PRRC-IADP 2008, Japan. PreCongress Workshop
Best practices in psychotherapy, coaching and counseling
Introduction
Coaching is a work-oriented learning process by means of dialogue with a (helping)
professional (E. de Haan, 2007).
What coaches, counselors and psychotherapists have in common is that they use dialogue to
facilitate change. There are differences in approach but they do have a lot in common. In fact,
they are more alike than they are different. There is more to bind them then to divide them.
In the field of psychotherapy, there has been extensive research in effect, outcome and
process of using dialogue for change. Psychotherapists, coaches and counselors
(professionals) can benefit greatly from those research results. It can help them to work
shorter, more effectively and with more pleasure.
The heart of psychotherapy
In 1999, Mark Hubble, Barry Duncan & Scott Miller published The heart and soul of change:
What works in therapy. In this book on modern, result-oriented forms of psychotherapy they
list what psychotherapists actually do. The following list is the result:
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Ask questions
Listen, summarize, reflect
Comfort
Confront
Give information
Give explanation (interpretations, reformulations, clarifications)
Make suggestions
Self-disclosure: tell something about your own experiences in relation to the topic at hand
Give tasks/assignments for during or outside the session
In my training courses for coaches, I often present this list and ask the coaches to check
which actions they regularly employ as coaches. The answers are more or less always the
same. Almost everyone does almost everything on the list and they do so almost every
session.
Coaching and psychotherapy therefore have important things in common. Of course, coaches
are not psychotherapists and a psychotherapist is not a coach. However, the similarities
outweigh the differences. There is an overlap in goals (change behavior) and in the tools
(elements of dialogue). In fact all helping professionals, coaches, counselors and
psychotherapists try to achieve more or less the same goals with more or less the same
means.
The biggest differences may be in the area of expertise and the transfer thereof. Coaching is
a young profession, whereas psychotherapy has been in existence for more then a hundred
years. For coaching there are few good, practical teaching books, while the list of publications
on psychotherapy is endless. There is little known yet about the effectiveness of coaching
while the effect of psychotherapy has been the subject of many studies for more than fifty
years.
For coaches and other professionals it can be very useful to acquaint themselves with the gist
of outcome and process research of psychotherapy. This research can answer questions like:
▪
▪
▪
▪
Does psychotherapy work? Is it possible to help people change their behavior, solve
problems in living, decrease complaints?
How does psychotherapy work?
What works best? With which problems, complaints or goals?
How long should a treatment continue?
In this article I will present the answers to these questions. It is my goal to offer professionals
points of view, methods and techniques to help them to help others more effectively.
Critical factors of success for behavioral change: lessons of fifty years of scientific
research into the process and outcome of psychotherapy
In 1952, the renowned English behavioral psychologist Hans Eysenck put the cat among the
psychotherapeutic pigeons with the statement that psychotherapy did not work. His research
showed that clients after treatment were in the same state as the untreated control group. His
confrontational conclusion raised much debate among psychotherapists. Several research
projects were started to prove Eysenck wrong. As early as 1960, it transpired that
psychotherapy was indeed effective. In proportion, even very effective. Roughly, it can be
said that people in psychotherapy are better off in eighty percent of the cases. Of people who
are untreated, only twenty percent improves significantly. Eysenck was therefore wrong. Still,
he has done the psychotherapeutic profession much good. It was his provocative statement
that triggered many studies on the outcome of psychotherapy. These are in short the main
fruits of that research.
1
Psychotherapy works, it is very effective, it has lasting positive effects. But it works not for
everybody, all the time.
2 The many different systems of psychotherapy are all equally effective. But not equally efficient
3 Personal characteristics of the therapist is far more important than the technique or method
she uses.
4 Some therapists are consistently more successful than others.
5 These therapists belief strongly in what they are doing, they are more competent, curious
open, and flexible.
6 Competence is not necessarily enhanced by training and experience. The positive result of
training and experience of professionals has not (yet) been proven by research.
7 Positive changes in the first few sessions of the therapy predict overall success.
8 Another early predictor for the success of the treatment is the quality of the working alliance,
as experienced by the client.
9 Therapy is usually short therapy. Long-term therapy gives only slightly better results.
10 Client hope, trust and positive expectations are very important for outcome
11 Methods and techniques are of minor importance
What do these results mean for the helping professions and: how can professional benefit
from them?
