ACT Youth Rotterdam: vision

ACT Youth Rotterdam is an experiment designed to bring about a transition in the treatment of young people with serious and complex psychological and psychiatric problems. The aim is to help the troubled young people lead a normal life. At the moment, the young people are often not even treated by care agencies or they leave in the course of their treatment. Often, they ultimately require intensive care or come into conflict with the law.

Key idea for system innovation and vision 

ACT Youth provides social support, day care, accommodation, psychiatric care, family counselling and help at school or work. The help is provided in the young people's own environment.

Structural problems

It was clear in advance that the new approach adopted in the experiment would mean that various structural problems were to be met and had to be resolved.

Some expected structural problems were:

• The help provided does not start with a diagnosis, as is customary in health care institutions, but with practical assistance. This does not properly match the normal formal procedures.
• ACT Youth takes as its point of departure the attitude of the young people and what they are willing and able to do. But that means a new role of the helpers: from providing direction to providing practical support.
• Because of the attempt to prevent that the young people become ‘pigeon holed' in terms of health care, collaboration is required among organisations that used to work separately. The method of working in teams of specialists from different organisations contrasts with the existing culture and procedures of these organisations.

During the experiment the relevant organisations collected and shared learning experiences.

Sources

(in Dutch) Transitieprogramma in de Langdurige zorg i.s.m. Competentiecentrum Transities (2008). Competentiekit experimenteren in de zorg. Conceptversie. Transitieprogramma in de Langdurige Zorg en Competentiecentrum Transities: Utrecht.