The Yes We Can Coach is accused of targeting severely ill women with anorexia, telling them to cut themselves, strip and send him naked photos.

Dutch reporting writes that this was allegedly happening during the period he was employed as a counsellor at Yes We Can Clinics, not simply years after he left.

Dutch crime reporting has identified Jesse P, a former employee of Yes We Can Clinics, as the man at the centre of a major sexual abuse investigation involving vulnerable women suffering from eating disorders. Crime Station says the alleged abuse and mistreatment went on for years and involved at least 14 women. (Spotify⁠)
By December 2025, Dutch reporting said 15 complaints had been made against him. (Headliner.nl⁠)

The allegations are horrific.
According to reporting on the police investigation, Jesse P allegedly:
• Targeted women who were seriously ill, many of them suffering from anorexia
• Contacted them using approximately 500 different Snapchat accounts
• Presented himself as a kind of weight loss coach
• Ordered vulnerable women to take their clothes off
• Told them to send him naked photographs
• Allegedly instructed women to cut themselves
• Told women with eating disorders that they could burn calories by having sex
• Used their obsession with weight and calories as part of the alleged manipulation
(Headliner.nl⁠)

At one court hearing it was reported that investigators had added approximately 1,500 pages of new material to the criminal case file in a single week. Specialist sexual offences detectives were involved. His request to be released from detention was refused.

Sources include Panorama, Mick van Wely’s Crime Station reporting, RTL and reporting of the Dordrecht court proceedings by RTV Rijnmond.

I survived what I believe to be a cult: the truth about Yes We Can Youth Clinics

I was only a teenager when I was sent to Yes We Can Youth Clinics in the Netherlands. I went there for help and came out completely convinced they had saved my life.

I now believe I was brainwashed.

For 10 weeks I lived inside an extremely controlled environment. For the first five weeks I was cut off from my family. My phone, passport and money were taken. When I eventually got phone calls, they were monitored.

We were controlled down to how we spoke. If I wanted to say something in a group, I had to put my arm out and wait for permission.

I was pressured to share incredibly private details about my trauma, sex life and past in front of other people. I was publicly sexually humiliated and blamed for being raped.

They took me off all my medication. I became seriously mentally unwell.

I also started changing. I repeated their language. I confronted other patients. I shamed people who were struggling because I genuinely believed I was helping them. If someone cried, disagreed or struggled with the programme, it could be called self pity, manipulation or attention seeking.

Then towards the end, the way I was treated changed. I was praised, given privileges and made to feel special. Looking back, I believe it was love bombing.

I left obsessed with the place. I defended it. Other former patients went back to promote it. Some even got Yes We Can tattoos.

That is why I call it cult like. They did not have to force me to defend them once I left. I did it myself.

It took me years to understand what had happened.

If you went to Yes We Can, worked there, or had a family member there, please contact me. You can stay anonymous.

shareyourstory.truth@gmail.com

I was a child when I was sent to Yes We Can Youth Clinics in the Netherlands.
I thought I was going there to get better.
Ten weeks later, I came out believing they had saved my life.
I defended them. I repeated their language. I believed in the programme so completely that I could not see what had happened to me.
Now, years later, I believe I was brainwashed.
From the moment I arrived, control was everywhere.
My phone was taken.
My passport was taken.
My money was taken.
For ten weeks, I was cut off from my family. When I was eventually allowed phone calls, they were monitored.
Even speaking required permission.
If I wanted to say something in a group, I had to put my arm out and wait until I was allowed to talk.
I was pressured to reveal deeply private details about my trauma, my sex life and my past in front of other people.
I was sexually humiliated in public.
I was blamed for being raped.
I was taken off all my medication.
My mental health deteriorated badly.
And then something even more frightening happened.
I started becoming part of it.
I learned the language.
I used it on other patients.
I confronted people. I shamed people who were struggling. I believed that crying could be self-pity, that disagreement could be manipulation, that distress could be attention-seeking.
At the time, I thought I was helping them.
That is one of the hardest things for me to live with.
Then, near the end of my stay, everything changed.
The criticism softened.
I was praised.
I was given privileges.
I was made to feel special.
Chosen.
Successful.
Looking back, I believe this was love bombing.
By the time I left, they barely needed to convince me of anything anymore.
I was doing it for them.
I defended the clinic.
I spoke about it like it had rescued me.
Other former patients returned to promote it. Some even got Yes We Can tattoos..
Because the most disturbing part was not that I was forced to defend them.
It was that, once I left, nobody had to force me at all.
I did it willingly.
It took me years to understand that the person who walked out of that clinic was not the same person who had walked in.
And it took even longer to question why.
If you attended Yes We Can Youth Clinics, worked there, or had a family member who went through the programme, I want to hear from you.
You can remain anonymous.
You do not have to defend what happened to you.
You do not have to minimise it.
And you do not have to tell your story alone.

