Kristīne Maže, MA, MEd, is a certified Theraplay® Practitioner, certified family psychotherapist, and certified supervisor, working in her private practice in Latvia. She received her MA in Family Ministry from Gordon – Conwell Theological Seminary, taught at the Latvian Baptist Seminary. She was a school teacher for 7 years before enrolling in the Systemic Family Psychotherapy training in Latvia and is certified there as a Psychotherapist. She received her Theraplay training in Latvia while extensively translating and supporting Theraplay trainings in Latvia since 2010. She has received her Masters in Pedagogy and qualification of Supervisor from Riga Stradiņš University and is a certified supervisor. Kristine and her husband have four children and are actively involved in their church. She can be reached at [email protected].
Back to Our Supervisors
MA in Psychology, certified Theraplay Practitioner, certified Nurture and Play Practioner and trained to be a supervisor and trainer in Theraplay. She works in her own practice and at a mental health care institution in The Netherlands. She is working with kids and their families and specializes in attachment issues and trauma. Marike can be reached at [email protected]
Back to Our Trainers
I’m Leanne Dijkstra-de Neijs from the Netherlands. That is where I got my down to earth work ethos. But I’m also Indonesian, which is where I got my strong family orientated bonds. Originally I schooled to be a nurse. During my last nursing internships at a children’s home I learned that there was so much I did not know yet, so I decided to continue my studies at the Radboud University Nijmegen to become a child psychologist. After working with children for several years it dawned on me how strangely it was to be mostly talking to them and through that expecting that things would get better. When knowing that play is children’s natural language. So, I went back to the University to learn about playtherapy. This was an immediate fit for me and my view at therapy for children. A few years later I was given the opportunity to transfer to an expertise center for autism within my company. Here I learned so much more on systemic working and parent-child relation/interaction problems due to underlying classifications. Soon, individual playtherapy was not enough to my experience within this environment. That’s when I got introduced to Theraplay. And although Theraplay is not specifically indicated for families with ASD, it originated from it in its early days. Practice based we saw huge positive changes between children with ASD and their parents. Seeing and hearing each other better, connecting in a more nurturing way and enjoying each others company again instead of just surviving through the days. We were so enthusiastic about these results and wanted to share our findings with others. But to do so, they needed to be reliable. That’s where my ongoing PhD trajectory originated. As can be read, I love to learn, but I also love learning as an activity on itself. This is why I became a Theraplay trainer and supervisor. Through the above, I hope to contribute in a small way to a warm and engaged world which, in my opinion starts in every individual familie.
Back to Our Trainers
Erika is a certified mental health psychologist and certified as a orthopedagoog-generalist, has worked for seven years at various high schools as a school psychologist and nine years at a youth and family care organization. She worked a lot with foster families and traumatized children.
In April 2013, she completed the level 1 Theraplay® training and started doing Theraplay mostly with foster families. She is a fully certified Theraplay Practitioner since September 2015 and started besides her work at the youth and family care organization a private practice to do more Theraplay with various children and their parents. She’s also focusing to use Theraplay with very young children and their parents as a prevention program.
Erika is currently a Theraplay Supervisor. She can be reached at: [email protected].
Back to Our Supervisors
Marja is a certified mental health psychologist and certified as a orthopedagoog-generalist. She has been working therapeutically with children and parents individually for 10 years in the Netherlands. She uses multiple approaches, Play Therapy, Symboldrama therapy (Leuner), Videofeedback team coaching (Heijkoop), EMDR, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. She is Trainer and Supervisor in the post-graduate training Play Therapy as well. Marja works in a small psychiatric treatment centre for children 5-12 years old, as a clinical director. She also has her own practice were she does a lot of attachment and trauma work. Marja is a consultant for the Centre of Consulting and Expertise. She helps professionals to solve the very severe problems of children and adults in residential care, schools, or families.
Since 1983 she is specialist in the field of developmental and intellectual disabilities and brain injury; she worked in several residential care institutions for children and adults. She did a lot of projects to help with the transition to normal community-based living and wrote a book “Groeien naar gelijkwaardigheid” in 1992 about this subject (the book was translated in German language). After finishing her Play Therapy training, it was a challenge for her to develop therapeutic options for children and adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities. She wrote a chapter about Play Therapy with intellectually disabled children in a manual for Play Therapy, Spel in psychotherapie 2010.
Marja was certified as a Theraplay® Practitioner in 2011. She can be contacted: [email protected]
Back to Our Supervisors
Camilla is a Certified Theraplay® Practitioner and Supervisor living and practicing in Esbjerg, Denmark. Since she became a psychologist in 2002 she has been working with children (and their families) with complex trauma. She uses multiple approaches (Play Therapy, Sandplay, EMDR, Storytelling, Systemic family therapy and Neuroaffective Psychotherapy). Camilla is beside Theraplay trained in Play Therapy and EMDR. Camilla has her own private practice in Esbjerg. For 15 years she has also worked at the local treatment centre for children, youngsters, and their families. They have specialized in treating clients with complex trauma history and serious attachments difficulties. They also has an important role as consultants for the local department of Social Service. Camilla also educates and supervises professionals around the Danish country. Contact info: [email protected]
Back to Our Supervisors
SKJ Registered Social Worker
Certified Theraplay® Practitioner, Associate Theraplay Trainer and Theraplay Supervisor in training. Linda has also did the DDP level 1 training and completed a Post-Graduate Certificate as a Child and Youth Therapist. Linda works as a social worker in a psychiatric treatment center for children with low IQ in the age of 5-12 years where she provides parent consulting. And she works as a Theraplay Practitioner in a policlinical psychiatric setting for youth in the age of 5-18 years old. Linda provides advice, guidance and consultation to parents and has experience in working with adoptive parents and foster parents, parents with low IQ and parents with autism. Her clinical experience includes helping children with trauma through abuse and neglect as well as children with autism. As an Associate Trainer she was co-trainer for the level I Theraplay Training in The Netherlands since 2015 and is a Associate Theraplay Supervisor in training since 2016. Linda can be reached at [email protected].
Back to Our Supervisors
received her Master’s degree as a developmental psychologist at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and completed a post-graduate training as a parental therapist. She has worked in several institutions as a psychologist for children and adults with special needs and is specialized in children with autism and low IQ. For several years she worked in a child psychiatric clinical and daycare centre and at the moment she has a private practice, where she provides Theraplay, parent consulting and psychological assessments. She became one of the first certified Theraplay® Practitioners in the Netherlands and spends a lot of time promoting Theraplay in her country. Bettie is a certified Theraplay Practitioner, Trainer and Supervisor and also country representative for TTI in the Netherlands. Bettie can be reached at [email protected].
Back to Our Supervisors
in Orthopedagogiek and Educational studies, is a certified Theraplay Practitioner and Supervisor, and trained to be a Theraplay trainer. She works at a mental health care institution in Delft, the Netherlands. She specializes in Infant Mental Health, trauma and attachment issues. Marianne is married and has two daughters and a son. You can reach Marianne at [email protected]
Back to Our Supervisors
