Anette
Prins-Bakker
43, avenue Lulli
92330 Sceaux
France
tel: +33 146610032
fax: +33 146610031
email: prinsa@aol.com
Biography:
Anette Prins-Bakker has a private philosophical counseling
practice in Sceaux, near Paris, where she lives with her
husband and their two children. She has trained philosophical
counselors in Holland and England and is developing a
training program in philosophical counseling for French
philosophers. She prepares a book on philosophical exercises:
"I am a philosophical counselor since 1992. In that
same year, I also started to contribute to the training
program of the Dutch Association of Philosophical Practice.
With the help of colleagues, I changed and professionalized
the Introductory Course and shaped it into a four day
workshop, which I delivered in Holland until 1995, the
year I moved to France. A few years later I adapted the
workshop for the English speaking public and facilitated
it in London and Oxford. I am still working on a French
version. Training philosophical counselors is an experimental
process during which I learn as much as the participants.
Every time I try to integrate new findings and insights
both of myself and of those who have followed the workshop.
I think that the training of philosophical counselors
should focus on three main aspects:
1. Information and discussion about the questions: "What
is philosophical counseling?" and "Why philosophical
counseling?". I personally think that even experienced
counselors should, on a regular basis, ask themselves
these questions as a part of their professional ethics.
2. Training sessions to gain experience and insight in
what it means to be a counselor or a client. I like this
part a lot, as I love to see how philosophers become philosophical
counselors and to assist them in that process during the
evaluations afterwards. I always propose to focus the
first training sessions on questions like: "Who are
you as a philosopher?" or "What is your world
view?". The underlying idea is that to be a philosophical
counselor one has to be a philosopher and a counselor,
which means to be able to know and to confront one's own
philosophical ideas and self-image.
3. Reflections and discussions to develop the capacity
of each participant to consider the history of philosophy,
both Eastern and Western, from the viewpoint of philosophical
counseling and to find out his or her own way of applying
philosophical ideas, techniques and exercises in counseling.
My own way of counseling is based on both my philosophical
parcours and my experience with clients. Next to philosophy
I have also studied French language and literature. I
wrote both my MA theses on different applications of the
philosophy of the imagination developed by the French
philosopher Gaston Bachelard. Bachelard advocates "reverie",
like in daydreaming or in poetry, as a means for a person
to transcend himself. It happens that, in a consultation,
I use this kind of reverie in combination with poetry,
myth or short stories.
After my studies in Western philosophy I studied and
practiced Eastern philosophy and spirituality. Therefore
I sometimes propose certain clients to experiment with
some form of meditation or I share my own experiences
concerning religious or spiritual questions with them.
For years I have been doing research in the field of
philosophical and spiritual exercises, so it is not unusual
for me to propose a client to do an exercise at home.
My way of counseling is influenced not only by my philosophical
orientation, but also by my experiences with clients.
At a certain period I was doing so much philosophical
marriage counseling that I developed a specific method
for the counseling of couples. Counseling them both together
and apart we focus mainly on who they think they are,
their values and principles and in which stage of their
lives they actually are. As a result both partners see
their relationship from a different perspective. They
become more aware of the nature and the meaning of their
relationship and will be ready to apply their realizations
in daily life.
Although I sometimes follow the same scheme with individual
clients, in most sessions I try to create a philosophical
dialogue as method and guide for the counseling. A counseling
session is about philosophizing, not about referring to
philosophers or their philosophies. I focus on the thinking
process of my clients and help them to organize and to
develop their thoughts, using their feelings and emotions
as indicators in our mutual search for meaning. My client
and I together work towards a greater awareness of the
foundations of the client's values and principles and
if necessary examine those critically.
Together we examine his or her story more in detail why
at the same time situating it in the broader context of
their life. If there is enough counseling time, we aim
at bringing in the open the client's philosophy of life,
the realization of which is a powerful instrument in confronting
life and making the right decisions on one's own."
Publications:
- 'Philosophy in Marriage Counseling' in Essays on Philosophical
Counseling ed. by Ran Lahav e.a., University Press of
America, 1995.
- 'Praktisch mijmeren' in Filosofief 6 nr. 2, april/mei
1996, Holland.
- 'Im Westen nichts Neuesl,, filosofische oefeningen in
histo-risch perspectiefl in Filosofisch Consulentschap,
ed. by J.Delnoy e.a., Damon, 1998, Holland.
