De Waag — the Netherlands' National Forensic Outpatient Network Treating Domestic-Violence Perpetrators

De Waag is the largest provider of outpatient forensic mental healthcare in the Netherlands, operating from 12 locations nationwide as part of De Forensische Zorgspecialisten. Since starting in 1992 as the outpatient arm of the Van der Hoeven Clinic, it has run a dedicated care pathway for domestic violence treating both perpetrators and, wherever possible, their partners or family members.

Treatment follows two phases: first, clients learn to recognise escalating tension and use de-escalation techniques; second, therapy addresses the underlying relational and psychological patterns that sustain the violence. Delivery is flexible — individual, couple, group, or combined — with voluntary or GP/justice-system referral.

A 2022 study in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence analysed structured risk assessments for 366 male and 87 female De Waag outpatients referred for domestic-violence treatment, finding the criminogenic factors predicting treatment dropout (criminal history, substance abuse, unstable housing, lack of support) differed by gender.

The available evidence documents who is treated and why they drop out, not whether treatment reduces reoffending: no published outcome or recidivism evaluation of the De Waag domestic-violence pathway was located, so effectiveness should be considered unproven rather than demonstrated.