A client-centered approach, in collaboration with (in)formal networks
17 June 2026
On the evening of 17 June 2026, EUCOMS hosted a wonderful webinar bringing together mental health professionals, peer specialists, and practitioners from across Europe to explore network psychiatry as a practical, recovery-oriented framework for community mental health care. The session was warm, engaging, and full of insight and we are proud to share a full recap here.
About the webinar
The webinar centred on a simple but powerful idea: that recovery works best when we stop working just for people and start working with them and with everyone around them — family, friends, peers, and informal support networks. Under the title Promoting recovery using a network-based approach, our three speakers brought this idea to life from three very different but complementary angles: lived experience, clinical psychiatry, and nursing practice.
The promise of network psychiatry — Addy Venderbos
Our webinar opened with a personal and moving contribution from Addy Venderbos, expert by experience and peer specialist. Addy shared what network psychiatry has meant from the perspective of someone who has lived it, not as a professional framework, but as a real experience of being seen, heard, and supported within a network of people who care. His opening set the tone for the entire evening: honest, human, and deeply meaningful.
Basic principles of network psychiatry — Niels Mulder
Niels Mulder, psychiatrist, gave a clear and thorough overview of the core principles of network psychiatry for patients with severe mental illness. He explained how network psychiatry shifts the focus from individual treatment to collaborative care, involving the patient’s broader network in the recovery process in a structured and meaningful way. Niels brought both clinical depth and genuine warmth to a topic that can sometimes feel abstract, making it accessible and relevant for practitioners across disciplines.
Resource groups: the cornerstone of network psychiatry — Marianne van de Linde
Marianne van de Linde, Nurse Practitioner and Family Therapist specialising in addiction care, opened her presentation with a question that stayed with the audience throughout the evening: what happens to the people around the person in recovery? Using the real-life story of Joe and Mary — shared with their permission — she brought the resource group model to life in the most human way possible.
A resource group is a group of people chosen by the client themselves to support their recovery. Built on the principles of autonomy and empowerment, it represents community-based mental health care at its most personal level. The model recognises something easy to overlook: recovery is never just an individual journey. The people around the client are deeply affected too, and they need support of their own.
Through Joe and Mary’s story, Marianne showed what this looks like in practice. When Joe entered treatment for addiction, Mary had been carrying an enormous weight for years — covering for him, managing the household, protecting their children. Her own identity and wellbeing had quietly eroded in the process. The resource group model addresses this directly by mapping the entire social system around the client and bringing key people into the process in a structured way, creating space for shared goals, multiple perspectives, and honest conversations.
What made Marianne’s presentation particularly moving was the outcome. Joe is now abstinent, working as a peer support worker, and in couples therapy with Mary. Their children have language to understand what happened. As Marianne reminded the audience, these success stories matter — and so does the honest acknowledgment that this kind of work requires patience, persistence, and a long-term commitment from everyone involved.
A lively Q&A to close
The presentations were followed by an extended Q&A session that showed just how much appetite there is in our community for this kind of exchange. Questions came in from participants across Europe, and our speakers engaged with them generously and thoughtfully. It was one of those conversations that you wish could go on a little longer.
Watch the full recording
If you missed the webinar or would like to watch it again, the full recording is available on our YouTube channel:
Stay connected
We are grateful to Addy, Niels, and Marianne for sharing their time, expertise, and lived experience with the EUCOMS community. And we are grateful to everyone who joined us on the evening.
If you would like to be the first to hear about future EUCOMS webinars and events, we warmly invite you to subscribe to our newsletter and keep an eye on our upcoming events page here: https://eucomsnetwork.eo.page/ycrrp
We look forward to seeing you at the next one.
EUCOMS Network
