Mental health in Brussels

Just as most of us will have moments in our lives when we need to seek the advice of a medical doctor for some physical ailment, many of us will also encounter times when we feel that we could use the guidance of a mental health professional. Unlike physical ailments, however, mental health still carries with it a stigma. While no one stays silent or tells half-truths to employers or loved ones about having the flu or a sprained ankle, many hide psychological distress.

People who have migrated to Belgium, whether for work or family, have their own set of stressors: language difficulties, needing to adapt to a new environment, not understanding how society and services work, loneliness or homesickness.

To stay healthy and resilient, it’s important to know where you can get help when you experience these stressors, whether it's to combat serious psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety or addiction or to improve general wellbeing, interpersonal relations or self-efficacy in daily life through.

Community Help Service
Of course, many mental health services in Brussels are offered in Dutch and French, but there are also a number of resources for people speaking other languages, especially English.

One of the best places to start for psychological services in English is the Community Help Service (CHS), a non-profit organisation providing mental health services to people who feel more comfortable using English in Belgium. Along with therapeutic support, CHS has a 24-hour crisis helpline and offers educational testing for children with learning difficulties.

The free helpline is run by trained volunteers and overseen by mental health professionals who offer a listening ear to anyone in need, whether it’s an immediate crisis or just someone wanting to hear a friendly voice. They also have a long list of useful contacts that can help you with more practical issues, such as finding doctors, dentists, lawyers, or even plumbers and electricians.

CHS also has a team of psychologists, psychiatrists and psychotherapists who offer therapy and counselling in English and other languages including Spanish, German and Romanian.

The cost of seeing a therapist at CHS depends on several factors, including which insurance (mutuelle) you use. The centre pledges that “no one will be turned away for lack of funds”, so it is possible to negotiate treatment costs according to a sliding scale based on your means.

Addressing particular issues
Some people seek mental health services with very specific aims. This could be to address feelings of depression or anxiety, to prepare for or process a big change happening in life, or to deal with grief or addiction. There are also myriad therapeutic approaches that you can explore, such as psychoanalysis (think: Freud), cognitive behavioural therapy or Gestalt therapy.

Throughout Brussels there are a number of licensed professionals who specialise in particular issues or take certain approaches. For example, Anastasia Christidou offers Gestalt-based psychotherapy in English and Greek. Jo Everatt runs Antenatal and Baby, providing counselling and guidance specifically for parents-to-be. These include courses on what to expect during pregnancy, preparing for the birth and postnatal period, and breastfeeding support. AngloInfo provides a helpful list of English-speaking mental health professionals.

Mindfulness: a not-so-alternative therapy
In the last decade or so mindfulness, a practice of awareness and being in the present moment through meditative and breath-focused techniques with its origins in Buddhist thought, has been elbowing its way into mainstream psychological practices.

One of the most popular ways of learning how to be mindful is through an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) course like those designed by University of Massachusetts researcher Jon Kabat-Zinn. Over the last several decades, Kabat-Zinn has combined the Buddhist tradition of mindfulness practice with Western cognitive psychology to create a behavioural training programme aimed at helping people learn to better handle stress, anxiety and negative emotions.

You can take the course in Brussels in April at the Institute for Attention and Mindfulness (IAM) or at the Brussels Mindfulness Institute in May. Both of these eight-week courses are in English and based on Kabat-Zinn’s research into mindfulness and behavioural and thought change. They cost €330 (at IAM) and €397 (at the Brussels Mindfulness Institute), including all materials like books and audio downloads.

Photo: Ingimage