Psychiatrist and Managing director-Head of treatment of 'de Swaai',centre for Psychiatry and Intellectual   Disability in Beetsterzwaag, Friesland, in the north of Holland. Chairman of the platform for Psychiatry and Intellectual Disability of the Dutch society for Psychiatry NVvP and member of the board of EAMHID Europe.

After medical training, interrupted by a study in philosophy and followed by military service, (working for forensic and social psychiatry for one year) he worked for a two year period on wards for chronic psychiatric patients and one year  on a psychiatric policlinic as assistent, continuated in the official training in psychiatry from 1989 to 1993.

As a psychiatrist he started and developped a dayclinic in addition to a psychiatric ward in a general hospital and completed his training in grouppsychotherapy and accomplished a ward with different kinds of group therapy, also for instance directive grouptherapy for mental deficients.

In 2001 he was asked to develop a centre for treatment of psychiatric problems with the Intellectual Disabled with ambulant, dayclinical and clinical forms of treatment, making use of a combination of diverse disciplines out of general psychiatry and the care for the Intellectual Disabled. Nowadays he is head of this centre which also has developped into a expertise-and trainingcentre for the cure, care and support for people wih an Intellectual Disability and psychiatric problems.