Ghent (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The government cut funding for mental health groups, leaving Ghent’s vzw TEJO with a loss of 400,000 euros. The city gave 30,000 euros to help, but more support is needed.
The government promised to give 3 million euros every year to help young people’s mental health in big cities. This money was supposed to last until the end of 2025. But the government changed its mind and stopped the money a year early. The groups in Ghent, like vzw TEJO, lost more than 400,000 euros.
vzw TEJO helps young people with mental health problems, and they use volunteers to do this. Officials mentioned that because of the loss of money, they can’t pay the people who manage the volunteers. They said that this is a big problem for vzw TEJO because they need these managers to help them run their programs and support the volunteers.
How will Ghent’s TEJO and other groups cope with funding cuts?
The city of Ghent helped vzw TEJO by giving them 30,000 euros. This helped them keep going and pay their workers. But the city’s subsidy isn’t enough to replace all the money the government took away. vzw TEJO and other groups that help young people with mental health problems are now worried about how they will get the subsidies they need.
TEJO is a group in Ghent that helps kids and teens with mental health problems. They offer free therapy and let people come without an appointment. They mentioned that this makes it easy for young people to get help when they need it. TEJO is open after school and on weekends.
They help about 284 new people every year. According to the officials, TEJO is important because it helps young people who might not be able to get help anywhere else. But now, TEJO doesn’t have enough money because the government stopped giving them extra subsidies.
“Half of the supply was in danger of disappearing due to the loss of federal support,”
says Alderman Astrid De Brucker (For Ghent).
“We are intervening, the mental well-being of young people is a huge social challenge,”
she further emphasizes.
According to the officials, the subsidy problems at TEJO are affecting other groups in Ghent that help young people, too. Groups like Touché and OverKop, which also offer mental health support, are struggling.
They mentioned that even bigger groups like CAW and OCMW have to change their plans because they don’t have enough money. The city of Ghent is talking to the government to get more subsidies for groups like TEJO. They want to make sure these groups can keep helping young people with mental health problems.
