About Me

Who I am:
Curious • Empathic • Knowledgeable • Thoughtful • Helpful

What am I:
Attorney • Psychologist • Mediator • Psychotherapist • Counselor

What I do:
• Deduce the causes of the problems
• Explore the resources and limitations of the people involved
• Integrate a diversity of perspectives
• Develop options
• Support new action, change, and growth

With:
• Individuals
• Couples
• Small groups

For:
• People in emotional distress
• Leaders and executives in need of perspective
• Couples in conflict
• People wanting to fully actualize their potential

Through:
• Psychotherapy
• Coaching
• Mediation
• Consultation
• Education
• Training

What is my story?

Curiosity and understanding things from multiple perspectives is what I relish. Both of these attributes were salient when I moved to the United States from Holland as a young child with my parents, brother and sister. Curiosity and open-mindedness allowed me to become immersed in a myriad of pursuits, from exploring neuropsychological models of consciousness at UC Berkeley in the 1970s, to participating in the humanistic experience at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur in the 1980s. Since the 1990s, my vocation as a psychologist has continued to fuel my curiosity, as well as providing a wide range of work environments, from community mental health centers to brain injury units in metropolitan hospitals as a neuropsychologist.

My formative interest in consciousness led me to explore emotion and motivation, especially in their power to shape and determine experience. This academic interest found a fantastic home in my work with individuals, helping them see their world from new perspectives, opening doors to making more conscious and mindful choices. I grew to respect and marvel at the force of human nature, a force that often aided in making profound positive life changes, but could also be a powerful constriction on choice. During this time, I also obtained a juris doctorate to deepen my understanding of the structure of external socio-cultural restrictions on people’s choices and actions.

This work has resulted in my developing the concept of moral intelligence, an intelligence that shapes actions, feelings, and decision-making. I found that moral intelligence is in a continual state of change, a reflection of the continual interaction and co-creation between our neurobiology and our sociocultural environment. My current focus is on bringing together psychology, culture, and philosophy with the aim of developing a model of practical wisdom for the twenty-first century. This project is unfolding under the banner of Phronimos.

Perhaps my most emulated intellectual role model is Joseph Campbell, not singularly for the content of his studies; but rather the way he went about it. He was very non-traditional and his pursuit of ideas knew no bounds. He encouraged us all with his admonition that if we follow our bliss doors will open where we had not seen them. In addition, he added useful tools for how to deepen the pursuit of one’s bliss. He described how when he got interested in an idea, he studied the work of the leading figure in the development of that idea. This he then took one step further, he would retrace and read everything that thought-leader had read. Following my bliss and deeply exploring my interests is the advice I have followed my entire life.