Daniel moved at the age of eight from the Netherlands to Spain with his family, parents and three siblings, to start a new adventure. Although he was quick to adapt to the language, as a Third Culture Kid he did not find it easy to adapt to his new environment. The challenge of undergoing bullying made him connect with suffering and rejection, bringing him closer to his vocation as a psychologist.

Having American uncles and cousins, English is part of his family relationships, and he always benefited every opportunity to practice it, such as an exchange to Chicago at the age of 17. Before embarking on his academic path, Daniel wanted to discover the world. He participated in several missionary schools through the Evangelical Church in India and Uganda. Both trips offered him a unique opportunity to get closer to other cultures and learn to live together while bridging differences and finding ways to communicate. He made a very important decision: to try to live as they live in the country of destination and so, in India he had spiced food for breakfast and traveled over 2000 kms by train. It was a country of which he admired its hospitality and the ability to welcome different cultures.

Upon his return, he obtained a graduate degree in Psychology at the Complutense University of Madrid. He completed his internship at the ANAR Foundation, a psychological helpline for children and teens, where he learned to work in a multidisciplinary team and consolidated his therapeutic skills. He obtained an Erasmus scholarship to study his third year abroad at the University of Warwick; a place where he was surrounded by students from all over the world. During his time in the United Kingdom, he made connections that encouraged him to return, after finishing his degree, to the West Midlands (Coventry) where he lived and worked for about a year. This was his first experience as an expat adult with its challenges of adapting to customs and schedules, being far from family and making new friendships.

He resumed his training through a postgraduate course in Integrative Psychotherapy (basic expert level) through the University of Alcalá, which allowed him to explore different theories and therapeutic schools. It would be systemic family therapy that would spark his interest the most, as it provided a different vision of relationships, allowing him to discover that a problem can be maintained thanks to balances that are difficult to abandon. That explained that his next training step would be to do a master’s degree in Family and Couple Therapy, through the Complutense University of Madrid. For Daniel, as a therapist, it is essential that everyone feels heard and for all to be aware that there is not only one truth, but several versions. Systemic therapy helps to understand that what can be considered ‘normal’ depends on our experiences and role models and how when there are problems it is important to talk about our needs and abandon the blame game.

Finally, he fulfilled the remaining requirements to work as a psychologist through a master’s degree in General Health Psychology through the Centro Universitario Cardenal Cisneros, affiliated to the University of Alcalá. He did his internship at the psychological center from NB Psicología for a period of over 9 months. During this time, he got a better grasp of the roots of anxiety as a physical (such as the triggering of body alarms) and mental phenomenon, and depression with its related negative beliefs and schemas.

Daniel believes in a psychology that promotes healthy relationships and the repair of wounds; in humor as a tool that strengthens and provides resilience. He is committed to enabling his patients to discover how to live more fully and believes that we are not determined by a script, but that our stories can be rewritten and rediscovered. 

Married to a Brazilian woman, he knows firsthand of the challenges of a bicultural marriage.