Innovative arts therapies in the mental health care facility – RAAK publiek

The project, which ran between 2011 to 2013, was the product of a specific request from the arts therapists at the Vincent van Gogh mental health care facility to receive support for the development of new interventions for integrated care. The project aims to develop efficient and effective arts therapies, or ‘best practices,’ for people with mental health disorders, which will be applied in the new practice of integrated care. These interventions were developed by creating communities or practices within the organization, after which the interventions were evaluated by means of a process evaluation and impact evaluation. The interventions and the process are relevant to practice and science, and have also been incorporated into the programme curriculum of courses for arts therapies at universities.

This project was made possible by the RAAK-Publiek grant, which stimulates the cooperation and knowledge exchange between universities and professionals from the public sector. This grant is allocated by the Nationaal Regieorgaan Praktijkgericht Onderzoek SIA, the Dutch national coordinating body which promotes and finances practically-oriented research in universities.

The contact person for this project is Susan van Hooren.