Meet Agata
I’m Agata Dijkstra and I work as a Counselor and Coach in my trauma-informed practice in Rotterdam. I am a former corporate communications and change management advisor with years of experience in corporates. Personal challenges have pushed me to slow down and my healing journey accelerated my career change to counseling and coaching.
I have fought my own battles, not with ease, but always with hope and determination. I experienced what it means to have support from someone who never gave up on me and genuinely accepted me without judgment. I strive everyday to offer this to my clients. I believe everyone deserves a safe, nurturing, and inclusive space where they truly can be themselves. In my work, I draw on my professional training and personal experience of facing complex trauma. I am propelled by my character strengths: kindness, love, honesty and love of learning. These come forth in my private life and my work with clients.
Personal journey
I’m an expat who went through struggles of settling down in a new country and culture. All while juggling a demanding corporate job, seeking social networks, and starting a family. A recovering perfectionist and a people pleaser, who needed to shed old behaviors and to face my inner critic. Burnout was the way my body and mind said it had had enough of repressing old traumas and it was time for some serious work. Healing and recovery were not easy, but I came to realize that by not attending to myself I just continued to perpetuate the pain. It took a lot of time and energy to climb out of the pitch-black hole; I fell many times, but I was determined to do whatever it took to get out. My own journey, coupled with curiosity about playing an active role in helping others, is what brings me every day to hold space for and support those in need.
Integrative Counselor (in training)
De Nederlandse Academie voor Psychotherapie
CounselorCoach diploma
De Nederlandse Academie voor Psychotherapie
Counseling and Coaching Year 1 and 2
Trauma Counseling specialization
Academie voor Coaching en Counselling
Certificate Program in Traumatic Stress Studies
Trauma Research Foundation
Psychosocial and Medical Knowledge
De Nederlandse Academie voor Psychotherapie
Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
I undertake CPD to sharpen my competence and to further develop my practice. It is not only to satisfy an ethical-body requirement but mainly in service to my clients.
Master's degree in Public Relations and Economic Journalism
Poznan University of Economics and Business
Nederlandse Federatie Gezondheidszorg (NFG)
Registration number: 9681 (Onafhankelijk Therapeut)
Dutch Association of Professional Coaches NOBCO
Registration number: 34747
Book a free consultation
Please get in touch if you would like to book an introductory session or for further information. Sessions takes place in Rotterdam or online.