Shareyourstory.truth@Gmail.com

13 former patients and two former staff members told The Telegraph they experienced serious mistreatment at the clinic.

ARTICLE ON TELEGRAPH

Young women who had survived rape or sexual assault allege they were publicly blamed, humiliated and shamed during group therapy. One former patient says a staff member told her: “Your rape was your fault because you were too busy doing drugs.” Yes We Can says any staff member doing this would be acting against its clinical standards.
One former patient says she was forced to wear a heavy backpack, climb sand dunes for hours, was repeatedly insulted with “You’re fat. You’re worthless. No one likes you,” and alleges a staff member pushed her into the sand.
Another patient describes a therapy exercise where someone was placed in a harness while other patients pulled ropes attached to it, shouted their insecurities, and were expected to participate or be targeted themselves.
A former patient alleges that after a suicide attempt inside the clinic, a counsellor responded: “No, you didn’t, you’re just trying to get back at me.”
One woman says everyone in the group was instructed to call her a “prize pig” and oink at her after she disclosed being groomed and raped.
Multiple patients allege they were required to describe sexual assaults in detail in front of mixed therapy groups.
Young women alleges counsellors falsely told her that her best friend was embarrassed by her, hated her and never wanted to see her again, when the actual letter ended with “I love you so much, my best friend for life” and “I can’t wait to see you and give you a big hug.”
One former patient says staff convinced him he had become homeless, took him to a homeless shelter, and let him believe for an entire day that his parents no longer wanted him.
A former employee alleges staff sometimes mocked patients, discussed finding clients attractive because they were close in age, and that hiring focused heavily on people’s personal recovery stories rather than professional qualifications.
A former coach says he received no formal training before working with highly vulnerable young people and alleges that after a patient died following a suicide attempt, coaches had not been informed psychiatrists had identified the patient as a suicide risk.
The article reports that a former Yes We Can coach is awaiting trial in the Netherlands after being accused of offences relating to allegedly posing online as a pro anorexia coach and exploiting vulnerable girls. This allegation is separate from the claims about treatment methods.

Someone please try and post the link to the article

Ik heb net de aflevering van over gekeken. Ik heb er echt een naar gevoel aan overgehouden. ( KIJK DE AFLEVERING VOORDAT JE COMMENT)

Wat ik vooral raar vind is hoe het kan dat de GGZ winstmakend moet zijn, terwijl er juist mensen geholpen moeten worden met zware psychische klachten? Dat voelt gewoon compleet verkeerd.

Ik ben ook echt geschrokken van hoe er met sommige mensen is omgegaan. En als je dan de reactie van Yes We Can op hun website leest, nemen ze naar mijn idee nul verantwoordelijkheid. Ja, er zullen vast ook goede ervaringen zijn, maar slechte en goede ervaringen strepen elkaar natuurlijk niet weg. Zeker niet als de methodiek zelf zo wankel voelt.

Voor mij voelt het bijna alsof ze meer richting alternatieve geneeswijzen gaan, een beetje zoals spirituele clinics. En dat dit gewoon in Nederland gebeurt… dat vind ik echt bizar. God mag weten bij hoeveel andere klinieken dit ook zo gaat.

Wat ik echt niet begrijp is vooral hoe zo’n kliniek niet per direct gesloten wordt als iemand die daar zit zelfmoord pleegt? En in het geval van Nathan. Waarom is hij niet opgevangen door een crisisdienst of 24/7 onder toezicht geweest als hij suïcidaal was? Dat roept echt heel veel vragen op. Elke counselor moet opgepakt worden voor dit ook.

Ik zit ook met andere dingen:

- Welke klinieken in Nederland zijn wél goed?

- Is confrontatie eigenlijk een helpende methode, bijvoorbeeld als een meisje met “verkeerde” jongens omgaat? In mijn ervaring heb ik zelf wel dit soort meiden gezien en keer op keer wordt hun leed aangedaan door hun eigen gedrag wel.

- Wat moet iemand doen als die volledig is uitbehandeld maar nog steeds diep depressief is?

Eerlijk, het voelt alsof de zorg in Nederland steeds slechter wordt en dat er alleen maar bezuinigd wordt. Soms heb ik echt het idee dat dit land de verkeerde kant op gaat.

Ben benieuwd hoe anderen hiernaar kijken.

Ik heb 100 upvotes gekregen. Dankjewel. Toch zie ik veel downvotes en ik weet niet waarom.