They deliver social and economic added value from knowledge about mental health and the (prevention of) use of tobacco, alcohol and drugs in order to improve the quality of life.

Core themes and life course

They focus on five core themes; alcohol, drugs, tobacco, common mental disorders and serious mental disorders. They take the life course perspective as a starting point. They work out each theme in a multidisciplinary and integral range of monitoring, prevention, treatment and care.

Their spearheads

• developing new treatment methods, care standards, guidelines, interventions and prevention programs;
• signaling and monitoring psychological problems, addiction and use of alcohol, drugs and tobacco;
• research and evaluation of mental health care and addiction care: organization, accessibility, quality and (cost) effectiveness;
• informing policy makers, politicians and professionals about the mental health of the Dutch population;
• offering training and courses for a wide range of target groups: from mental healthcare professionals and addiction care, POH-GGZ and general practitioners, police and justice to employees of municipalities, catering and schools;
• public information about psychological problems, addiction and use of alcohol, drugs and tobacco;
• promoting exchange and sharing of knowledge by bringing organizations and individuals at local level and globally in contact with each other.

The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport and ZonMW are important clients. But GGZ institutions, health insurers, client organizations, GGZ Nederland, municipal authorities, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MATRA), Senter, UNAIDS, European institutions and many other organizations also know where to find the Trimbos institute.

Short history

The Trimbos Institute was established in 1996 from the merger of the Dutch Center for Mental Health (NcGv) and the Netherlands Institute for Alcohol and Drugs (NIAD).

The institute is named after the psychiatrist Kees Trimbos (1920-1988). From 1977 to 1988 he was chairman of the NcGv and throughout his life an enthusiastic advocate of mental public health in the Netherlands.

The extent and nature of psychological (in) health is one of the greatest challenges facing their society in evolution

- Kees Trimbos 1920-1988, inaugural lecture 1969: social evolution and psychiatry.