‘All change is self change. Psychotherapy is actually
professionally supported self change.’ (Prochaska)
The client holds the key….
A most conspicuous finding of the effect research is that not everything that changes during
therapy changes through therapy.1 When psychotherapy has effect and people change, that
change should be attributed to extra-therapeutic and client factors for the biggest part.
Effects, therefore, that the client achieves independently and that occur outside the context of
therapy and that are completely separate from the therapy. Effects that might also have
occurred without therapy. Client factors have to do with the client’s psychological resources:
resilience, talents, intelligence, or with stamina and determination. Also social support often is
the key to change, just as positive life events can be, such as an inheritance, a job promotion
or requited love.2 An example from practice:
1
2
Asay, T.P. & M.P. Lambert, 1999.
Miller, S.D., B.L. Duncan & M.A. Hubble, 1997.
I am coaching a thirty-five-year old process manager for problems with the balance between
work and private life and with work-related stress. An important disappointment in her life was
that she was childless against her will. She met every criterion for being a “workaholic”.
Coaching did not yet change that very much. She kept falling back into old habits of pushing
herself, taking work home, neglecting her social life, and so on. Until she got pregnant. The
way she handled her work changed in a matter of weeks. She suddenly had eye for other
aspects of life, beside work. Within a short period of time, she managed to give work a much
healthier place in her life. Her stress-related complaints decreased and the coaching could be
successfully ended not long after that.
Of the changes during therapy the contribution of client- and extra-therapeutic factors turns
out to be a whopping 87%.3 The remaining 13 percent is change through therapy. The
variance in the effects of psychotherapy is attributed for an estimated 43% to the competence
of the therapist and her belief in her methods. To an estimated 28% to the quality of the
working alliance between therapist and client – as experienced by the client. Therapeutic
change is for an estimated 21% attributed to the clients hope of recovery, belief in therapy
and the expectation of recovery. The therapeutic method, and the techniques derived there
from, cause a mere 8% of the therapeutic changes.
(in kader)
Change during therapy:
13% through treatment
87% through client- en extra-therapeutic factors
Change through treatment:
43% through therapist factors
28% through therapeutic alliance
21% through placebo factors
8% through methods and techniques
(einde kader)
The importance of client factors in the process of change is supported by the fact that many
people seem to overcome difficult problems on their own. Take for instance the percentage of
smokers in the United States that has declined from fifty percent to twenty-five percent over
the last decades. Of about thirty million quitters ninety-five percent quit on their own! This is
independent behavioral change of a habit that is hard to kick. Other research shows that
cognitive behavioral therapy with a computer program instead of a therapist generally works
remarkably well, just as the use of self-help books and psycho-education. The behavioral
change accomplished with these methods does not involve a therapist. 4 In the process of
change that does involve a therapist, the client’s participation turns out to be a most important
factor. How involved is the client? How cooperative? Does the client have a collaborative
attitude or is he dependent or defensive during therapy?5
The challenge for therapists and coaches
You can easily see the major importance of extra-therapeutic and client factors as a major
disappointment. Yet, there is no reason to just throw in the towel as psychotherapist (or other
professional)! . The challenge is: what can you do as a helper to let the client factors and
extra-therapeutic forces work for your client and make sure these factors have an optimal
effect on the process of change.? The answer is: by expecting change, stimulating change
and rewarding change.
Stimulate
Very often, clients have already achieved a fair amount of change between calling to make a
first appointment and the first session itself. Solution-oriented psychotherapists call this pre-
3
Wampold, B.E., 2001.
Roth, A. & P. Fonagy, 2004.
5 Hubble, M.A., B.L. Duncan & S.D. Miller, 1999.
4
session change. Some of them try to bring about this pre-session change by suggesting an
assignment on the telephone when making the first appointment. For instance:
I would like to ask you, until our first appointment, to pay attention to what happens in your
life and at your work that you would like to see continued? What are the positive things that
you want to keep happening? In this way you will help me understand your goals and what it
is you want to accomplish in our conversations.6
The effect of this assignment is often that the client’s attention is diverted away from the
negative for which he seeks help to the positive. The professional can then tap into this by
searching with the client for ways to enhance the positive. Enhancing the positive is often far
more productive then changing the negative.
Expect
As a professional, you can also increase the effect of client factors by being change-oriented
from the very beginning of the intervention. Seek out ‘any change at all’ in your client’s story –
not just change through therapy – and pay attention to it. Name the change. Emphasize the
change. Bring it out and put it in the spotlight. Compliment your client for it happening.
