I was born and raised in the Netherlands until my late teens. I left the country to go work and later study abroad for several years. I have lived in different countries to work and study and I travelled around. I obtained my BA in Social Anthropology at London University, SOAS and my MA in Non-western Sociology and symbolic and religious Antropology. Aside from that I took courses in International Relations, African Studies, Environment and Persian, all because of my fascination: the varying ways in which people live together.
After a personal crisis I chose to turn my life around. In my work in innercities I had noticed that the level of happiness of people was directly related to the quality of their relationships in the broadest sense. I decided to leave my job and return to school. I became a coach/counsellor and later specialised in Couple counselling. I am a certified IBCT Relationship Therapist, a certified Relationship Coach, certified Lifecoach, and I keep up with expertise in the field. This work is exactly what I love to do: working alongside a varied array of people, to sort through the tangled, challenging bits of life and together create more insight, more harmony, more connection.
I have now settled in the Netherlands with my husband. Together with our two children we make up an intercultural family. We still enjoy travelling to various places, for work, to visit family or friends and to discover new places. I know how hard it can be sometimes to settle in a place where you don’t feel quite at home, where you don’t understand the cultural and linguistic subtleties. And also the challenges that may come with an intercultural relationship. Fortunately: love, a sense of humour, knowing your pitfalls and a little help, go a long way to maintaining a happy balance!