Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention Advance Access originally published online on December 11, 2008
Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention 2008 8(4):352-357; doi:10.1093/brief-treatment/mhn022
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Public Subsidized Assistance for Psychological Counseling in the Danish Public National Health Insurance Service
From the Department of Psychology, University of Aarhus
Contact author: Professor Ask Elklit, Clinical Psychologist, Jens Christian Skous Vej 4, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. E-mail: aske{at}psy.au.dk.
In 1992, the Danish governmental National Health Insurance Service came to a provisional agreement (Sygesikringsoverenskomsten) with the Danish Association of Psychologists. The agreement was to financially support a publicly subsidized system for people who have experienced a traumatizing or life-threatening event to be able to receive psychological counseling. The agreement specifies a number of specific incidents that would constitute as qualifying for receiving the subsidized counseling. The Danish system is unique in terms of acknowledging the need for therapy following a traumatic or life-threatening event and financially supporting anyone who meets the criteria. The first evaluation of the agreement investigated the outcome of the counseling services. The evaluation suggested some adjustments and ultimately concluded that the project was a success, which subsequently led to the agreement being made permanent. In April, 2008, the agreement was expanded with the addition of further qualifying categories for which individuals could receive subsidized counseling.
KEY WORDS: subsidized crisis counseling, trauma, health insurance, victims, Denmark