Can I talk about everything here? An understandable first question that young adult that chat or call ask. I typed what I usualy say: “You can say anything you want. And don't tell what you don't like to say. I am listening to you!"

The boy on the chat hadn't been feeling well for a while. He thought his situation was hopeless. “What is going on and what can I do for you?” I asked. He said he was really motivated to work on himself and he had already discussed everything with the general practitioner. "But I've been sent from pillar to post ever since". And now that he had been put on a waiting list for specialist mental health care again, he no longer needed it. "I don't mean with life or anything, but with working on myself," he added. "It all feels so hopeless and I no longer have faith in it."

This topic comes up relatively often in conversations, I also hear that from my colleagues. Young adults who are on a waiting list for mental health care and who are often referred. So was this boy. Now he had to wait another 15 weeks before it was his turn. He had lost hope.

Neither of us can change those waiting lists, so I'm focusing on what I can do for him now. And on what he himself had already done, because that was really a lot. “It is great that you have already taken so many steps, and that you are now contacting us again. How can you bridge the time between today and that appointment?

While talking we came up with the option of calling in the practice nurse through the general practitioner. To occasionally make an appointment with him/her and have an anchor during the week. It is not yet the help he needs, but it makes the process less hopeless. In the meantime, he also started to ensure a good daily structure and maybe pick up a nice hobby to pass the time better.

“And don't hesitate to contact us again,” I concluded. Thanks, the chat conversation had helped him a lot for today, he said last.