Foreword
In the annual review, we usually give a picture of what we did in the previous year. This time it’s different. As we are celebrating ARQ’s golden anniversary this year, we have opted for a jubilee annual review. We look back at how ARQ came to be, talk about what we did in 2022 and look ahead to the future. It’s like a walk through time. Through interviews with scientists, practitioners, clients and patients, a kaleidoscopic picture emerges of the multifaceted organisation that ARQ has become.
Over time, the groups that ARQ focuses on have changed: from resistance fighters and victims of the Second World War in the Netherlands and the former Dutch East Indies to the refugees of today, from veterans and police officers to healthcare workers – and groups are still being added. However diverse, all these people continue to ask for compassion and recognition as well as our professional approach. And at ARQ, we know: if you don’t feel connected to those around you, then you have no support for treatment, training or advice.
Connection not only characterises the relationship between the ARQ practitioner and the person with psychotrauma seeking help. ARQ is also connected to the families with a heavy mental burden either due to a traumatised parent or because they are fleeing war and violence. In 2022, much of our work was therefore related to the war in Ukraine. Our sense of connection also applies to the people affected by a disaster, such as the MH-17 disaster, a flood or an earthquake.
A lot has changed in the last 50 years. But one thing has remained important: ‘Connected. Then, now and in the future’, is the motto of our jubilee year.
ARQ’s work cannot exist without the committed efforts of many different people. People who walk with us in time. The researchers, practitioners and support staff employed by ARQ. The patients and clients from whom ARQ employees learn. Financiers who support us with money from governments, funds or a private bank account. Organisations we work together with to fulfil our role towards those affected as best as possible. And the Supervisory Board, the Works Council and the Patient Council who ensure that our human work is done as well as possible. Many thanks to all of you for your indispensable contribution to our still so necessary work.
Jan-Wilke Reerds
Chair of the Board of Directors of ARQ
Ate Osinga
Member of the Board of Directors of ARQ