What does a session and route look like?

Intake

Prior to your first session, we have an intake interview to see if we both feel a connection, which is so important for in-depth work. I also ask questions to get the best possible picture of your current situation, your burden or desire, your development goal and some of your life history. Also, you fill out the Schema Questionnaire YSQ-S3. I can add other tests/questionnaires later between sessions if needed.

Safe space & holding space

The sessions last between 1 hour and 1.5 hours. I use many methods and exercises and feel in the moment what helps you. I am fully at your service and your process. We work from what presents itself: where does it stagnate, constricts you or where does it flow? This means that I do not follow any preconceived plan or structure. That which is important and requires attention will come forward. I work from intuition and impulse. I am there for you and support you in whatever you are going through, we call that ‘holding space’. We are in the moment and ‘being & dancing’ with everything that is and is not there (yet). This requires time, reflection, feeling and reflection. This process is powerful, beautiful, true and sometimes a struggle, but always valuable and helpful.

Quick Fix? No.

Therapy coaching is not a quick fix (although we can do a lot in 15 sessions). It is difficult to estimate in advance how much time your problem will take. I can say that it is not a quick process (and sometimes surprisingly it is). It is not a linear line because the path has many twists and surprises. As I get to know you better, I will see your obstructive patterns and your “not helping tendencies/solutions” that are getting in your way. One session will give you more insights than another. That’s part of it, we don’t strive or force perfection. The sooner you start, the sooner you will develop new options, and you will feel better and better about yourself and your life.

Building a therapeutic relationship requires time, investment and attention from both parties. That’s why we can’t be done in just a few sessions. I am there for you, are you also there for yourself?

Start

We always start with a mindfulness moment. To ‘dim down’ the issues of the day and all the stories and to make a connection with your body, heart, mind and soul.

During the session, we are sometimes in silence because the deeper layer reluctantly reveals itself. So, a little patience helps, we are going to explore themes and that takes time. Your entire system (feeling, thinking, judging, upbringing, history, rules of life and conditioning and our body) tells us much more than you would initially think. There is so much richness there!

The process

During the sessions you experience a lot (and sometimes you don’t – and that’s okay too). It positively supports your process of writing down or imagining your insights and newly acquired feelings, helpful thoughts and other choices in your behaviour. You can do this by means of a journal that you regularly write in. ZielZacht offers you a choice of small journals that you can choose from during your first session.

We go back to the origin of your problems (which is often further back than you expect) and work together in a safe, energetic therapeutic process in which we let the subconscious speak. Many of us diminish or suppress our negative feelings (think of guilty pleasures or addictions) or ignore or suppress sadness, fear or anger. We have become very good at that, which makes perfect sense as it helps us in the moment. In therapy coaching we approach these processes together. This is how you digest unprocessed events from your past and present and integrate all facets of your system (body, mind, feeling, thinking and doing). You take control of your life and create where you want to go and how you will get there.

For example, we can use tools like:

  • Your different ‘selves’ in your bus (Voice Dialogue)

  • Body-oriented work (the body as an entrance)

  • Shadow work (focused on our dark sides)

  • Emotional release work

  • Anger work

  • Metaphorical and creative working methods

  • Draw up a genogram

  • Write a life story

  • Walking coaching on the nearby National Park De Veluwe

Method

The sessions last 1 or 1.5 hours and take place in my practice room at Zimmermanhof 8 in Dieren (close to Arnhem, Oost Veluwe). We meet regularly (after 4-6 weeks we really lose the momentum), so think around 2 to 3 weeks (depending on our agendas).

It is possible to meet via Zoom or other platforms (in case of emergency or stay abroad), but preference is to meet live regularly.

Note

Therapy coaching is not therapy with a clinical psychologist. However, I have a much broader education in many areas than most mental health psychologists (of which it is already known that talk therapy is not always helpful and can even have a retraumatizing effect). I do not provide a diagnosis or medical advice. The sessions at ZielZacht are not billable to health insurance.

Come discover what keeps you stuck.
Together we make the unconscious conscious and integrate mind, soul, body and personality.