed out of context, and the outcome seems surprising, when in fact the writing was on the wall. For instance, too much have been endured at a stage when a person was not at all in a condition to pursue a thing.
• Recognising the signs that bring you out of balance;
• Learning to accept what you can do and what you can't;
• Learning how to show where you draw the line.

Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a method of treatment for psychological and psychiatric problems. The therapy consists of sessions with a practitioner trained in this field. The psychotherapist helps you to gain a broader view of things and to cope with painful emotional hardships or to approach difficult situations in more than one manner, when this manner leads to frustration. The objective of the therapy is that your psychological wellbeing will be regained and your disturbing symptoms diminish or have less impact on you.
People undergo psychotherapy for various problems, for example when they are bothered by symptoms of anxiety, depression, compulsive behaviour or personality disorders. Often negative or stressful experiences stand at the root of your arrival at our clinic. It seems that even a joyful event like moving to a new country or the arrival of a new baby can open the Pandora box and pose a turning point from a relatively peaceful life, to a troublesome episode in which psychological intervention may be advised. Types of psychotherapy include insight-oriented therapy, family and relationship therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy and cognitive behavioural therapy.

Cognitive behavioural therapy 
The principle behind cognitive behavioural therapy is that thoughts or emotions influence your behaviour. Negative thoughts like 'I'm worthless' or 'I won't succeed in doing it anyway, so why bother...' can cause psychological problems or fan the flames of psychological problems. The healthcare-professional will discuss with you your perception of yourself and of others. Following which you will be able to overview the degree to which your ideas correspond with reality (for instance, what is the actual probability that you are unwelcome at an office party). The objective is to acquire alternative and more positive thoughts, instead of following a well-known route that leads to depression. You can influence your emotions by influencing your thoughts, and choosing for an aware choice rather than an automatic pilot. Through re-examining your fixated way of thinking and adjusting it to be more flexible (to less deviate from reality due to gloomy lenses),  your problems will be eased within a short while.
People who are suffering from depression, anxiety and panic disorders or a post-traumatic stress disorder respond very well to this sort of treatment.

All these therapies can be done individually or within a group.

Group therapy
Some problems can also be dealt within the context of a group; sometimes this is even a preferred method. In a group you can be given support and recognition from people who are best capable of understanding what you are going through, and you can learn from the experience of others. Group therapy can either be therapeutic, or consist of training sessions. In some cases, we are more inclined to work with separate groups for men and women. Sharing experiences and learning from each other seems to be an effective way of learning to cope with a number of practical issues like:
- laws and regulations in the Netherlands
- settling in the Netherlands
- matters concerning work and maintaining social contacts
- dealing with labour relations in the Netherlands.
- Loss of professional identity (sometimes of status, as well)
- Increased dependence on others, for instance due to the language barrier, dependent on a Dutch partner for all administration and paperwork. 

Examples of group training sessions include:

• A group for adolescents focused on identity related problems A group for mothers of little children / teenagers A group for somatization problems
• A group dealing with problems having to do with the move to a foreign country
• A group dealing with integration problems
• A group for practicing social skills
• An assertivity course
• Women's group for increasing empowerment.

Examples of psycho-education groups (informative) are:

• ADHD
• Anxiety and panic disorders