Both student unions and the Minister of Education, Culture and Science have been sounding the alarm in recent weeks: student wellbeing is at precarious levels. To address this, medical student Coen Vulders (23) is starting the Open Book Nijmegen initiative. ‘It will be a platform where students with problems can tell their story.’

Open Book Nijmegen will open on 6 January with a symposium on depression. Coen Vulders wants to organise these symposia a few times a year in order to enable mental health issues to be discussed more openly. ‘Psychologists and young experts – students and former students – will be invited to talk about things like loneliness, depression and eating problems,’ he says. ‘The audience can then ask anything they want. In this way I hope to start a dialogue.’

The idea for the initiative came from Vulders himself. ‘I was in therapy and can easily talk about such things, partly because I could always go to family and friends. They helped me out of my depression, but unfortunately not everyone has such a safety net. Too many people are alone with their problems. With Open Book Nijmegen, I want to offer them the opportunity to tell their story.’

English Language

Vulders sees the initiative as a supplement to, for example, the student psychologist or the online platform Frisse Gedachtes, where students can chat with psychology students or experts by experience. ‘These organizations are focused on providing help. Above all, I want to enable people to talk more openly about these issues, so that the students know that they are not alone. In addition, I would like to work with these organisations so that we can complement each other.’

‘I want to enable people to talk more openly about these issues’

That is why Vulders is organizing the first symposium together with Frisse Gedachtes, but also because it was difficult for him to assess whether there was a real need for Open Book Nijmegen. ‘I can test this together with Frisse Gedachtes,’ he says. If it catches on, Vulders also wants to organise symposia in English and offer online help. ‘I’m envisioning videos for students with problems. Their stories are more in line with the target group than, for example, stories of working people. But I don’t want to go too fast – first I need to see if these symposia are going to work.’

Open Book Nijmegen has a page on Facebook and on Instagram.