Our treatment centre

Ondertitel

Highly specialised diagnosis and treatment

In the Netherlands, ARQ National Psychotrauma Centre treats people with complex psychotrauma symptoms. In our centre of expertise, specialised practitioners help people and their loved ones to recover as much as possible. Our priority is to noticeably improve the quality of their lives.

We have expertise teams that focus on various major themes. These teams consist of practitioners with extensive knowledge and experience of the theme concerned, such as war, persecution, various forms of violence, occupational trauma, refugees with trauma, children with trauma or traumatic grief. Our professors and PhD students conduct a lot of research. We directly use the results to further improve our treatments and, in turn, our patients.

Because of its highly specialised function and structural anchoring of research and knowledge transfer within the organisation, ARQ has been awarded the highest Dutch quality label for treatment, research, and training in mental healthcare in the Netherlands. We work using multiple treatment methodologies, forms of therapy, and the latest insights and innovations.

For people with complex psychotrauma symptoms

We are there for people with complex psychotrauma symptoms that previous treatments have failed to improve or who cannot be treated elsewhere for other reasons. Examples include people traumatised by their work, such as veterans, police officers, ambulance personnel, firefighters, and journalists.

In addition, in the Netherlands, we treat victims of World War II and their surviving relatives, refugees, children, adolescents, families, and victims of sexual violence. We also treat people close to people with psychotrauma symptoms and people bereaved as a result of crime, a loved one being reported missing, traffic accidents, suicide or euthanasia.
 
Patients we receive often have a combination of psychological symptoms or disorders, such as depression, anxiety, sleep problems, difficulty coping with anger, and addiction symptoms. This may manifest as physical symptoms.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the best-known disorder that can arise after a traumatic event and has a major impact on a person's day-to-day functioning. There are also often problems within the family, at work, within relationships, and in the social environment.

Research and knowledge transfer

Another important core task of ARQ - besides diagnostics, second opinion, treatment and consultation - is scientific research. Scientific research is conducted on an ongoing basis and often results in publications in renowned national and international journals. Our collaboration with universities, funding bodies and other organisations is essential in this regard. 

Innovation

We are constantly developing new treatment methods. For example, we developed the 3MDR method and were the first to also treat the children of veterans. We are currently investigating whether and how psychedelics can aid recovery and are developing new variants of the high-intensity therapy, HITT.

Vocational training

We have a number of professional training courses, including those of healthcare psychologist, clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, doctor in training to become a specialist, and nursing specialist.

Collaboration

ARQ actively seeks to connect with other parties involved in psychotraumatology. We encourage our researchers and PhD students to share their expertise with other professionals and in partnerships, for example with supply chain partners. Exchanging knowledge and expertise with each other enriches professional knowledge and optimises care for patients and clients.