The Academic Collaborative Center Shift Left is a Mental Health Innovation Lab. This lab focuses on prevention, early treatment and relapse prevention in mental health problems and disorders (such as anxiety, depression, suicidality). ‘Shift Left’ refers to an approach from ICT, where testing, evaluation and development are started very early in the process.

The goal of Shift Left is to make processes as efficient as possible by innovating intake procedures, treatment matching and interventions.  We apply this principle in order to provide efficient help to people with mental health problems, mental conditions and caregivers. We aim to develop alternative intake procedures and innovate and test brief interventions. This includes interventions that can be deployed promptly in mental health care, but also in GP practices and in the social domain. And for people on the mental health care waiting list.

This Mental Health Innovation Lab Arkin focuses, among other things, on personalised E-health for treatment matching and digital interventions, using the social domain in interventions (such as community workers) and targeting family and social connection to deal with mental health problems and conditions. Shift Left is embedded in ‘de Voordeur’ of Arkin where all referrals to mental health Arkin are processed. Including preventive interventions and in primary care (POH).