A group of teenagers is running after a basketball. I see one of them grab the ball and, after a beautiful dribble, throw it into the net. It is May 2018 and I am standing in a sports hall in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. Together with a group of municipal officials from six Dutch municipalities, we are visiting as part of a study trip about the Icelandic prevention approach, aimed at preventing alcohol, drug and tobacco use among young people. Here, we learn what basketball has to do with preventing substance use among young people.

Now, after a three-year pilot in six Dutch municipalities, we have become even more enthusiastic about the Icelandic approach and want to give new municipalities the opportunity to get started with this approach too. That is why municipalities can now register for the implementation programme, which starts on 1 January 2022. What makes us and the pilot municipalities so enthusiastic about this Icelandic approach?

Basketball as part of prevention?

Over the past 20 years, the Icelandic approach has led to an impressive decline in substance use among Icelandic young people. But what does basketball have to do with this? Research shows that meaningful leisure activities are one of the protective factors in preventing substance use among young people. Iceland has therefore invested in all kinds of sports, cultural and music activities for young people. As a result of this investment, it has become completely normal for Icelandic young people to play football four times a week, take music lessons or play basketball.

Translating the Icelandic approach to the Netherlands

Over the past three years, six Dutch municipalities have implemented the Icelandic model in their municipalities as part of a pilot: Amersfoort, Hardenberg, the Kempengemeenten partnership (Bergeijk, Bladel, Eersel, Reusel-De Mierden), Súdwest-Fryslân, Texel and Urk. The Trimbos Institute and the Netherlands Youth Institute supported this pilot in cooperation with the Icelandic Centre for Social Research and Analysis (ICSRA).

During the pilot, we worked together to translate the approach from Iceland to the Netherlands. Municipalities and their local partners work together to create a healthy environment for their young people. The focus is on the areas of leisure time, family, school and the peer group (friends and peers), within which risk factors are reduced and protective factors are strengthened.

The results of the pilot in the Netherlands

During the pilot, we saw what the Icelandic model can achieve. The model offers municipalities an accessible way to use science and local data as the basis for their youth policy. We have also seen a considerable improvement in cooperation between municipalities, municipal health services, schools, youth work, addiction care, sports clubs and all kinds of other local organisations. We see that this improved cooperation creates a great deal of enthusiasm and support among municipalities and their local partners. These organisations are better able to find one another and jointly discuss local data about their young people. This enables them to determine the direction of youth policy together.

This has led to various prevention activities in the municipalities, such as free sports, music and cultural activities, theatre evenings for parents about their children, and attention to wellbeing in schools. All six pilot municipalities, as well as those of us at the Trimbos Institute and the Netherlands Youth Institute, are enthusiastic about this refreshing approach. It is therefore no surprise that the pilot municipalities recommend that other municipalities also start working in the Icelandic way.

Would you like to get started with the Icelandic model in your municipality?

From January 2022, a new implementation programme will start for municipalities that want to get to work with the Icelandic prevention model. Registration for this programme is now open. Visit our page about the implementation programme for more information about the programme, the conditions and the registration procedure.

Would you like to know more about the Icelandic model and the results of the pilot?