Attribute the change to your client when opportune.
Reward
Reinforce and underline everything the client does that contributes to change. You do this
mainly by giving compliments for what the client has tried and for what he has already
accomplished and achieved. Say nice things about it. Try to place yourself in the frame of
mind of your client as much as possible and try to speak his language. 7
How long does therapy take ?
In the United States, there has been extensive research to answer the question as to how
long successful therapy should last. Conclusion: successful therapy is often short therapy. It
seems that the law of diminishing returns applies: at the start of treatment, during the first 3 to
5 sessions, most of the results are achieved. If there are results, these will usually become
apparent during the first three sessions. When there is no visible result after five sessions, it is
unlikely that there will be any. When there is little or no result after eight sessions, it is best to
cease the treatment.
What is the client’s desire to change does the client have?
In all of this, it is very important to connect to the client’s desire to change. Therapists are
usually very change-oriented and they often assume that a client with a complaint also has a
wish to change. But this is not always the case.
Research shows that the drop-out percentage for psychotherapy is around fifty percent. So,
half of the people that seek help, withdraw from the treatment prematurely, often after one or
a few sessions. Researchers analyzed this phenomenon. They learned that dropouts felt in a
way pressured by professionals to make changes they are not (yet) ready for.
In coaching for work related issues respecting the client’s goal for change is even more
pressing because often there is a third party involved (employer, manager) who has a desire
for change for the client. Frequently, this third party wants something else than the client, or
something the client does not want at all. The coach should be certain that he is connecting to
the goal of the client.
‘There should be a match...’ – On the importance of good work relationship
As mentioned, most of what changes during psychotherapy is connected to client and extratherapeutic factors. Of change through therapy more than a quart can be attributed to the
quality of the cooperation between client and therapist as experienced by the client, also
6
7
Talmon, M., 1990.
Miller, S.D., B.L. Duncan & M.A. Hubble, 1997.
called ‘work relationship’ or ‘therapeutic alliance’. For the sake of brevity we here use the term
‘alliance’.
It is obvious that also in coaching also the quality of the cooperation between client and coach
plays an important role in achieving results. What can a professional do to influence the
alliance in a positive way?
Build an emotional bond
For the establishment and reinforcement of the alliance it helps to:
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Create a climate of safety and trust by expressing your commitment to the client.
Listen actively and with attention.
Express understanding and respect of the client.
Compliment the client on what he has said or done that was useful or effective.
For clients it is usually important to be liked by the professional. When you like your client
let it show or say so.
Be aware that the first few sessions are your window of opportunity to bring about the alliance.
The first session is crucial and by the third conversation the alliance should already be what you
want it to be. After the fifth session there is generally not much change for the better in the work
relationship.
A helping relationship is further determined by the degree in which the client experiences the
professional as ‘genuine’ and ‘congruent’. The term congruent comprises aspects such as
being yourself, being open and transparent, not playing a role. It can mean that the
professional tells something about himself or shares personal experiences (self-disclosure).
And also that she has opinions, gives feedback about the client’s behavior and answers to the
client’s direct questions. Congruent responses are honest; they convey that the professional
is a human being with preferences and dislikes, opinions and beliefs. They take on the form of
I-messages: ‘I think’, ‘It is my opinion that’, ‘I experience that like this’.
Finally, you can also reinforce the alliance by empathy. Empathy is the ability to see the world
through the eyes of your client. Empathy is more cognitive than emotional: it is more about
thinking like your client than ‘feeling with’ your client. Moreover, it is not just crawling in the
skin of your client but also in the skin of the relationship. It is to understand what the alliance
means to the client and how he feels and thinks about it. 8
What you should not do
Just as there are things that contribute to the reinforcement of the alliance, research shows
there is behavior best not displayed for a good cooperation. Below are the four most
important no-no’s:
▪
▪
▪
▪
Avoid starting out the intervention with a ‘take charge’ attitude. With an approach that is
too active and direct you take away too much initiative from your client. Don’t lead, follow.
Don’t tell, ask.
Avoid remarks or an attitude that can be perceived as ‘cold’ by your clients.
If ever you want to confront your client, don’t do it in the beginning of the relationship.
First build cooperation and trust. It is much easier to hear ‘the truth’ from somebody you
like and trust.
