‘I am referring to Mariëlle Beckers and her practice Buro Bloei, which supports children and families with everything from highly gifted children, learning issues, parenting, behavioural issues, running therapy, and testing and diagnosis.
We turned to Marielle this summer because, after a heavy end of the school year (with two deaths in my daughter’s class) and amidst a big transition into Groep 3, my (newly) six year old was having super intense, out of control, physical meltdowns that were not only hard and draining for us but also hard on her physically and mentally – and killing to her self-confidence.
Marielle spotted right away that our daughter is a highly sensitive child, which not only explains her strong compassionate and empathic nature, but also that she is very sensitive to environmental, physical and emotional stimulus and can easily be overwhelmed by it all.
Her specific advice for handling these situations with structure, simplicity and empathy has worked wonders for all of us. For example, after heeding her advice, we made a Book of the Week where my daughter and I made drawings of what the plans were for every day (just a couple things, not an office roster!!!) and it worked magically for helping my daughter feel more in control of her day during the summer break.
We also learned how to give our daughter the proper space during her meltdowns and suddenly, all on her own, she came up with the perfect physical outlet for her frustrations: diving headfirst into a somersault onto our love seat, with her feet dangling in the air, at the moments when her anger and frustrations are too overwhelming for her. It is not only an adorable ice-breaker for the parents, but it was all her own, spontaneous idea – which also upped her confidence enormously.
So yeah, if you are looking for a woman who knows and gets both children and parenting, someone who has a gift of bringing confidence back to a child as well as the parents in managing and tackling our struggles, Mariëlle is your SuperMama.’