Dear Reader In 1967, psychologist Julian Silverman published a paper with a curious title: Shamans and Acute Schizophrenia. It's a question close to the heart of the online summit coming up: what happens when people move through reality-altering experiences that the world around them understands completely differently? Silverman argued the real difference wasn't only what happened inside the person, but what happened around them. Was there a cultural map? Was there a (safe) place for the...
29 days ago • 1 min read
Dear Reader, When I first started imagining this summit, I didn't begin with keynote speakers. I began with circles. I wanted to turn the usual conference model a little upside down — not four days of sitting behind a screen listening to expert after expert, but a living gathering where you can enter the conversation yourself. So throughout the summit there will be live circles — smaller, facilitated spaces built around shared experience. Some are pure experience, like Gaby's drum circle,...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hey there Reader, It started as a little fun idea, as it always does (if you know me)... A seed was planted. I started speaking with people who crossed my path — and I couldn't have imagined how beautiful this summit would become. So let me tell you what it's grown into. Expect more than interesting names — expect what happens when different ways of knowing meet in the same room: psychiatry beside animism, yoga beside consciousness research, lived experience beside clinical practice, grief,...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, In October, something I've been building quietly finally opens its doors. And it brings together a conversation I’ve wanted to have for a long time. A summit. 🎉🎉🎉 Four days, free, online. So here we go! Built around my book Wisdom of Psychosis, published on March 28 this year but never given a real celebration yet, this summit brings different worlds into conversation around altered states, consciousness, crisis and transformation. Over four days, we gather with curiosity,...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey there, Reader Summer is slowly starting on this side of the earth — and I'd love to connect with you. So much is brewing, and I'm very curious how you are doing (feel free to reply this email to let me know). First of all, yes, I am still a bit in my post-partum phase as author of Wisdom of Psychosis. I am so happy to share that the book has now been shipped to 12-13 countries in the world. If you're reading it, you read it, or you want to read — or even just want to show it some love — I...
6 months ago • 3 min read
email update | #250 It's winter, Reader — and I enjoy it so much! ❄️ 🛷 ☃️ But what I enjoy even more, much more, is sharing with you that today (pinch me!) after so many of you were asking, I'm officially opening pre-orders for my book: 'Wisdom of Psychosis: A compassionate, trauma-aware framework for navigating the intelligence of altered states'! But first things first: pre-order your 'Wisdom of Psychosis' here By choosing to pre-order, you're helping this book cross from manuscript into...
10 months ago • 1 min read
email update | #250 Hey there, It took me a moment to let go of summer, but now I'm embracing the change. I find myself organizing, completing projects, and bringing clarity to different areas of my life — and loving every bit of it. As I sit on my veranda, the wind plays with my hair while birds chirp in the tree above and the gentle September sun warms my face. How are you navigating this seasonal transition, Reader? I'm making two exciting changes: Podcast and the Care Circle I've moved...
about 1 year ago • 1 min read
email update | #250 Dear Reader Throughout my years working in Amsterdam’s acute psychiatry and crisis wards, I encountered countless individuals facing their darkest moments. I also experienced personal crises that shook me to my core. From these experiences, one conclusion became painfully clear: Crisis is here to teach us something. Yet, despite this truth, many of us find ourselves wanting to run from it, fight it, or avoid it. As we learn through the lens of Polyvagal Theory, our nervous...
almost 2 years ago • 1 min read
email update | #250 Hi there, Yesterday, I wrote to you about the emotional whirlwind I’ve been in — saying goodbye to a friend who’s moving away, seeing my daughter head off on her first school trip, and navigating an intense day of crisis interventions in Amsterdam. And of course, there was that unexpected layer added by speed dating, where I was face-to-face with some of my inner parts in ways I didn’t expect. Today, Reader — I want to talk about something that has been sitting with me...
about 2 years ago • 1 min read