ACCESS NL > ACCESS > How we do it

How we do it

How does ACCESS serve the international community of the Netherlands, and fulfill its mission, to ‘provide unique, comprehensive and essential services nationally? Essentially through the expertise and experience of its volunteer expatriate community‘. Supported by partners, counsellors and trainers.

Our volunteers

It is people who make the difference at ACCESS. More specifically, our community of volunteers who are themselves, in large part, experienced in the process of expatriation. Their empathy plus our 35 plus years of experience is what makes what we do possible. We provide professional volunteering opportunities, and in return, gain the best of people willing to serve others, and grow as they do so.

Our Networks: the Counselling Services Network and the ACCESS Training Network

From the very start, the ACCESS model relied on providing ‘curative’ support to the community. Making available a network of expatriate experienced psychologists to respond to calls for help from the community. Since its inception, ACCESS has had Counsellors on call to receive calls from individuals seeking support for their ‘mental well-being’, and referring them to the most relevant support – be it in terms of language, location or need. The Counselling Services Network (CSN) has been at the heart of ACCESS since 1986. It consists of licensed professionals with practices all over the Netherlands, which regulates itself and is coordinated by an ACCESS Coordinator.

The ACCESS Training Network (ATN) is an extension of the support we can provide. ACCESS Trainers provide training opportunities on topics of relevance to the international community ACCESS serves, in English or other languages. Trainers who work with ACCESS are vetted for their relevancy to the international community. These trainers offer courses aimed at providing opportunities for personal growth; supporting the development of ‘community’; learning something new; preparing for a new direction; cultural adaption; as well as pregnancy and childbirth.

Both the CSN as well as at ATN are the Supportive Networks ACCESS relies on for its day-to-day operations.

Our Partners

All of this is made possible by the support of our Partners – who, like us, are invested in supporting the international community. Their financial contributions to ACCESS allow us to do the rest. Partners, like our volunteers, counsellors, trainers and patrons are screened for their relevance to the community, the services they provide and referrals from internationals.  Click on the links which follow, for information about our partnership opportunities with International Schools or service providers. Employers, wishing to support their international staff members, and their families, and who support ACCESS are referred to as Patrons. You can read about our Patron programme here.

Our Board

ACCESS is supervised by its Advisory Board – professionals with a link to the international community who supervise, participate in discussions about our work, and approve our annual budgets. You can read more about our current Board here.