Collaboration between universities wins second prize in the Dutch Education Award for teaching on suicide prevention
The Dutch Education Award is presented to teaching teams that have developed an innovative educational initiative.
29 June 2026
What did De Beurs win the Dutch Education Award for?
Suicide is a major societal problem. Psychologists often encounter it in their work, but for a long time their training paid little coherent attention to it. In this project, nationwide agreements have been made on the knowledge and skills psychologists need at each stage of their training to work with suicidal clients. These agreements have been elaborated into a continuous learning pathway with e-learning modules. Each year, thousands of students and professionals learn scientifically grounded ways to discuss suicidality and to act appropriately and safely.
GGZ guidelines
Beyond this project, De Beurs has worked for years to ensure that research on suicide does not gather dust but helps save lives. In 2025 we spoke to him about updated GGZ (Dutch mental health services) guidelines, to which he contributed. These guidelines help practitioners work with people struggling with thoughts of suicide. Together with colleagues, he trained thousands of professionals in the first set of guidelines as part of his PhD. De Beurs developed a training and an e-learning course for that purpose, for which he is now receiving an award.
Tools for practice
De Beurs does not limit himself to guidelines. For example, he is an editor of the recent handbook on suicidality for GGZ professionals and developed a card game based on the network model of suicidality. He wrote a short popular-science book, ‘Myths about suicide’, and gives workshops and lectures — to GGZ professionals, but also, for example, to experts by experience and funeral professionals. ‘If you make something that society can really use, you stay on the radar. That way I’m invited for new workshops and projects again.’
Allocated time for impact
Creating impact takes time, and you have to find that time somewhere. De Beurs received an Impact Grant from ZonMw to do just that. It allowed him to spend a year applying his research results in practice. ‘If you want to do it properly, it simply takes a lot of time. You really do need to be given the space to do that.’