testimonials

loving and professional presence

"When I first met Koen, I immediately felt at ease. His loving and professional presence allowed me to quickly experience the movement that S.E. aims to. The sessions with Koen have helped me enormously to process and release trauma. "

L.

deep down i have started to feel much safer

I am so glad that I was able to follow therapy with Koen for a longer period of time!!

What a fantastic therapist and what a fantastic person! Honest, respectful, professional and committed.

He understands from the core how NARM therapy and SE therapy works.

And because he understands this form of therapy from the core, he applies the right interventions every time. Interventions that have helped me to start feeling and experiencing where my nervous system reacts everytime with fear and tension.

How I kept getting traumatized over and over again.

Koen has helped me to let go of large pieces of trauma.

Trauma I suffered in my early childhood.

Because of his way of working I came into contact with deeper layers in myself that I could not reach until now.

The therapy has started a deep process of healing for me.

Where previous therapists did not reach this layer, Koen touched me deeply and I was able to release many fears and tensions in myself.

Deep down I have started to feel much safer, which means that I am calmer and more relaxed in life.

And that makes me feel much more connected with the people around me.

I am grateful that I ended up with Koen and that he guided me with full confidence.

Koen, I will never forget you!

Thanks for everything !!

Lianne

taking the time, my own time without having to

My themes with which I came to work with Koen:
working with a safe man, leadership, daring and daring to speak out safely.
He sensed that well and made me feel calm.
Especially taking the time, my own time without having to.
This gave me a positive experience and together we were able to reassure my insecurity.
Also that my feeling could be there as it is and that I don't have to do anything.
I was able to put beautiful things together with Ko even though it was chafing, also designed it was safe for me. What I also thought was important is that Koen also showed vulnerability and showed something of himself.
Thank you Koen for being able to work with you in this way.

Luciën

most meaningful and deeply impacting work

Working with Koen is one of the most meaningful and deeply impactful work I have ever done.
It is hard to express just how grateful I am to him for all the positive changes he helped bring into my life.

Koen is a very kind, empathetic and caring person and an absolute pleasure to work with.

He is incredibly knowledgeable and knows how to share his knowledge in a comprehensible way.

There is so much one can learn from Koen!

His greatest gift is his ability to create a safe, non-judgemental environment and to give space and time for whatever it is that you need or whatever needs to unfold.

Sessions with him are safe havens.

They are also a process that requires time and dedication.

I can only invite and recommend you to take this time for yourself <3

Carmen

i built a sustainable kind of resilience, confidence, curiosity and sense of happiness

I have been working with Koen on a consistent basis for more than two years, and will endeavor to work with him for many years to come. I cannot put into words how much this person has done for me.
There was a time in my life where I did not want to continue living.
But, thanks to Koen, both as a result of our work in the short, medium and long term, this is no longer the case.
I have built a sustainable kind of resilience, confidence, curiosity and sense of happiness through our work together. His knowledge and expertise, his compassion and his patience, has made both my mind and my body a safer, more enjoyable place to be.
Thanks for everything Koen, I wish I was able to express how integral you have been to my healing journey!

A.A.

discover new and beautiful things for myself

On August 6, 2021 I had a session with Koen. I suffered from anxiety, especially in the area of my adult daughter's study.
Anyway, I had a lot of fears about my daughter, 24 hours a day she was present in the background in my head.
It was very important to me that she was doing well and I saw that as my responsibility.
That is of course completely impossible, but I was very busy with it.
For my daughter, of course, that felt oppressive.
She wanted to study and I preferred not to because I would be terrified whether things would go well.

Then the session came to Koen. His personality already felt very familiar.
Quiet and present. Very special.
Koen first explained how Somatic Experiencing works.
And then all of a sudden, as a young child [I'm now in my 60s], I was again under the table at my parental home.
A suffocating and frightening sensation, my body locked completely and my throat tightened.
Koen calmly guided me through this process and I described exactly what was happening in my body.
Then I gestured with my arms wide open and this gave me a lot of space, when I realized that I also found it a bit scary and I went back to closed arms close to my body.
But I remember that space felt great, as if the world opened up to me.
What struck me was that Koen saw and named every small change in my posture or gestures, which gave me the opportunity to see and feel very consciously what was happening in myself. A fascinating experience.
When the session was over I walked through Amsterdam and it seemed like I had wings, I felt so good, as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. It felt like a miracle, I thought that is not possible after 1 session, but I really enjoyed that feeling.

It has now been two months and my life has changed very nicely in that area.
So it was really a miracle, because I no longer have any fears at all and when I think at the table of my youth there is no pain but it is completely neutral. My daughter is also so happy with it, she says:
I now feel free and that oppressive feeling I got from you is completely gone.
It also feels like a liberation for me and gives me space to do and discover new and beautiful things for myself.
Thanks to Koen, a trauma from my childhood has been transformed.
I am very grateful for that.

Elly

more capacity to be in the here and now

"Koen's SE sessions have helped me to discover more about inner dynamics that play in me and limit me in my daily life. SE has given me more capacity to be in the here and now. Koen is professional, warm and accessible. He creates space to look honestly and clearly at what is going on. I always felt welcome and safe during sessions. "

Lianne

full control

A few years ago i’ve been struggling with lot of things going on in my life. I needed to get a clear mind and be able to overcome the anxiety and fight the root for that.
Tried a bunch of things, never went to talk to a professional since I didn’t believe in the idea of it.
Now I can say that I have full control over my life outside and inside.
Even If you haven’t struggled like I did in the past, with Koen you will be able to learn things about yourself you never thought you would.

