In the Netherlands roughly 90,000 people are currently on a waiting list for specialist mental healthcare. The average wait for a first intake at the GGZ is over 14 weeks (source: NZa). For specialist trajectories that can climb past a year.
Fourteen weeks is a long time when you're not okay right now. In the meantime poor sleep gets worse, ruminating becomes a habit, and the people around you — partner, work, friends — often carry the strain too. That's not a small inconvenience. That's a slow-growing crisis while you wait for help.
The good news: a GGZ waiting list does not mean there is no help. There are legitimate, professional alternatives that are available today — no referral, no GP visit, no bureaucracy. Here are the five most important.
1Online coaching or supportive counselling
Coaches and therapists working through online platforms (such as Gedachten Makelaar) are usually available right away — today, tomorrow, or within a few days. You don't need a referral and you can choose who you talk to.
Who is this for? People struggling with stress, burn-out, relationship problems, life questions, performance anxiety, ruminating, mild to moderate low mood, or anyone looking for someone to listen without judgment. Coaching is not a substitute for specialist care for severe psychiatric conditions (severe depression, psychosis, clinical eating disorders), but for the majority of people on the waiting list it's a fitting alternative.
What coaching offers that the GGZ often does not: flexibility. You book sessions when it suits you, pay per minute or per session, and aren't tied to an X-session trajectory. You start today.
2Vaktherapie (music, art, drama, movement)
Vaktherapie is a working method where you don't only talk about what's going on, but do it, make it, or experience it. In music therapy you work with sound, rhythm or listening; in art therapy with drawing or clay; in drama therapy with acting out scenes.
Vaktherapie is recognised by the FVB and is used to support people through grief, life questions, stress, eating-related struggles and processing of difficult experiences. A big advantage: vaktherapeuten in private practice usually have no GGZ-style waiting list, and you don't need a referral. For clinical diagnoses or treatment of psychiatric disorders the GGZ remains the right place.
Cost: comparable or cheaper than a psychologist. Some supplementary insurances reimburse part of vaktherapie — check with your insurer.
3POH-GGZ at your GP
Almost every GP practice now has a POH-GGZ: a nurse or psychologist working in the practice, specialised in low-threshold mental health support. The wait is usually a few days to 2 weeks.
The POH-GGZ can help with sleep problems, mild depression, stress, relationship problems or grief. Often a few sessions are enough. Plus it's free — covered under basic care, with no own-risk applied to the POH itself.
Call your GP and ask specifically for a POH-GGZ appointment.
4Online self-help with guidance
For people who find it hard to talk about feelings, or who prefer their own pace, there are evidence-based self-help programmes:
- Mirro.nl — free, anonymous, evidence-based
- Therapieland — often reimbursed via your employer or GP
- Mentaal Vitaal (Trimbos) — free, modular
Effective particularly for mild to moderate complaints.
5Peer support
Sometimes you don't need a therapist — you need someone who's been there. Peer organisations offer groups, online forums and 1-on-1 contact, often free:
- MIND Korrelatie — anonymous phone and chat support
- De Luisterlijn — 24/7 listening line
- MIND Atlas — national overview of patient associations
For someone with anxiety, grief or burn-out a group of peers can be at least as valuable as a professional.
When is waiting on the GGZ the right call?
Honestly: not everything works through coaching or vaktherapie. For severe depression, psychosis, trauma with dissociation, clinical eating disorders or suicidal thoughts specialist care is required. In those cases stay on the waiting list — but arrange bridge support while you wait: ask your GP for the POH-GGZ, use De Luisterlijn, don't carry weeks alone.
In acute crisis or with suicidal thoughts: call 113 (Suicide Prevention) or 112 for life-threatening situations.
The thread
Waiting is not a plan. For most complaints people are on the GGZ waiting list for — stress, burn-out, mild depression, relationship problems, ruminating, life questions — there is professional help today. Not because the GGZ is bad, but because the system is overloaded and your complaints don't belong in a waiting room.
Want a conversation today? Browse our coaches and therapists — no waiting list, no referral, from € 1.05/min.