RAINS Psychology
Risk Awareness | Identity | Narrative | Self-continuity
Welcome!
Hello! I am an American psychologist and educator based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. A Maryland native, I have studied and worked in Europe for 10 years. I am a caring and socially concerned lifelong learner who loves to play team sports. I faced a lot of challenges in life and I probably use my phone too much.
Risk Awareness | Identity | Narrative | Self-continuity
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"We are a grief phobic society."
Loss exists in many forms.
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"Protection exists in many forms. Denial is not one of them."
Believe in what you cannot see or measure, but do not deny what you can see and measure.
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"Time feels weird now."
Covid isolation and lockdowns have warped our sense of time.
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"Society is not well. Your reaction to it is normal."
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"I thought my life would be different."
Big life changes, grief, trauma, or identity issues can leave you feeling stuck.
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"I'm not sure I know my role."
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"I can't focus anymore."
Algorithms are designed to affect your mood and steal your attention.
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My perspective and my mission
Mental healthcare is facing a crisis of demand and inability to keep up with changing social problems.
We are living in a time of unprecedented social changes. Technology has complicated human wellbeing and relationships. Trusted institutions are struggling to keep up with growing needs. Waitlists for mental health help can be months or even years long.
You are a person who is impacted by your environment.
Many people have faced a multitude of traumatic incidents, loss, and major stressful life changes in the past few years alone. On top of interpersonal stress, many people struggle with fears and concerns around climate change, geopolitical tension, war, economic strain, AI, social isolation, online dating, pandemics, relationship problems, loss, failure, and rapidly changing norms are valid and can affect your mental health. In my opinion, traditional mental health therapies put emphasis on changing a person’s thoughts and behaviors without giving enough attention to the context of their problems.
Who are you?
Society has come a long way in de-stigmatizing mental health problems. However, we live in a world where trauma, abuse, and grief are taboo, and reactions to trauma, abuse, and grief are pathologized. Society has normalized and encouraged the use of diagnostic labels to explain very normal human reactions to unfortunate life circumstances. Mental health institutions and health insurance companies often use diagnoses as gatekeeping to prevent or funnel access to care. Social media campaigns and influencers have created a trendiness in diagnostic labelling. Institutions and social media undoubtedly shape the way people see themselves.
You are not a diagnosis.
You are not what happened to you.
You are not what the algorithms say.
Your story matters. Making sense of your story helps.
Stressful life events such as childhood trauma, relationship breakdown, death, divorce, moving, abuse, job changes, natural disasters, etc. can cause disruptions in your life narrative. Disrupted self-continuity is a marker of mental illness, and can leave you feeling anxious, burned out, depressed, hopeless, or stuck in life. Disrupted self-continuity manifests as problems making sense of how your past self relates to your present self (e.g., problems processing trauma) or problems connecting your present self to a hopeful future self (e.g., problems processing grief).
My mission as a psychologist and educator is to promote concepts of RAINS - Risk Awareness, Identity, Narrative, and Self-continuity - as a means for protective mental health.
Through narrative-based therapies and research-based insights, I help empower clients to develop healthy risk awareness and a strong sense of self-continuity. A positive and stable sense of identity helps protect future mental health by leading to a stronger sense of resiliency.
Some past affiliations include:
-Children International
-Alliance Anti-Trafic
-International Weapons Control Center
-National Alliance on Mental Illness
-European Association of Psychology & Law
-British Psychological Society
-American Psychological Association
-Society for Personality Assessment
-International Investigative Interviewing Research Group
-Digital Legal Lab (Netherlands)
-Center for Research and Evidence on Security Threats
For a copy of my CV, please contact me at:
info@rainspsychology.com
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Risk Awareness
What/where/who is safe? Establish safety.
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Identity
Who are you? Define your perspective, strengths, and limitations.
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Narrative
What is your story? Discover your deeper needs, patterns, and values.
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Self-continuity
Reflect. Adjust. Look forward with confidence and hope.
Learn about RAINS
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Risk is present in everyday life in the daily choices we make, but also in the bigger decisions, such as who to date, where to live, the job you choose, family planning, financial investments, etc. Stress can also come from existential and spiritual questions related to living in a time marked by numerous global crises, economic uncertainty, and social media pressure. For managers, security teams, and business owners, stress can come from uncertainty regarding hiring and screening decisions, communication style, and….
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What should we know about the services you provide? Better descriptions result in more sales.
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What should we know about the services you provide? Better descriptions result in more sales.
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FAQs
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Risk Awareness | Identity | Narrative | Self-continuity. Please see the homepage for the explanation of this acronym.
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Similar to many private mental health practitioners in the Netherlands, I do not have contracts with insurance providers. This means you must cover the cost of the sessions and seek potential reimbursement from your insurance company.
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A strong therapeutic alliance is important for a good working relationship between a psychologist and client, and a good working relationship helps produce a positive therapeutic outcome.
In my experience interviewing foreign (non-Dutch) clients who have rendered care from both Dutch insurance-sponsored mental health practitioners and private care expat psychologists in the Netherlands, most clients expressed a strong preference for receiving care from expat psychologists.
Significantly shorter waitlists, improved communication (especially when treatment is in a mutual native language), more productive sessions, more flexible treatment plans, a greater sense of feeling heard and understood, and a greater sense of empathy from the expat psychologist were all reasons stated for this preference.
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I welcome Dutch speaking clients, but I only practice in English.
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I can offer you a free 20-minute phone conversation to help determine if we are a good fit. If we find that communication is too difficult, I will do my best to help you find someone else who can help.
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There is not a wait list at this time. I do my best to arrange an appointment within one week of contact.
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This is up to you. We can meet in the office, via video call, or have a phone-based appointment. We can arrange home-based appointments in exceptional circumstances (e.g., limited mobility).
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In compliance with the Ministerie van Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport requirements for independent healthcare practitioners, I am registered with an independent review board. (insert link).
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Yes, I offer discounts for displaced and marginalized people (e.g., refugees, human trafficking survivors, etc.). I also offer discounts for clients who have been waiting longer than six months to start therapy with another mental health service. Please contact me about this.
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The Online Grief Support Group Group is free for foreigners living in the Netherlands.
TESTIMONIALS
The gift of grief
“We are a grief phobic society and often see grief as something awkward and self-indulgent to be got over as quickly as possible…
The biggest change that we’re collectively in denial about right now is the planet is dying on our watch. And with it, our cherished beliefs that we can carry on business as usual.”
- Jody Day