On April 17th, during a conference held in Curaçao, various mental health partners (GGZ) in the Dutch Caribbean made progress in their efforts to intensify the collaboration agreement titled ‘Dutch Caribbean Mental Health’ and expressed their desire to formalize this into a legal entity.
The goal of the ‘Federation Dutch Caribbean Mental Health’ is to promote the quality of mental health care across all the islands within the Kingdom. The federation will facilitate exchanges of expertise in content and organizational aspects, primarily in the areas of quality, continuous development, law and regulation, and education.
The organizations participating in this entity are: FSMA Respaldo (Aruba), GGZ Curaçao (Capriles), Verslavingskliniek Brasami (Curaçao), PSI Skuchami (Curaçao), Mental Health Foundation Sint Maarten, and Mental Health Caribbean (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba).
The directors and boards of these organizations came together to participate in the conference held in Curaçao and also to deliberate on the conditions for establishing a federation.
Conference in Curaçao
The theme of the conference was ‘Mental Health Care (GGZ) and Forensic Care (FZ).’ During the conference, speakers from all parts of the Kingdom shared their expertise and experience regarding GGZ and FZ. Topics discussed included developments in law, mandatory GGZ, forensic treatment during detention, outpatient forensic care, addiction care, and care after treatment.
The aim of the conference was to come up with proposals to improve collaboration between GGZ and FZ agencies in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. Recommendations were jointly presented to the ministers of the countries within the Kingdom present with the intention to improve different forms of mandatory and forensic care.
Representatives from FSMA Respaldo present were Mrs. Caroline Hart, director of FSMA Respaldo, and Dr. Nathalie Kingsale (psychiatrist), who was also one of the speakers. During her presentation, Dr. Kingsale explained about ‘Outpatient forensic treatment in FACT,’ and later she participated in the panel discussion.
In the attached photo, you can see from left to right: Angelica Dijk (PSI Skuchami), Amy van der Linden (Mental Health Caribbean), Erik Jansen (Mental Health Caribbean), Tineke Alberts (GGZ Curaçao), Nathalie Kingsale (FSMA Respaldo), Henk Kamsteeg (GGZ Curaçao), Suliviën Lopez (Brasami), Hendrikus van Gaalen (Mental Health Foundation), Caroline Hart (FSMA Respaldo), Ijolene Klaber (Brasami).
Let us move forward with an organization of specialized, professional, and sustainable mental health care for a mentally healthy Aruba!
