Presentation
Hello, my name is Marie-Elise Tilgenkamp, and I have a master’s degree in clinical psychology from UCL. I am a member of the Belgian Commission of Psychologists.
Very quickly, I became interested in how human beings function and wanted to understand them better. I was also driven by the desire to help people who are experiencing personal and/or relational difficulties.
It was therefore quite natural for me to turn to studies in psychology. During my master’s, I chose the cognitive-behavioural track while also taking courses in systemic therapy and in educational and developmental psychology, which allows me not to lock myself into one particular school of thought.
I use several approaches in therapy, depending on the person’s request and situation:
- The cognitive-behavioral approach, particularly everything related to emotion management. Emotions play a major role in our lives, and poor management of them is at the root of many psychological problems. Learning to better identify, accept, understand and express them can help us cope better with our difficulties and considerably improve our well-being. Training in improving emotional skills has provided me with effective tools for working on emotional management. Writing a thesis on the links between emotional skills and diabetes has also allowed me to deepen my knowledge on the subject.
- Parental guidance: Education sometimes raises questions and difficulties. Support can sometimes be useful to improve parent-child relationships, learn how to set limits for one’s child, etc. The aim is not to tell parents how to raise their children, but rather to help them find the solutions best suited to their family, their problem, and their living environment. I have had the opportunity on several occasions to work with children. Indeed, I have worked in a hospital setting with children and adolescents with diabetes and their families. I have also provided academic support to primary school children in a homework club, and contributed to the development of support projects for Romanian children and adolescents experiencing psychosocial difficulties. In addition, I look after sick children at home and I have numerous contacts with children in a family context.
- The systemic approach: this approach considers the individual, their family and the different groups to which they belong as systems in which multiple interactions take place. These interactions are often important for understanding the difficulties a person may encounter, and we can work together to try to improve them.
My consultations are intended for children, adolescents and adults and may concern different types of issues:
- Emotional difficulties: anxiety, depression, grief, phobias, …
- Relational and emotional difficulties in family, school or professional settings.
- Difficulties related to a chronic illness such as diabetes
- Difficulties in parenting and raising children.
During the first appointments, I will explore with you the difficulties that bring you here, and we will place them in their family, school, professional, and personal context. We will also try to determine your expectations regarding therapy, so that we can develop the care that will suit you best. We will review this regularly to make sure that it is working well for you. If it is your child who is experiencing difficulties, we will use different media, such as play or drawing.
This presentation was translated by DocSelect.
Issues addressed
- Anxiety attacks
- Depression
- Grief
- Serious illnesses
- Phobias
- Trauma
Specialties
- Individual
- Teenagers
- Child
Patients supported
5 - 8 years
9 - 12 years
13 - 16 years
Adolescents 17 and older