Not-for-profit organisation ACCESS offers courses and workshops to help you understand how things operate in the Netherlands: from Dutch culture through having a baby in Holland to fitness and relaxation, along with free consultation and help with issues related to life in the Netherlands.

I didn’t know where to start,” says Jennifer from Chicago, based in Den Hague with her husband on short-term assignment. Jennifer, a journalist by profession, hasn’t found a suitable job in the Netherlands yet and felt in her words “like I was rattling around the house” on arrival.

“One of my husband’s colleagues suggested that I get in touch with ACCESS, an organisation which offers free help and advice for expats. I gave them a call and found it reassuring to speak to a woman who was in a similar position to me. She suggested that I follow a course in Dutch culture and I did so. It gave me some focus as well as helping me to understand the Dutch better,” says Jennifer, who has since found a job.

As well as running courses about Dutch culture, fitness and relaxation, ACCESS runs anti-natal courses for expectant parents, anti-natal yoga, a breastfeeding workshop, baby massage and a course on what to expect from the Dutch healthcare system if you are planning on having children in the Netherlands.

“One of our most popular products is our baby courses, which are nearly always oversubscribed,” says Vicky Reynolds, ACCESS volunteer dealing with the PR/Marketing issues. “We publish baby book 'Babies and Toddlers' which gives a complete overview of the Dutch maternal healthcare system and have several other publications about life in the Netherlands available on our website. Among these is our popular calendar  which has a handy reference section with useful phone numbers.”

Claire, an Irish expat who moved on her own to Amsterdam in 2007 to “start a new life” says of ACCESS: “It was great to meet new people and I was really impressed about how much the organisation really does; particularly with their workshops.”
 
The Amsterdam office has now been running since 2003 and Vicky notes that it seems to be serving a slightly different international community from that in The Hague.  

“In Amsterdam we have a lot more single people and childless couples and more entrepreneurs who are coming here without the safety net of an international organisation to help them with some of the basics of setting up in a new country.  

Japanese Helpdesk
Understanding the international community around Amsterdam also led us to establish a Japanese Helpdesk last year to mirror the function of the English-speaking Helpdesk.  Their phone number is 020 423 3217, email soudanmadoguchi@gmail.com.
 
“The Helpdesks (phone number 020 423 3217, email helpdesk-ams@access-nl.org) answer phone and email queries for free from anyone.  These range from help in sorting out a residence permit to finding a hairdresser.  One of the important functions of the Helpdesk is a counselling referral service.  We can refer people anonymously to a duty counsellor who will help them to find the right specialist counsellor in the right language for their specific issue.
 
Helping non-native English speakers
ACCESS receives regular queries from people who are not native English speakers.  

“For many people who are only planning to be in the Netherlands for a few years, the prospect of learning Dutch is too daunting so they use English as their language of communication.  ACCESS can always help people to find a language course in Dutch or English,” says Vicky.
 
Expat services
The organisation continues to build links with the Amsterdam City Council and is currently working closely with the Foreign Investment Office and the Topstad programme to develop services to help expats. A recent important initiative supported by Topstad is the Expatcenter, which opened in Amsterdam on 17 June. The Expatcenter currently offers a one-stop service to ‘Knowledge Migrants’ who live and work in the Amsterdam and Amstelveen areas. It is a joint initiative with both cities and Dutch Immigration Services (the IND) to bring together the legalisation procedure and information on all expat-related services into one centralised location. After this initial phase, the Expatcenter hopes to expand its services to include more cities, companies and more expats than only those fitting into the Knoweledge Migrant category.

ACCESS is also working closely with the Chamber of Commerce. “In particular, we are looking to form partnerships with HR departments around Amsterdam who have a number of non-Dutch employees.  By working together with the employees and their families we are sure we can help them to ensure much more productive and successful assignments in Amsterdam,” says Vicky.
 
Making it work
ACCESS is a not-for-profit organisation and has no permanent source of funding.  “We are constantly looking a ways to raise money to enable use to continue to offer our services.  One of the most important sources of funding for us comes from companies that sponsor us in exchange for help we offer to their customers and/or employees. We have a number of packages that we can offer to sponsors; with the most basic starting at EUR 1500.  In addition, we are always interested in talking to organisations about bespoke packages,” says Vicky.  

Anna Lysenko, Director of ACCESS Amsterdam, adds that one of the most popular services with corporate clients is ‘ACCESSing Amsterdam’ an interactive workshop for the newcomers to the Amsterdam area which helps the expats to settle easily in their new life in the Netherlands. For more information about this and other ACCESS services you can contact our office at amsterdam@access-nl.org

If you’d like to understand what working as a volunteer for ACCESS entails then read this account by ACCESS volunteer Susan Gould in Expatica article Helping yourself by helping others.

The ACCESS Amsterdam offices are shortly moving to an address near Amsterdam’s WTC (World Trade Center) which is situated in Prinses Irenestraat, 59 (1077 WV Amsterdam) just a few minutes away from the new Expatcenter.

You can visit the ACCESS website at www.access-nl.org.

27 June 2008 

Have you checked out our newly published article: Your survival guide to living in the Netherlands, which links to our most often requested resources.

[Copyright Expatica 2008]