After 12 years I will be leaving ARQ on April 30th for a new job. Hobbe Jan Hiemstra will become the new eMEN project leader as of April 1st. He has been involved in the project since its start in 2016.
It has been a very interesting 12 years at ARQ. During this time I was able to successfully develop many different projects in the field of mental health treatment, research and policy. In 2015 I started with the development of the eMEN project, which was approved by Interreg NWE in May 2016. I have been project leader since the start of the project. It has been a challenging but rewarding project journey.
With eMEN we have been able to successfully take a new approach with regard to e-mental health development and implementation. We have also learned a lot about the different mental health care systems in the eMEN partners countries: Germany, France, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland. During our many partner meetings in North-West-Europe we were able to find common ground and learn from the different clinical and cultural approaches towards mental health care, which was a very enlightening experience.
The COVID-19 crisis has been a catalyzer for the implementation of e-mental health – it will also have a long lasting impact on mental health demand. With e-mental health we can keep mental health care accessible and affordable for everyone. The project’s capitalization phase will further increase the implementation of e-mental health.
I would hereby like to thank all the eMEN partners for their excellent contributions to the project and I wish them good luck and inspiration during the finalization of the capitalization phase. I would also like to thank everyone else who has supported the eMEN project.
Sincerely,
Oyono Vlijter
