Overview
The Belgian town of Geel is known for its tradition of hosting people with mental disorders in the homes of foster families. A form of psychiatric care, the community-based practice encourages the social participation of mentally-vulnerable people while destigmatizing mental illness. Over time, the practice has evolved into a scientifically and medically supported programme, with laws and decrees defining the conditions, responsibilities and rights of foster families, guests and the Public Psychiatric Care Centre. Despite its resilience, this tradition is challenged by changes in modern society and mental health care. To respond to these challenges, local organizations and councils work together on a multi-layered safeguarding programme aimed at: (a) transmitting the practice and its history; (b) researching the model from historical, medical and anthropological perspectives; and (c)...
This record is imported from the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage public dataset as discovery metadata. ARED has not independently verified community authority, access protocols or local naming beyond the source record.
Community and Authority
- Communities
- Belgium
- Languages
- Not specified in UNESCO dataset
- Cultural territories
- Belgium
- Countries
- Belgium
How the System Works
The Belgian town of Geel is known for its tradition of hosting people with mental disorders in the homes of foster families. A form of psychiatric care, the community-based practice encourages the social participation of mentally-vulnerable people while destigmatizing mental illness. Over time, the practice has evolved into a...
Sources and Evidence
Imported from UNESCO DataHub dataset ich001. Field-level provenance is retained in the record metadata.
Field-Level Provenance
- title
- UNESCO DataHub field title_en
- preferredTitle
- UNESCO DataHub field title_fr
- summary
- UNESCO DataHub field description_en
- type
- UNESCO DataHub fields type_of_element_en and type_acronym
- countries
- UNESCO DataHub field countries, ISO codes resolved with ISO-3166 regional metadata
- categories
- ARED category inference from UNESCO concepts_primary_names, concepts_secondary_names and title
- relationships
- UNESCO concepts_primary_names, concepts_secondary_names, type fields and World Heritage links
- sourceUrl
- UNESCO DataHub field http_url_en
- rights
- UNESCO DataHub dataset metadata license and license_url
Original Source Metadata
Why This Record Is Credible
This public record is connected to 1 source and has been labelled Source Supported. ARED separates evidence sources from cultural authority so users can see both provenance and review limits.
Cultural Access
Use this as public discovery metadata only. It does not replace community authority or local access protocols.
Relationships
Review and Corrections
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