The 2025 recipient of the Leadership Excellence Award for the Netherlands is Juliët Holtschlag.

In the Netherlands, lived experience is driving national policy, product development, and clinical standards, ensuring that digital mental health is safe, inclusive, and human.

At the heart of this leadership is a deep commitment to co-creation. From the outset, Juliët Holtschlag ensures that technology amplifies empathy rather than replacing it. She focuses on ethics, data exchange, and privacy, translating complex research into practical, plain-language guidance used by clinicians, policymakers, and the media.

Her collaborative approach builds common ground while keeping the voices of young people and those with lived experience front and centre.

For championing responsible, human-centred innovation that puts people before platforms, Juliët Holtschlag exemplifies leadership, impact, and meaningful contribution to mental health care.

Congratulations to Juliët Holtschlag.