Youth care in the Netherlands has been under pressure for decades, and the consequences are visible: more young people, with heavier mental health issues, reaching the system later than they should. Schools sit close to the problem but rarely have the language for it. Topics like mental health and addiction barely show up in the curriculum. In collaboration with Garage 2020, I developed What is Normal?!, a tool that helps high school students open up conversations about exactly these topics. It was co-created with youth care experts, educators, and policymakers, so it works in the reality of a classroom rather than against it.

The goal is simple: shift care from reactive to preventive by giving young people, and the adults around them, a starting point for talking about what's actually going on.