Noah L.

calm and trustworthy

"Koen is committed and has a warm personality. He has a calm and trustworthy presence. I felt very comfortable with his care and diligence. He offers space for what emerges and can respond well to it. He has guided me through fragile pieces in a loving and respectful way. I experienced his soft presence as an anchor. The SE sessions allowed me to make contact with parts of myself that were difficult for me to reach. It helped me to slow down, to take one step at a time. "

Pascalle

GUIDED ME VERY GENTLY

"I had several sessions with Koen during an intensive retreat of Isaac Shapiro. He went with me through all the different layers of pain, anger, rage, grief and also joy and love. For me it was a great convenience through that time. He has such a sensitive system and felt all my shifts often before I felt it by myself and guided me very gently and beautifully through my trauma energy. Thank you Koen for your gorgeous work and also for your flexibility. Would love to work with you again. Love & Light "

Rike

at ease

“I recently met Koen at a retreat, where he provided individual Somatic Experiencing sessions. I immediately felt at ease with him. I was triggered by his explanation of Somatic Experiencing and his folder and decided to book a session. In the session Koen made me aware of the physical sensations in my body when I experience emotions. In particular, the transition from tightening (in his words contraction) and opening (in his words expansion).
He let me experience and become aware of how my body felt in each of these phases. In addition, I explored with him what resources are effective for me to safely experience my emotions and to move from contraction to expansion again. The session gave me insight into how my body works and feels and at the same time also tools to move safely through these phases of emotions. Very valuable to me! Koen was a beacon of orientation, peace and trust, which made me feel at ease to make him part of a process in which I feel extremely vulnerable and normally prefer to be alone in. Thank you for this Koen! "

Eline

thank you Koen !

"I went into the SE session with Koen blank, had no idea what to expect. I was allowed to choose where I wanted to sit. Emotions soon arose and I had the tendency to link them to stories. Koen calmly guided me back to the sensations in my body and made sure that I could focus on those sensations. At one point I changed places in space, everything was free to me. I was given clear tools, such as keeping my attention to the earth, but also the opportunity to form a clear visual picture of what that safe earth looked like to me. I now use these visualisations in daily life. Whenever I feel restless, an image of red, dry, almost cracked ground beneath my feet automatically enters my system and I am immediately back on track. After the session I felt tired but clear, an important insight arose: I choose to be here. This may seem like a simple thought, but it was urgent to me, after always thinking and feeling 'being half present somewhere', always with a look at the exit, with half an eye on the next moment, myself a plaything to feel the situation, after never allowing myself to be completely present where I am. Now that can change, partly thanks to the SE session. I recommend it to everyone. Thank you, Koen! "

Malou Kranen

open and calm attitude

"As soon as you enter Koen's space, you feel at ease because of his open and calm attitude. Somatic experiencing is quite difficult to understand, but Koen knows very clearly what he will do and what his approach will be. What he especially does not do is retraumatize you by going straight back to your trauma (or what you encounter), and where that comes from, but he mainly stays in the here and now and how you can deal with it. Slowly in several sessions he then plays between the present and the past, without evoking unpleasant feelings from the past. That was a reassuring thought for me, but it will also be especially for people who are struggling with something that happened (far) in the past. At the end of my first session I had a kind of peace over me that I now often know how to recall when I get stuck again. If you are stuck with something from the past and you are not sure how to deal with it in the present, I would definitely recommend a number of sessions with Koen. "

J.V.

a relief in the field of trauma treatment

"Koen is an incredibly skilled SE therapist who knows how to create a very safe atmosphere and environment, through which you learn to work step by step with difficult emotions and old pain. The nice thing about SE and Koen is that you are not analyzed, but works correctly with your direct physical experience, which makes it much easier for you to reach your feelings and sensations. I have been able to work on old grief that I could never get over in 'talk therapy'. SE has also inspired me to do a lot in my own work as a psychologist. to work more with the body. SE is a relief in the field of trauma treatment. "

B.A. , Psychologist

more aware

"I am 42 years old and the last years of my life I have had a lot of trouble with emotional ups and downs. It was like the effects of everything I have been through in my life wanting to surface to free themselves. The 4 SE sessions I had with Koen have helped me to deal more consciously with these emotions, and instead of trying to hide or fight them, in the power of silence to give them more space to reveal themselves and During the sessions the exchange of conscious presence was strong, which in itself released a lot of deep peace and love that are the core of our existence ... Koen was calm and listened well, not only with his ears but also with his presence and His heart. He took me time and again quietly back to the moment, which naturally causes peace and confidence. Koen, I wish you good luck and success in your work and your life! With heartfelt gratitude! "

a more complete person

"The first SE experience for me is positive and also special. It has increased and improved my 'feel-your-body experience'. I now apply the release of my 'trauma' and it helps me. Because I think that I do intend to use SE further and that helps me further. In combination with correct breathing, I feel I have become a more complete person so far. "

Cees van de Zande