Create your own life
Chronic loneliness changes the brain in ways that make connecting seem impossible and that cannot be undone alone. Creatief Leven is a 8 week course of 2,5 hours lessons. Creatief Leven (Create your own life) directly addresses that neurological barrier first. Guided by loneliness experts trained by Faktor5, participants gain the understanding and skills they need to rebuild a social life that truly fits them.
What it sets out to do
It helps people change their 'lonely brains' into brains that are open to learning mad teaches them how to positively deal with loneliness and with relationshops in their futute life.
Who it reaches
Netherlands, available in English on demand
Who runs it
Faktor5
What seems to make it work
The well-trained specialists are key. They know how to help participants relax their threat-alert brain in the company of others (which is precisely where that brain expects danger). A strict rule applies throughout: no negative thoughts or experiences are expressed, by specialists or participants. Combined with creative activity as a low-stakes entry point, this forms the neurological safety the brain needs before any real rebuilding can begin.
Once that foundation is in place, the course shifts into intensive personal coaching within the group. Participants learn to take an honest look at their life and relationships, identify what is missing, and make concrete plans to build the social life that fits them.
What gets in the way
The most significant challenge was submitting Creatief Leven to a government-appointed evaluation committee which was a two-year process that demanded considerable funds, time and energy. The outcome was genuinely encouraging: the committee called the intervention 'a true pearl among the rest.' Government support, however, did not follow in any meaningful way.
In hindsight, the process pulled the method away from where it truly belongs: the professional training market, where people choose this approach because they believe in it and not because an institution sends them.
It was a valuable lesson. One I would not need to learn twice.
How it is funded
Faktor5
Moving it somewhere else
It was not only peer reviewed, it was oficially reviewd by a national committee. It would work in any culture that supports the development of human beings.
It is to be found in the Dutch national database: https://www.movisie.nl/interventie/creatief-leven
The record
- Lead organisation
- Faktor5
- Target populations
- General population
- Countries
- Netherlands
- Evaluation status
- Peer-reviewed evaluation
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Publication
- https://faktor5.nl/
- Contributed by
- Jeannette Rijks - independent researcher and developer of loneliness interventions
These details are reported by the member who registered the intervention.
Where this entry comes from
This description was submitted to the LONELY-EU mapping of what is being done about loneliness across Europe. It is published in the language it was written in, and reproduced as it was given to us. The contributor gave permission to be named. Recorded aim: prevention and support.
If this entry is yours and something in it is wrong, or you would like it taken down, write to the Ties moderation team quoting its reference. Consent given to the mapping can be withdrawn at any time.
Cite this entry
Jeannette Rijks - independent researcher and developer of loneliness interventions (2026). Create your own life. LONELY-EU Intervention Registry, entry LEU-044. https://buddyboss.silc-exchange.com/interventions/create-your-own-life/
Reference LEU-044 is permanent. If the entry is corrected later, the reference stays the same.
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