Access to outpatient mental health care
According to estimates, at least 1 in 4 Belgians suffers from mental problems at some point in their lives. So there is a need for strong mental health care.
Environment
The first step is to talk about your mental problems with someone close to you . That is not always easy, but it is still very important to do. Your doctor, family, friends, confidants at school, associations, at work... can mean more to you than you think.
Professional offer
Sometimes your own network is not enough and you have to rely on professional services . It is not always easy to find the right care in a timely and smooth manner. Financial and practical reasons may prevent you from taking the step towards outpatient mental health care.
In order to make the care offering as accessible as possible, the government and the mental health networks have joined forces in recent years through various agreements.
This offer allows people to use psychological care at an accessible price. This care is organized into 3 functions.
These are interventions offered through group programs at sites. These are locations close to you, in your local community (e.g. schools to reach children and young people). The main purpose of these interventions is to teach you to take better care of yourself and each other, to strengthen your mental resilience or to provide you with more information about certain themes (e.g. stress). These interventions are freely accessible and no registration is required.
These are short-term and/or low-intensity psychological interventions that contribute to maintaining or regaining general psychological well-being. They are mainly indicated when you experience a vulnerability or difficulty that has an impact on your psychological well-being. These interventions are offered both individually (max. 8 sessions for adults and max. 10 sessions for children) and in groups. They are freely accessible to a conventional psychologist or educational psychologist in his practice and/or at a location.
The function of first-line psychological treatment of mild to moderate problems: interventions with the intention of treating psychological complaints in a targeted and short-term manner. These interventions can be offered individually (max. 20 sessions) or in groups. They are accessible after drawing up an assessment showing the need for these interventions.
Mental Health Network
The psychological care that is reimbursed is provided by psychologists and orthopedagogues who have entered into an agreement for this purpose with a mental health network. They do this for a specific and limited number of hours in accordance with the budget and needs analysis of the network.
You can go there regardless of your age or the type of condition, provided that your request for help can be answered with a short-term intervention. The psychologist works with other healthcare providers of the patient where necessary.
What is a Mental Health Network?
- List of mental health networks for children and young people
- List of mental health networks for adults
In addition to these networks, there is also the regular supply of psychologists, orthopedagogues or other healthcare providers. They charge their own rates. More info can be found here .
Refunds
Read more information about the reimbursement of mental health care from compulsory health insurance and the CM benefit