The Dutch public mental health system is thorough on paper and gatekept in practice. Referrals through the huisarts, long waits, approved modalities, sessions conducted in Dutch. Private English-speaking therapy exists in Amsterdam and The Hague but the pool for sustained, depth-oriented work is limited. Rotterdam and anywhere outside the Randstad, you're largely on your own.
I work with anyone who needs support in English and is living in the Netherlands. Relationship problems, a low you can't quite name, something you've been carrying for years, something that surfaced recently. Couples who relocated together and found that the move changed the balance in ways neither of them expected.
You don't need to fit a particular profile. How your life looks and how it actually feels are two different things, and the distance between them doesn't have to be dramatic to be worth taking seriously.
The work
The work I do is relational and pattern-focused. I don't run through intake checklists or assign exercises between sessions. I pay attention to what happens in the room: what you're saying, what you're not saying, the moments when something shifts or goes flat or speeds up. That's the material we work with.
Most people arrive already knowing the story of their situation. They've told it to themselves a hundred times and always land in the same place. What's missing is a different angle, someone watching in real time who can name what's invisible from inside it. That's what I offer. Not interpretation from a distance, but attention in the room, offered as it happens.
I work with individuals and couples. Individual work is usually about finding the pattern underneath the presenting problem, the thing that keeps recurring in different forms across different circumstances. Couples work is about finding what the argument is really about, which is rarely what it appears to be about. Both come down to the same thing: seeing what you haven't been able to see, and from there, actually being able to do something different.
One thing working in English solves: you can say exactly what you mean without editing yourself for language. In a second language, people tend to be more careful, more managed. What's lost is often exactly what therapy needs to work with.
Being in the Netherlands
The Netherlands has a specific quality for non-Dutch people. It's practically easy: the country functions well, most people speak English, the infrastructure is excellent. Socially it's harder than it first appears. The Dutch directness is real, and so is the slowness with which social circles actually open. It's possible to live here for years and still feel like a visitor.
If that particular texture is part of what you're dealing with, the functioning-well-but-not-quite-belonging quality, the warmth that stays at arm's length, we can work with it. If what brings you has nothing to do with Dutch culture, that's fine.
What people bring to online therapy
The people I work with in English come for a wide range of reasons: anxiety, depression, stress and burnout, anger management, grief and loss, relationship difficulties, loneliness, self-esteem issues, procrastination, sleep problems, attachment patterns, self-sabotage, perfectionism, identity questions, and existential concerns. Online counseling makes this work possible from wherever you are, whether you need an English-speaking therapist, a virtual counselor, or simply someone who can work in your language at a depth that matters.
How it works
Sessions are online via secure video call. I work with individuals and couples (60 minutes). Before your first session, we have a brief 15-minute call to see if this feels like the right fit for you.