Be careful with behaviour that might suggest irritation or annoyance, especially during the
first session. 9
Personal qualities of ‘master therapists’
Research has taught us that the therapist’s personal characteristics are far more important
for the effect of the intervention than the method or technique that is used. How a therapist is
is more important than what he does. It is of course of major importance which personal
8
9
Norcross, J.C. (ed.), 2002.
Idem.
qualities play a part in this. Studying therapists that are considered ‘the cream of the crop’
produced the following results:10
At a cognitive level, master therapists
▪ Are very curious
▪ Use their experience as an important tool
▪ Appreciate the complexity of people.
At an emotional level, master therapists
▪ Are very receptive, reflective, non-defensive and open to feedback
▪ Are emotionally mature and pay attention to their own emotional wellbeing.
At a relational level, master therapists
▪ Possess strong relational skills and are experts in applying these in therapy
▪ Believe that the alliance is the basis for therapeutic change.
It is my guess that ‘master coaches’ have a lot in common with ‘master therapists’.
Reaching agreement on goals and tasks.
A good alliance is also fostered by reaching agreement with the client about what she wants
to achieve with the treatment. The client’s input here is vital. It is about what he or she wants
and not about what the manager /referrer wants or what the professional thinks is best for the
client.
It is important to formulate goals as clearly as possible and also to agree on the signs that the
client has reached these goals. A few examples of goals:
▪
▪
A medical specialist in a partnership with a few colleagues wants to augment his public
and professional profile. Criteria for reaching this goal are a certain number of referrals in
his name and invitations to conferences to speak about his specialty.
A consultant wants an answer to the question: should I continue employment with this
company? Criteria are: new-found commitment and finding pleasure in the work.
Agreement on tasks
Another crucial factor in building a good alliance is agreement on tasks. Tasks are the
specific activities the client must undertake within and outside the sessions to benefit from the
intervention (‘homework’). It often works well to discuss during the first session that this is
something that you as a professional want to address with the client in every session. For
instance:
There are a few approaches we could try. As a rule, they are all effective, but some work
better for some people, and others work better for others. We should find out what works best
for you. I have ideas on the usefulness of these approaches, but in the end, you are the
expert on what is useful for you.11
Furthermore, come up with several tasks, if possible, and have the client choose from these.
Another possibility is to phrase the task as an ‘experiment’:
I wonder what would happen when you would experiment with … between now and the next
session. We could try how that works. When we meet again we can make adjustments that
are necessary and useful.
Placing the client’s theory of change in the center
What might be the most important thing a professional can do to strengthen the alliance is to
discuss the client’s theory of change and incorporate this in the work.. The client’s theory of
change involves the client’s thoughts on the question of how he got into the situation or the
10
Vandereycken, W. & R. van Deth, 2003.
11
Kirsch, I. 1990.
problem he is seeking help for and how he can get out. Such a theory of change can come to
light using questions like:
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Often people have a fairly accurate idea what causes a problem and also how that
problem could be solved. Do you have an idea what should happen to invoke change?
How does change usually come about in your life?
What have you done up until now to solve your problem or improve your situation? Has
that helped? If so, how has it helped? If not, why has it not?
How do I as a professional fit into what you want to happen?
How can I be of best service to you?
Let’s see if I understand correctly: do you expect advice or suggestions from me about
your problem or situation?12
What to do with an rupture in the alliance?
To build a good alliance early and quickly is an important task for any helping professional.
Still, that is not the end of it once you have reached that. Alliance is a process with ups and
downs. The downs are called alliance ruptures: negative processes, tensions and breaks in
the alliance. They are difficult to avoid. One of the most important skills of a helping
professional is the ability to foresee these ruptures and deal with them constructively. An
example:
A software developer with an IT company seeks coaching for mental breakdown and exhaustion. I tell him during our first session that I think he is taking risks with regards to his
health and work abilities and suggest an intervention: taking a few weeks off and deal with the
problems that cause his stress. For the second session, the client turns up a quarter of an
hour late with a vague excuse. I suspect a problem and bring up the alliance.
The client tells that the first session difficult had been difficult for him. He thought I was
‘selling’ my approach with too much emphasis and felt pressurized. If it was not for the fact
that everyone in his social environment agreed with his coach, he would not have come back
at all. We agree that in future he will try to discuss such feelings and objections immediately.
Discussing this cleared the air.
The best thing to do is to discuss the possibility of alliance ruptures during the first session.
