Eric Broekaert (1951-2016)

Eric Broekaert
Eric Broekaert

For more than 25 years, Prof. Dr. Eric Broekaert was the chairman and inspirer of the Department of Special Needs Education at Ghent University. Eric Broekaert obtained his PhD with a study on 'the drug-free therapeutic community as a new approach of orthopedagogical intervention'. Also, he founded the first drug-free therapeutic community in Belgium (De Kiem, 1976).

He was a Full Professor at Ghent University and he supervised numerous national and international studies on educational interventions for adults with substance use disorders and children with emotional and behavioral disorders. He was involved as a scientific expert in a number of EU- and UN-projects. Eric Broekaert supervised about 20 PhD-studies and was a member of several advisory boards and guidance committees of PhD- students.

Eric Broekaert authored a large number of scientific publications: he published more than 150 articles in international peer-reviewed journals and published in almost all high-ranked journals in the field of substance abuse and psychiatry. In addition, he wrote more than 20 books and numerous book chapters. Eric Broekaert was also an ‘ad hoc’ reviewer for several international journals and a co-editor of the International Journal of Therapeutic Communities.

Eric Broekaert was a co-founder of the European Federation of Therapeutic Communities (EFTC) and of its scientific branch, the European Working Group on Drugs Oriented Research (EWODOR). For many years, he was the chair of the board of the Orthopedagogical Observation and Treatment Centre ‘Nieuwe Vaart’ in Ghent. Prof. Broekaert organized several national and international conferences. He was a keynote speaker at several international events and presented his research at the prestigious Great Amphitheatre of the Sorbonne in Paris (2008), Keble College at the University of Oxford (2011) and Royal College of Psychiatry of the University of London (2013).

Selected publications

Broekaert, E., Autrique, M., Vanderplasschen, W. & Colpaert, K. (2010). "The human prerogative": A Critical Analysis of Evidence-Based and other Paradigms of Care in Substance Abuse Treatment. Psychiatric Quarterly, 81(3), 227-238.

De Maeyer, J., Vanderplasschen, W., & Broekaert, E. (2010). Quality of life among opiate-dependent individuals: A review of the literature. International Journal of Drug Policy, 21(5), 364-380.

Broekaert, E. (2009). Naar een integratieve handelingsorthopedagogiek [Towards an integrative theory of orthopedagogical acting]. Garant: Antwerpen/Apeldoorn

Colins, O., Vermeiren, R., Schuyten, G. & Broekaert, E. (2009). Psychiatric Disorders in Property, Violent, and Versatile Offending Detained Male Adolescents. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 79(1), 31-38.

Broekaert, E., Vandevelde, S., Soyez, V., Yates, R. & Slater, A. (2006). The third generation of therapeutic communities: The early development of the TC for addictions in Europe. European Addiction Research, 12(1), 1-11.

Derluyn, I., Broekaert, E., Schuyten, G. & De Temmerman, E. (2004). Post-traumatic stress in former Ugandan child soldiers. Lancet, 363(9412), 861-863.

Broekaert, E., Van Hove, G., Bayliss, P. & D'Oosterlinck, F. (2004). The search for an integrated paradigm of care models for people with handicaps, disabilities and behavioural disorders at the Department of Orthopedagogy of Ghent University. Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities, 39(9), 206-216.

Broekaert, E., Vandevelde, S., Schuyten, G., Erauw, K. & Bracke, R. (2004). Evolution of encounter group methods in therapeutic communities for substance abusers. Addictive Behaviors, 29(2), 231-244.

Broekaert, E. & Vanderplasschen, W. (2003). Towards the integration of treatment systems for substance abusers: Report on the second international symposium on substance abuse treatment and special target groups. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 35(2), 237-245.

Broekaert, E., Vanderplasschen, W., Temmerman, I., Ottenberg, D.J. & Kaplan, C. (2000). Retrospective study of similarities and relations between American drug-free and European therapeutic communities for children and adults. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 32(4), 407-417.


An overview of all publications can be found here.

Contact

Postal address:
Henri Dunantlaan 2
B-9000 Gent

Visiting address:
Begijnhoflaan 464
B-9000 Gent

Tel: ..32 (0)9 331 03 03
Fax: ..32 (0)9 331 03 15
Email: Eric.Broekaert@UGent.be