Personal
Who is Margarete van den Brink?
I was born in the Netherlands but spent a large part of my youth on the Caribbean islands of Curacao and Aruba, Netherlands Antilles.
After high school in the Netherlands I studied at the Social Academy in Culemborg. My studies were interrupted by three years of Community Development Work in Zambia, Africa, on the banks of the Zambezi River.
Back in the Netherlands I pursued, after finishing the Social Academy, several supplementary studies and opened a counselling practice. In addition, I read much spiritual literature to discover which spiritual direction would best undergird my work. For it had become clear to me that counselling, if it is to be effective, needs a spiritual basis. In addition to Hinduism and Buddhism I steeped myself in Theosophy and Anthroposophy. I was struck by what these movements have to offer: wisdom, coherence, spiritual nourishment, and an inner attitude that allows one to connect with the essential.
The work in my counselling practice expanded from individual sessions in the beginning to working on relationships and questions in the area of cooperation within organizations. The next step was training sessions and workshops in the area of communications, cooperation, and leadership. For this I started my own agency: 'Margarete van den Brink, Communications and Leadership Development'.
Counselling became coaching of leaders and managers.
My work through my communications bureau raised the question of literature in the area of human development: 'Where can I read what you tell me?'
A special fund enabled me to regularly go on retreat during a five-year period and to study intensively, to develop insights, and to work on my first book. In these years the foundation for my later work was laid.
To date I have published seven books of which some are co-authored with Hans Stolp and others. Several of them have been translated into English and German. For titles and a synopsis of the contents of the individual books, see the section 'Books.'