Make it clear from the start that you appreciate the client’s comments on the alliance and on
any problems therewith.13 Also ask the client to discuss tension and conflict immediately.
It is also recommendable to monitor the alliance closely from the start of the intervention. For
this a handy short questionnaire is in use that can be administered at the end of each session
14 . You can also just ask your client about the alliance , for instance using a scaling question
from the Solution Focused system of therapy. If you do so, then do go into the client’s
answers, especially when these are negative.
The role of hope, trust and positive expectations
Extensive research has been done in the fields of medicine and pharmacology into the
placebo effect, otherwise known as the expectation effect . Also in psychotherapy this
phenomenon is important. Undergoing a therapeutic procedure has important placebo effects:
when the client thinks all will be for the better, he actually will get better. The main condition
for this effect to materialize is that the therapeutic theory and techniques that are used are
credible. For the therapist, and thus especially for the client.
Variance analytical studies show that the change caused by therapy should be attributed for
an estimated 21%15 to the effects of hope and expectation: so called placebo factors.
Professionals are in general not very fond of the “placebo effect”. They experience them as
phony, not the real thing. But: placebo factors cause real and lasting improvements. It is not
an inferior form of effectiveness that is best avoided. On the contrary.
12
Duncan, B.L., S.D. Miller & J.A. Sparks, 2004.
Hubble, M.A., B.L. Duncan & S.D. Miller, 1999.
14. Session Rating Scale. See www.talkingcure.com
15 Wampold,B.E., 2001.
13
Psychotherapists have discovered various ways to enhance placebo effects and to have them
work in the client’s favor. A couple of ways that are applicable for coaches and counselors:
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Discuss the client’s expectations on the duration and result of the sessions, useful
methods and your role as professional. Try to factor these expectations into your
intervention as much as possible.
Use a method or procedure that you as a professional truly believe in and communicate
your confidence to your client.
Mobilize expectations of improvement. From the start, assume that the client will come
close to or even reach her goals.
However, be careful with expecting or predicting too great a change in too short a time.
Extreme, unrealistic expectations often have an adverse effect.
Help the client expect realistic step-by-step change.
Carefully explain the goal of the intervention and the way in which it will cause change.
The more sure clients are about your approach being helpful, the greater the odds are
that it will actually help.16
Increase wherever possible your personal credibility. Pay attention to your personal
presentation. Your clothing, the decoration of your work space, your attributes, your
website: everything supports the professional’s image of success. When you can radiate
success, the client will expect that you will also be successful with him. This will
substantially increase the chances of success.
Monitor progress and improvement. Progress made tangible will have a fly wheel effect: it
will invoke further expectations of improvement that in turn lead to progress. Use a simple
measuring device at the start of each session, to assess how the client’s general
wellbeing develops. *
Another possibility is to use solution-aimed scale questions:
So it is your goal to perform better as a manager. If we would give your managing
performance at the moment you applied for coaching the grade 1 and a grade 10 would be
the situation in which you would manage extremely well, then where are you now on a scale
from 1 to 10? What scale position do you want to reach, what would be good enough?
The effect of methods and techniques
Psychotherapists and other professionals usually pay much attention to the methodical
aspects of their work. They are occupied with the question which methods and techniques
offer the best chance at behavioral change. Techniques are procedures that are unique for a
certain system of psychotherapy, such as the miracle question in solution-focused therapy,
age regression in hypnosis and systematic desensitization in behavior therapy.
As we saw before a mere 8%of the change caused by therapy can be ascribed to the effects
of methods and techniques! 17) So it is not very useful for professionals to obsess over the
choice of method and technique. Being able to connect, to listen, to hear and to react flexibly
is much more important than having a box of tools.
This being said, it is interesting to wonder about what it is that methods and techniques have
in common. After all: any method and technique seems to be working just as good as the next
one, when properly used.
It may be helpful to view methods and techniques as healing rituals. They comprise an
explanation or clarification of the client’s problems and strategies to help solve these. Most
therapeutic methods and techniques have in common that they prepare the client to take
action to help himself.
It is also useful to look into what makes clients feel helped in therapy. The results of these
studies are very relevant for coaching. Professionals will benefit by letting these elements
lead them in their choice of method.
16
Kirsch, I., 1990.
