Elke Meiborg, MA, MSc
GZ-psycholoog (Health Care Psychologist), Main practitioner Inter-Being Groningen
Becoming a psychologist was one of the best moves I have ever made. I love my work and feel enriched by everything I learn from my clients and colleagues.
As a Dutch farmer’s daughter, I had my first small-scale expat experience at 5 years old, when I moved with my family from a small village in the province of Groningen to the vast, newly reclaimed Flevopolder, where recently arrived farmers from all over the Netherlands had to build up a whole new community together. When I was 18, I gained more real expat experience, living in Arkansas for a year as an exchange student.
Psychology is my second career. After obtaining an MA in English at the University of Groningen I became a freelance translator. Ten years later, I went back to university and graduated in Clinical Psychology and Theory & History of Psychology. I began working as a psychologist in 2004 and started my own private practice a few years later. In 2011, I became a fully qualified Health Care Psychologist (GZ-psycholoog). Since then, I have taken further schooling in EMDR, focussing and e-health. I have worked with a wide range of clients in various settings, and although I am specialised in short-term counselling in primary mental health care settings in the Netherlands (Generalistische Basis GGZ), I also have several years of experience in long-term therapy in secondary care settings (Specialistische GGZ), for instance for more deeply rooted psychological and existential problems and complex trauma.
During my work and studies, I have always felt uncomfortable with the emphasis on pathology and psychiatric disorders in the Dutch mental health care system. Therapy for me means looking beyond problems and diagnoses and trying to really see, hear and understand the person in front of me. In my experience, an empathetic therapeutic relationship based on equality, transparency, humour and acceptance is an important instrument to bring about change and personal growth.
I will be working in Groningen and online.
Registrations / memberships:
BIG register GZ-psycholoog (Registered Health Care Psychologist): 79913951225
AGB-zorgverlenerscode: 94010499
NIP – Nederlands Instituut van Psychologen
VEN – Vereniging EMDR Nederland
