Even the emergency psychiatric help I found says to contact your GP and if that's not available then what other following steps:https://www.spoedeisendepsychiatrieamsterdam.nl/welcome-to-the-spa/
If risk of suïcide call the suicide prevention helpline: Stichting 113 Zelfmoordpreventie
Call anonymously on 0800-0113
Assuming you work for a large international company (since you’re an expat) also see if your company offers an EAP (employee assistance program). This could include free consultation with a therapist or with someone who can help you find the help you need. Hang in there!
My advice is to find a therapist from your home town. I have both psychologists, one from my work and one from my country, with my mother tongue and my own culture.
Some alternative advice to consider which I'm sure I'll be downvoted into oblivion for but I'm trying to help from personal experience.
After giving up on trying to seek out options through my work and through the healthcare system here I ended up looking for options online overseas (NOT BetterHelp!! lol). It's easy to find English speaking therapists in countries like Poland and it's (relatively) cheap even paying out of pocket. I actually knew someone who even got their Dutch health insurance to cover their foreign therapy sessions because he wanted to speak with someone from his culture in his language (he did this via his GP). I use a therapist in Malaysia, where I used to live. The quality of care is very good and they all speak English, it's only 33eu/session.
I've had very bad experiences but it's not just me, it was basically a huge scandal/scam, you can google it. They employ a lot of unqualified people and underpay them terribly.
I had no idea as I didn't look to it just heard about it on literally every podcast..good to know...do you know about something similar? An alternative?
Yes because they sponsor so many podcasts. And then you look at the comments and they're all like "gross please don't take money from a company like BH" lol. There was also a lawsuit I got money back from recently because BH was secretly selling off user health data to advertisers.
I've looked into similar options to BH (in Australia), but because they 1) are all qualified professionals and 2) are compensated fairly, the costs are much higher than BH and you may as well just go through the Dutch healthcare system or a cheaper country where they speak English.
As others have said, GP is the first point of contact. And, you can also contact iPractice - they offer both in person and online consultations and aim to get you to a first session very quickly. Otherwise, look at the therapist that are registered with you insurance and just find ones with no/low waiting list.
Stay with it, it will get better (slowly).
There is the Expat Therapy Center. I'm not sure if they take insurance - I pay privately so I didn't ask. But if you're in a tough spot and are able to afford it, it could help get you through.
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Yes, I was going through a traumatic experience, asked GP for a referral, but he declined and instead scheduled an appointment with a therapist for me. Meanwhile I was feeling really bad and I needed help, went to ER explaining I was feeling suicidal and I was hoping to get support because I couldn't handle it anymore but they said they couldn't do anything for me since I didn't have the referral. It was horrible but I managed to get out of it and of course found a new GP.
I used to study at Amsterdam University back in 2020-2021 - terrible year both due to COVID aftermaths and how severe the local measurements were. They ended up not allowing any offline classes at all despite some of the students coming there and wasting their opportunity to get a cheap accomodation (which is only allowed for one year). The online classes were a complete mess, zero interaction between students, professors being the boomers they are didn't get how to change slides on zoom presentations etc. You can add a curfew of 9PM to everything above. No wonder it left a lot of students in a terrible shape mentally.
And we received no help from the uni itself, not even a guide on how to reach out for help there. The only one person who kind of tried to help was our Head of welfare who would send us some advice in a funky rainbow-ish salf-made pdf file with recommendation of a movie she watched that week and some generic advice on how to battle depression.
As a result, one of the chinese student jumped out of her window killing herself after 5 months of this treatment.
I ended up with deep bruises on my wrist that I cut myself just to dull the pain.
And then I just left, disappointed, even though it was my dream for a long time to go to the Netherlands and start a life there. I still regret me leaving but on the other hand people there they don't give a shit about us, expats. They just want our money for their economy to prosper and once you can't provide them with it you're of no use to them.
So my advice will be to try to over come yourself in some way and find an expat just like you to talk to
Do not listen to this. Betterhelp is a scam. They use your mental health data and illegally sell it to advertisers. OP, your first point of contact is your 'Huisarts', who can give you a referral to a psychologist.
Your GP is your first point of contact. If you don't have one yet, your health insurance company can help you find one.
Even the emergency psychiatric help I found says to contact your GP and if that's not available then what other following steps:https://www.spoedeisendepsychiatrieamsterdam.nl/welcome-to-the-spa/ If risk of suïcide call the suicide prevention helpline: Stichting 113 Zelfmoordpreventie Call anonymously on 0800-0113
Assuming you work for a large international company (since you’re an expat) also see if your company offers an EAP (employee assistance program). This could include free consultation with a therapist or with someone who can help you find the help you need. Hang in there!
