About You

Does this resonate with you as a client?

You are 18 + of age.
You are comfortable to think and talk about abstract ideas.
You love one-on-one conversations to explore and evolve your viewpoints.
You know yourself as a seeker, but may find coaching, counseling or therapy too much of a monologue, too pre-packaged, or too focused on the emotional side of experiences.
You value your own critical thinking, and you recognize the limitations of a single mind.
You appreciate professional expertise to integrate fresh thinking in your specific circumstances.
You aspire to open-minded excellence in thought and action.
No previous education/ training in philosophy is needed.

"Thinking is not a case of spontaneous combustion. To maintain the state of doubt and to carry on systematic and protracted inquiry, these are the essentials of thinking."

~John Dewey, How We Think

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What I Bring to the Table

PASSIOn for INSIGHT

Philosophy is driven by serious wonder and sustained by playful surprise. It's magical when someone's mind's eyes get opened to see something in a new light, or a whole spectrum of lights. New thinking is vibrant. This is how I fell in love with philosophy and why I want to share the qualities of philosophy with 'outsiders'.

I came to philosophy as an outsider, after a 25+ year career in law and visual thinking training/consulting/facilitation. My approach is practical, informed by my experience with clients of all walks of life: the general public, government, big organizations and small business-owners. I am a Dutch native, rooted as a perennial expat in the Unites States.

Education and certification

Education:

MA Continental Philosophy, Staffordshire University, UK
Certified as Philosophical Counselor by American Philosophical Practitioners Association (APPA.edu)
Law School (LLM equivalent), University of Utrecht, NL
Renaissance Soul coach, trained by Margareth Lobenstine
Mediation Training
Liberating Structures group facilitation
Graphic Recording & Visual facilitation

Professional Experience:

Attorney/legal counsel in the Netherlands, associate law professor, author of legal communication books, information designer, visual thinking coach/consultant, legal trainer/workshop facilitator, visual artist, gallery owner, Access-to-Justice professional in Colorado Court system. See siftvisuals.com

Languages:

English, Nederlands

SCHOOL OF LIFE

My practice of listening and understanding is inspired by my personal experiences of love, friendship, community, movement, nature, travel, and beauty, organically blended with times of change, uncertainty and burn-out, unconventional career steps, gifted-ness, entrepreneurship, being an expat-outsider-foreigner, parenting, divorce, non-traditional co-parenting, glbtq identity questions, tapping into personal creativity, becoming an artist, seeking a spiritual home, and health challenges.

As a curious, creative person, I primarily find my own resources through life long learning, a lot of reading, art-making, and a variety of body-mind connection practices. I also believe in asking professional support from others to heal, grow, and flourish. I am deeply grateful for the wise women counsel that I have found on my path.

FAVORITE PHILOSOPHERS

Hannah Ahrendt, Gaston Bachelard, John Dewey.

Areas of focus: Critical Thinking, Phenomenology, Philosophy of Art/Creativity, Existentialism

Try Philosophy

Thinking in Motion, Being in Action

About You

Does this resonate with you as a client?

About Susanne van der Meer

Philosophical guide

What I Bring to the Table

PASSIOn for INSIGHT

Education and certification

SCHOOL OF LIFE

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