Therapy in Dutch, in Nottingham and across the UK

I am a Dutch-speaking psychotherapeutic counsellor based in Beeston, Nottingham. We can work entirely in Dutch, in person or online from anywhere in the UK. Lees deze pagina in het Nederlands.

Why does the language matter?

Because feelings have a first language. You may run your whole working life in English and still find that the words for shame, grief or fear arrive in Dutch. Many people who have lived in the UK for years tell me that when they try to talk about something painful in English, it comes out tidy and slightly untrue, as if they were describing someone else. In your own language the same thing can be said plainly, and felt.

There is also the tiredness of translating yourself. Explaining what your mother would have said, or why a particular Dutch bluntness is affection, takes energy that you would rather spend on the actual problem. With me, you don't have to.

Photo to come: A quiet Dutch detail: a bike against a hedge, or a Dutch book on a table

Who is this for?

Dutch and Flemish people living anywhere in the UK, whether you arrived last year or twenty years ago. Some come to me because of the move itself: the loneliness that can follow it, the family that is far away, the sense of belonging to two places and fully to neither. Others come for the ordinary reasons anyone comes to therapy, such as anxiety, difficulties with food and eating, or a relationship that keeps going wrong, and simply want to do that work in Dutch.

You do not have to be fluent in only one language to work with me. Plenty of my conversations drift between Dutch and English, sometimes in the same sentence. That is allowed.

What do I know about moving country?

A fair amount from the inside. I was born in the Netherlands, grew up partly in Belgium, spent years in France and then settled in England. I know the small, constant work of living in a second language and the way a new country can make you a slightly different person, not always one you chose. I don't assume your experience is mine. I do recognise the territory.

What do Dutch speakers often bring?

Some things come up again and again. Guilt about parents growing older in a country you left. Children who are becoming English in ways you didn't expect, and a small grief about that. The relationship that brought you here, and what happens to it when the reason for staying changes. The feeling of being the foreigner at work and the foreigner at home in the Netherlands too, now. And sometimes the simplest thing: being tired, all the time, of a life lived at one remove.

None of these need to be the reason you come. They are often in the room anyway, and it helps to work with someone who doesn't need them explained.

How does it work?

The same as any therapy with me. You join the waitlist by email; my private practice opens in 2027. When a place comes up, we start with a free 20-minute discovery call, in Dutch, to talk about what has brought you here and whether we are a good fit. If we go ahead, we meet weekly for 50-minute sessions, in person in Beeston, Nottingham, or online by video from wherever you are in the UK. Online suits many Dutch speakers, because there are few Dutch-speaking therapists in the UK and the nearest one is rarely round the corner.

I work relationally and integratively, with training in transactional analysis. You can read more about that on the About page, and about video sessions on the online therapy page.

A few practical things

• I am insured to work with clients living in the UK. If you live in the Netherlands or Belgium, I can't take you on, but I am happy to point you towards someone who can.
• Sessions are not reimbursed by Dutch or Belgian health insurers, and I am not registered in the Dutch or Belgian systems. I am training within the UK system.
• All my paperwork, from the agreement to the invoices, is available in Dutch if you prefer.

Common questions

Can we do some sessions in English and some in Dutch?

Yes. Some people find that certain subjects belong to one language. We follow what works.

Is therapy in Dutch different from therapy in the Netherlands?

The language is the same; the system is not. I trained and practise in the UK, under UK professional ethics, and you don't need a GP referral. You email me and we talk.

I'm Flemish. Does that matter?

Only for the vocabulary, and I have lived on both sides of that border.

Do you also work with English-speaking partners or family?

I work one to one, so not in the same sessions. Your partner is welcome to contact me separately.

Where I see clients in and around Nottingham

In person at Highfields Therapy in Beeston (NG9), a short tram, train or bus ride from Chilwell, Attenborough, Bramcote, Stapleford, Wollaton, Lenton and West Bridgford. Online by video anywhere in the UK.