In short Online therapy in English in The Hague: individual and couples sessions over secure video, scheduled across time zones. Psychodynamic depth work with a US-trained therapist. You pay directly, so nothing runs through local insurance or health records. Fees and fit are covered in a free 15-minute call.

The work

The work I do is relational and focused on pattern. I don't run intake checklists. I don't assign homework. I pay attention to what happens in the session. The moments when something shifts or goes flat. The pattern that keeps showing up underneath the problem. Most people already know their own story. They still keep landing in the same place. What's missing is someone watching in real time, someone who can name what you cannot see from inside it. More on how I work, and how I work with couples.

The arrangement

I am a US-trained psychodynamic therapist working online and privately: no Dutch license, no GGZ file, no referral, no diagnosis on any record, and nothing that touches a clearance or career file. I work with patterns and how you organize experience, which does not require you to disclose anything classified. You pay directly. The Hague evening sessions are easy to schedule across time zones. When what you need is prescribing, assessment, or covered care, the Dutch system handles that, and I will say so directly.

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 free 15-minute call to see if this feels like the right fit for you.

In shortOnline psychodynamic therapy in English for expats in The Hague. Private, outside the Dutch system, no referral needed.

What The Hague brings to therapy

The Hague gathers a kind of work that very few cities ask of people. The ICJ, the ICC, the OPCW, Europol, Eurojust, the Hague Conference. Lawyers, judges, and analysts whose daily work is testimony and evidence most people never have to look at once. Sustained exposure to that has a name and a shape, and it does not stay at the office. Around them sit the diplomats. The security-cleared analyst who cannot say what they work on. The corporate internationals. The school-run world of Benoordenhout and Statenkwartier. The contrast is the thing: holding the worst of the world by day, then a quiet Dutch evening that gives you nowhere to put any of it.

Half the city, from somewhere else

The scale is easy to miss. The Hague hosts more than 200 international organizations, and more than half of its roughly 560,000 residents have an immigrant background, on the city's own figures. The international life is concentrated. In the Haagse Hout district, which includes Benoordenhout, over half the residents are international; in the Scheveningen district, which takes in Statenkwartier and Belgisch Park, the share is around 40 percent. This is where the tribunal lawyers, the seconded diplomats, and the corporate internationals actually live, in a city where postings turn over and the school-run friendships reset every few years. A whole professional class, permanently mid-rotation.

The Dutch system, and the referral wait

Covered psychological care in the Netherlands runs through your huisarts: you need a GP referral and basic insurance for the GGZ route, the eigen risico deductible applies, and the wait is the known problem. The Dutch standard, the Treeknorm, says nobody should wait more than 14 weeks in total. The system has not met it for years. The healthcare regulator, the NZa, reported in early 2025 that only a third of people got an intake within the norm, and one analysis of the NZa's own waitlist data counted more than 100,000 waitlist registrations in 2025, nearly half of them past the 14-week mark. As of 2026 there is not even a reliable national number: the reporting system is mid-transition, and new figures are not expected before the end of 2027. An English-speaking covered place sits at the hard end of all of that. Outside the system, depth work in English is private-pay. The mechanics are on my Netherlands page.

Work with me needs no referral and no huisarts gatekeeping. It is private, outside the Dutch system, and starts now, with no GGZ file and no record.

Questions people ask from The Hague

I work at an international court or organisation, sometimes with disturbing material. Can therapy help with that specifically?
Yes. Secondary and vicarious trauma from sustained exposure to atrocity, testimony, or evidence is real and specific, and we can work with it directly. It stays entirely private, with no record.
I hold a clearance and cannot have a record. How confidential is this?
There is no Dutch license involved, no GGZ file, no referral, no diagnosis on any record, and nothing that touches a clearance or career file.
Do I need a huisarts referral?
No. That is the Dutch covered route, with its waits. Private work with me needs no referral and can start now.

Selected research on this approach

My work is psychodynamic and depth-oriented. These are some of the studies on the effectiveness of that kind of therapy. They describe research on the method in general, and are not claims about any individual outcome.

  • Shedler, J. (2010). The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 65(2), 98-109. doi:10.1037/a0018378
  • Steinert, C., Munder, T., Rabung, S., Hoyer, J., & Leichsenring, F. (2017). Psychodynamic therapy: as efficacious as other empirically supported treatments? A meta-analysis testing equivalence of outcomes. American Journal of Psychiatry, 174(10), 943-953. PMID 28541091

The full reading list is on the approach page.

Related Reading

Therapy for diplomats
Therapy in English in other countries