* e.g. Outcome Rating Scale. See www.talkingcure.com
17 Wampold, B.E., 2001.
Clients felt helped when therapy gave them a place to talk and think things over, and when
they could talk to a person who:
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Listens, accepts and understands
Asks clarifying questions and summarizes what has been said
Is involved, kind and warm
Helps you to understand yourself by giving information and explain things
Sometimes helps you to view things from a positive angle
Comforts, supports and sometimes advises
Helps with direct tasks and suggestions and encourages you to do difficult things step by
step.
In short
Reinforce client and extra-therapeutic factors as much as possible
▪ Be focused on change: expect change, reward change.
▪ Always connect to the client’s goal for change. The client is central in this, not the
professional or outside persons like the employer.
▪ Give compliments for every change the client has accomplished, however small.
▪ Ascribe change to the client; progress is his merit.
▪ End the intervention when there is no or only very little result after five sessions.
▪
The working alliance is paramount
▪ As a professional, you are your own instrument: be open, honest, direct and emphatic.
▪ Pay attention to your client’s theory of change.
▪ Expect alliance ruptures and deal with them forthwith when they arise.
▪ End the intervention when after five sessions the alliance is still lacking.
▪
Foster hope and positive expectations
▪ Be optimistic about the results your client will achieve.
▪ Take small steps, they will get you there whereas haste trips over its own heels.
▪ Regularly discuss and emphasize progress.
▪ Increase your credibility as a professional.
Stimulate the client to take action
▪ Work with methods and techniques that will make the client do or try something step by
step.
Literature
Asay, T.P. en M.P. Lambert (1999) The empirical case for common factors in therapy:
quantitative findings. In: Hubble, M.A., B.L. Duncan en S.D. Miller (1999): The heart and soul
of change. What works in therapy. Washington, American Psychological Association.
Duncan, B. L., S.D. Miller en J.A. Sparks (2004) The heroic client: A revolutionary way to
improve effectiveness through client-directed, outcome-informed therapy. San Francisco,
Jossey-Bass.
Eysenck. H.J. (1952) The effect of psychotherapy: an evaluation. Journal of Consulting
Psychology, 16, 319-324.
Hubble, M.A., B.L. Duncan en S.D. Miller (1999) The heart and soul of change. What works in
therapy. Washington, American Psychological Association.
Kirsch, I. (1990) Changing expectations. A key to effective psychotherapy. Belmont, Thomson
Brooks/Cole.
Miller S.D., B.L. Duncan en M.A. Hubble (1997) Escape from Babel. Toward a unifying
language for psychotherapy practice. New York, Norton Professional Books.
Norcross J.C., editor (2002) Psychotherapy relationships that work. Therapist contributions
and responsiveness to patients. New York. Oxford University Press.
Roth, A., en P. Fonagy (2004) What works best for whom. A critical review of psychotherapy
research (2nd ed.). New York, Guilford Press.
Talmon, M. (1990) Single session therapy. Maximizing the effect of the first (and often only)
therapeutic encounter. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.
Vandereycken, W. en van R. Deth (2003) Psychotherapie. Van theorie tot praktijk. Houten,
Bohn Stafleu van Loghum.
Wampold, B.E. (2001) The great psychotherapy debate. Models, methods and findings.
Hillsdale, Lewis Erlbaum Associates
Author
Carlo Mittendorff is a coaching psychologist. He helps managers, professionals and corporate
leaders with major personal and corporate transformations. He is in private practice in
Amsterdam, the Netherlands (www.mittendorff.net). Previously, he worked in mental welfare
as a psychotherapist and manager for 20 years. He also worked with the Institute for Psychotrauma, a consultancy for government and the business world around stress and trauma, for
over 10 years of which 8 as general director. His coaching approach is inspired by Positive
Psychology and is characterized by the use of empirically validated methods and techniques,
especially of the cognitive-behavioral and solution-focused variety. His areas of expertise
are: coaching, (work) stress, crisis, burnout, trauma, loss and change. On these subjects he
regularly lectures in the Netherlands and abroad. In the Netherlands, he teaches a number of
courses and seminars on these subjects. He (co)authored a dozen articles and two books: “Ik
ben er kapot van…” (I am broken up about it…) on psycho-trauma and “Ik ben niet meer
vooruit te branden…” (I can’t get up anymore…) about work stress and burnout. He is
associated with the International Coach federation (ICF). He is also a registered
psychotherapist and health care psychologist. He has over 30.000 hours of experience in
working with people and organizations on change and transformation.