Individual Therapie

How I work

I work with methodologies that I believe in and that I think can help you move forward. I too have experienced how unpredictable life is and constantly changing. It can be challenging to trust yourself in difficult times. Inner issues such as intense emotions, a ‘busy head’, a strong inner critic or lack of self-confidence can get in the way. External circumstances can also suddenly become challenging, such as ill health, challenges at work or in your relationships.

This can sometimes lead you to act in ways that do not match with what you really want, alienating you from relationships that can help you move forward or bringing you further away from a meaningful life.

The methodologies I work with look at the patterns you have developed from the perspective of the here and now. If helpful, we look at where those patterns came from and what you can do to improve them. ACT is what is known as third-generation behavioural therapy. EFT works from the basis that emotions provide the key to effective change, and EMDR is effective for trauma-related symptoms.

Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT)

EFT is a methodology that focuses on better understanding and dealing more effectively with your emotions. Emotions are seen in this therapy as the key to effective change, and it is on this basis that I will work with you.

Emotions offer valuable information about yourself and your environment. They can help you understand what you need, what hinders you, what you need, or what changes you need to make in your life. Emotions can serve as a compass to guide you in the right direction.

Using experiential and body-oriented methods, you learn to reconnect with your emotions, memories, thoughts and bodily sensations that were previously inaccessible. Experiences have sometimes blocked that access because they were unbearable or too painful. Together with me, you will learn to regain access to your healthy and appropriate emotions so that you can build a healthy sense of self and become better able to determine your direction in life by being in touch with your own emotions.

Acceptance and Commitment therapy (ACT)

We all face painful things/suffering in life sooner or later, such as loss, illness, uncertainty, fear and death. There is a part of that suffering that cannot be avoided - it simply happens to you. But there is another part of that suffering that we create ourselves because of how we naturally function as human beings. Namely, our natural reaction is to fight/flight or freeze..

Fighting or avoiding negative thoughts and/or feelings associated with the pain often does not solve the problem. In fact, it often actually increases its impact on your life and worsens the pain.

We do this in many ways, such as seeking pleasure, (over)eating, drinking alcohol, sports, working hard, withdrawing, judging, and so on. Or we can get caught up in our thinking, ruminating, planning, and so on, which prevents us from paying attention to the things we value.

ACT teaches you to deal with these unpleasant experiences in an alternative way, namely by stopping struggling and accepting them. Not to make them bigger, but rather to let them have less influence on your life. This way, you create more space and energy for things that really matter in your life. You achieve more flexibility, so you can experience your life with more balance and focus on the things that really matter to you in life.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)

Sometimes you experience emotional events that are so intense that they have a lasting impact on your life and still trigger strong emotional reactions later on. You may be unable to process these events on your own, which can lead to all kinds of psychological symptoms.

Sometimes you are aware of this connection, but sometimes not. In such cases, we speak of trauma-related symptoms. These may include, for instance, flashbacks or nightmares. Other complaints may include startle-like reactions or a tendency to avoid situations.

EMDR is a short-term form of therapy that can help process these stressful events from the past. It uses the brain's natural processing system. When it comes to a one-off upsetting event, people often notice improvement after just a few sessions. For long-term trauma and more complex problems, treatment may take longer.

Depending on the specific need for help, EMDR can be used as a stand-alone method, but it can also be combined with EFT and ACT. Together, these approaches can help you deal with your past in a positive way and live more freely again.