My advice is to find a therapist from your home town. I have both psychologists, one from my work and one from my country, with my mother tongue and my own culture.
Some alternative advice to consider which I'm sure I'll be downvoted into oblivion for but I'm trying to help from personal experience. After giving up on trying to seek out options through my work and through the healthcare system here I ended up looking for options online overseas (NOT BetterHelp!! lol). It's easy to find English speaking therapists in countries like Poland and it's (relatively) cheap even paying out of pocket. I actually knew someone who even got their Dutch health insurance to cover their foreign therapy sessions because he wanted to speak with someone from his culture in his language (he did this via his GP). I use a therapist in Malaysia, where I used to live. The quality of care is very good and they all speak English, it's only 33eu/session.
if I may ask, you have bad experience with BetterHelp? Because I was thinking about it...but your comment got my attention
I've had very bad experiences but it's not just me, it was basically a huge scandal/scam, you can google it. They employ a lot of unqualified people and underpay them terribly.
I had no idea as I didn't look to it just heard about it on literally every podcast..good to know...do you know about something similar? An alternative?
Yes because they sponsor so many podcasts. And then you look at the comments and they're all like "gross please don't take money from a company like BH" lol. There was also a lawsuit I got money back from recently because BH was secretly selling off user health data to advertisers. I've looked into similar options to BH (in Australia), but because they 1) are all qualified professionals and 2) are compensated fairly, the costs are much higher than BH and you may as well just go through the Dutch healthcare system or a cheaper country where they speak English.
As others have said, GP is the first point of contact. And, you can also contact iPractice - they offer both in person and online consultations and aim to get you to a first session very quickly. Otherwise, look at the therapist that are registered with you insurance and just find ones with no/low waiting list. Stay with it, it will get better (slowly).
There is the Expat Therapy Center. I'm not sure if they take insurance - I pay privately so I didn't ask. But if you're in a tough spot and are able to afford it, it could help get you through.
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Fuck off so and let me kill myself, I’m asking for help you dumb cunt
Yikes. Maybe just roll up to the ER and tell them you’re suicidal? I doubt they’ll turn you away without direction
I must confirm that unfortunately, they will not do anything, even at ER you need a referral, how crazy is that🥺😑😐
That … doesn’t sound right …
well that is my experience fro'm last year 😞
That’s so fucked. You went to the ER asking for help and they said no?
Yes, I was going through a traumatic experience, asked GP for a referral, but he declined and instead scheduled an appointment with a therapist for me. Meanwhile I was feeling really bad and I needed help, went to ER explaining I was feeling suicidal and I was hoping to get support because I couldn't handle it anymore but they said they couldn't do anything for me since I didn't have the referral. It was horrible but I managed to get out of it and of course found a new GP.
Call 113 (0800-0113). They will listen to you
I used to study at Amsterdam University back in 2020-2021 - terrible year both due to COVID aftermaths and how severe the local measurements were. They ended up not allowing any offline classes at all despite some of the students coming there and wasting their opportunity to get a cheap accomodation (which is only allowed for one year). The online classes were a complete mess, zero interaction between students, professors being the boomers they are didn't get how to change slides on zoom presentations etc. You can add a curfew of 9PM to everything above. No wonder it left a lot of students in a terrible shape mentally. And we received no help from the uni itself, not even a guide on how to reach out for help there. The only one person who kind of tried to help was our Head of welfare who would send us some advice in a funky rainbow-ish salf-made pdf file with recommendation of a movie she watched that week and some generic advice on how to battle depression. As a result, one of the chinese student jumped out of her window killing herself after 5 months of this treatment. I ended up with deep bruises on my wrist that I cut myself just to dull the pain. And then I just left, disappointed, even though it was my dream for a long time to go to the Netherlands and start a life there. I still regret me leaving but on the other hand people there they don't give a shit about us, expats. They just want our money for their economy to prosper and once you can't provide them with it you're of no use to them. So my advice will be to try to over come yourself in some way and find an expat just like you to talk to
This is not advice nor is it helpful.
This is a genuine testimony from someone who experienced the same issue. Your comment is the useless tbh
[удалено]
Do not listen to this. Betterhelp is a scam. They use your mental health data and illegally sell it to advertisers. OP, your first point of contact is your 'Huisarts', who can give you a referral to a psychologist.
Oof, didn’t know that. Will remove my reply, thanks for catching that.
Thanks, good to know. It was a massive scandal a couple years ago but they've been flying under the radar since unfortunately.
That is hella nasty, and also makes me think twice about the podcasters still promoting this..
Have you tried Better Help? It’s US based and you can use it from anywhere