Childhood — I was born in March 1983 as a very sensitive child. Impressions came to me much stronger than to peers. Whether it was food, sounds, atmospheres or words. As a child I already had strong observation skills, but not yet the realization that not everyone was waiting for my analyses.
Education — When the time for study choices came, I hadn’t yet realized what kind of power actually resided in my sensitivity. I thought practical and was handy with computers. That’s how I started a long study path in IT. After my bachelor’s degree in Information Science, I obtained my master’s degree Content and Knowledge Engineering at the University of Utrecht (The Netherlands). I declined an invitation to get my PhD; I wanted to go to work. (Also see the page Education or my LinkedIn page.)
Work — I started working as an IT consultant at various secondment agencies, helping to develop computer programs and websites. My sensitivity and creativity often led me to surprising solutions that worked well for the customer, while I’m actually not a “real” programmer or beta man at all. My path was prosperous and successful. In the meantime, I was not sufficiently aware that I was committing looting on my body. I did way too much and a burnout followed in 2014.
Switch — I had to change course and I looked for a way that suited me better. And in the meantime there was a growing realization: that sensitivity and the ability to connect with people and ‘read’ them, that is a strength that can be of great support to others. Until then I mainly saw psychology, communication and spirituality as a hobby, but I decided to do the four-year training to become an energy therapist / counsellor. I also looked for another job in IT, one with much more focus on the human side of IT. I started working as an IT coordinator at the Universitairy Medical Center Utrecht (The Netherlands).
Questions — The training to become a therapist: it hit the spot. Feedback from clients and fellow students, but above all my cheerful feeling made me realize clearly: this is the right way. At the UMC I eventually moved on to the IT department, where after some intermediate steps I started working as a business information analyst (BIA). I still do that work in addition to my practice, now for the (Dutch) Chamber of Commerce. An analyst, therefore, someone who has to ask a lot of questions. Exactly what I do as a coach and therapist. The combination of the very logical and well-founded on the one hand, and the subjective and emotional on the other, works fantastically for me.
Therapist — As a therapist I am sometimes labeled as direct and confrontational, but also as non-judgmental and ‘gentle’, ‘sweet’ or ‘warm’. Words that I once found offensive, but can now appreciate.
Values — I strongly believe in the power of truth, wisdom, and freedom. Those values are reflected in my therapy. Only the truth will take you further and with the right (sometimes critical) questions I try to bring clients to their truth. Then wisdom and usually (more) freedom follow naturally.
Light — Truth for me also equals light (“sana”, depicted in my logo as a flame), highlighting pain points or shadow sides. In my experience it is interchangeable with pure consciousness. Only what you give pure attention to, what you shed light on, can be understood and then transformed if necessary.
Balance — I consider myself a very spiritual person and I feel a deep connection with the cosmos and all that lives. But I also just keep my feet on the ground and have an always critical and rarely resting mind that constantly tries to understand, analyze and explain. That means I get along well with people who have a scientific (yet open) approach to life. Through the way of feeling and intuition I also understand those who are strongly involved with spirituality.
(Self) knowledge — One of my views is that you never stop learning. That is why I am of the school that as a therapist you should always remain in therapy yourself to work on your own blind spots and pitfalls. So I do too. In addition, I naturally attend all (mandatory) additional training that I need to keep my professional knowledge up to date. In this I follow the guidelines of my professional association.
I live in Utrecht. In addition to my work as a coach/therapist and business analyst, I love to write. In my spare time, I’m working on my blog Absolutely Pisces and I am laying the foundation for a book. I like sports and also make time for good conversations with like-minded people. I also try to read a good book every now and then – and I can sure enjoy a good movie too. But as a highly sensitive person I also need my sleep, so everything at the right time.
If you want to read my full resume, take a look at LinkedIn.