Fanal, Madeira
The true art of living is not avoiding the dark, but finding the light in the middle of it
Roots, for a life on the move
Holistic therapy and coaching online, for expats and digital nomads. In English or Dutch, planned around your time zone.
Or get in touch directlyWhatsApp+31 6 26 10 92 44
Does your head never switch off? Do you meet every expectation, yet feel empty inside? Do you keep moving on autopilot, from place to place, without knowing what you’re really looking for? It doesn’t have to stay this way. This is the moment to press pause: you’re done with surviving, and ready to really live again.
I work with holistic coaching and therapy, tuned entirely to who you are and where you stand right now. Online, in a safe and open setting, we explore what in you wants to be heard, felt and healed.
Consider this an invitation to come home to yourself, whichever country you’re in, and fully at your own pace.
- Free 45-minute introductory call
- €80 per 60-minute session
- Online by video, in your time zone
- English or Dutch, whichever feels closest
- Clinical experience in crisis care and community psychiatry
Does this sound familiar?
Moving abroad doesn’t leave your inner life behind. Sometimes it’s only far from home that it starts asking for attention.
Free, and somehow adrift
You have the freedom you worked for. Some days it feels less like freedom and more like drifting.
Burnout with a view
The laptop never quite closes. Work follows you to every new place, and rest doesn’t land any more.
Lonely among new faces
Plenty of people around, few who really know you. Friendships that end every time someone moves on.
New country, same pattern
The same fears, the same kind of relationship, the same wall. Just with a different skyline.
Grief at a distance
A loss back home, a parent growing older, a relationship that ended. And you, carrying it alone, far away.
You understand it, and nothing changes
You’ve read the books and can explain your patterns in detail. Knowing isn’t the same as feeling.
Where next, and why?
The next destination is easy to pick. What you’re actually looking for is harder to name.
And everything in between: trauma, anxiety, high sensitivity, questions of identity. You don’t need a name for it before you get in touch.
Evidence-based where it can be, intuitive where it helps.
In my practice I combine down-to-earth psychotherapeutic insight with body-oriented and spiritual work. I’m a practical person: my compass is whether something works for you and brings you closer to your core, not whether it’s purely scientifically proven.
Scottish Highlands
How I work
Your experience is always at the centre. Together we create a safe, open space where you can be yourself, even through a screen.
Because I don’t believe in standard protocols, I tune my support entirely to what you need at that moment. We work organically, holistically and at your pace, from trust, patience and genuine attention.
Sometimes we work with words, sometimes with silence. We turn inward, to reach the deepest layers of yourself.
I work with the method of Wielwerk Opleidingen, a Dutch school for holistic therapy that starts from the natural flow of life. It looks at you as a whole: how your thoughts, body, emotions, energy and soul hang together.
Head
Talking therapy, cognitive insight and systemic work, to understand what’s going on and where it comes from.
Body
Breathwork and learning to listen to your body’s language, because what it holds on to rarely lets itself be talked away.
Soul
Visualisation and shamanic trance journeys, such as meeting your power animal. For the layer where meaning and purpose live.
How it works
No surprises, and no time-zone puzzles.
- 1
Introduction and intake
We always start with a conversation, with no obligation. We take time for your question, your life story and what you long for. Most important is that you feel whether there’s a safe click. And if there isn’t, I’ll help you think about who might suit you better.
- 2
The journey inward
In our sessions we drop from the busy head into deeper layers of awareness. We don’t fight symptoms; we work on blockages at the root. No fixed programme and no set number of sessions, planned around your time zone and your travels, so moving on doesn’t mean starting over.
- 3
Integration into daily life
Real healing takes shape once you can apply it. We pay a lot of attention to how you hold on to your calm and the connection with your soul, wherever you land next. The goal isn’t that you keep coming back. It’s that you can carry yourself again.
About Maarten
I’m Maarten Dunhof, a holistic coach and therapist based in Haarlem, the Netherlands. I support people who long for healing, awareness and personal growth.
I’ve spent my whole working life in care, from people with intellectual disabilities to complex psychiatry. I was a clinician on a psychiatric crisis unit, worked in an Amsterdam FACT team supporting people with long-term mental illness, and I now work as an occupational social worker with people who get stuck in their work. That experience comes with me into every session: I don’t shock easily, and I know when something needs more than coaching.
I’ve seen people in deep crisis, at their most vulnerable. It taught me that vulnerability connects all of us. Behind every success and every label is a person who wants to be heard, seen and understood.
In mainstream care I kept running into rigid protocols and diagnoses: a lot of work on symptoms, while the core stayed untouched. That’s why I started Levenzkunst. I don’t want to fix you by the book or put you in a box; I want to meet you as a person, and guide you on your journey inward, back to who you really are.
Levenzkunst means ‘the art of living’, spelled with a deliberate z: z for ziel, the Dutch word for soul. Change that lasts begins when we dare to drop from the busy, analysing head into the wisdom of body and soul.
The idea of working with people abroad came up on Madeira, in a conversation with someone living exactly that life. It stayed with me, and I plan to spend part of the year abroad myself, a few weeks at a time.
Give yourself the journey inward. I’d be glad to walk part of the way with you.
A blend of three worlds
The systemic and occupational foundation
Years of experience as an occupational social worker, guiding people through stress and burnout in high-pressure environments.
Deep developmental insight
A profound understanding of the human lifespan, transition phases, and the unique psychological challenges that come with unconventional lifestyles.
The energetic and holistic core
Advanced training in holistic therapy at Wielwerk, using natural cycles, somatic awareness and deep energetic balancing to clear blocks.
Background
A holistic outlook, built on years of experience in mental health and occupational care.
Earlier
Psychiatric crisis unit
Clinician
Supporting people at the moment everything goes wrong at once.
Earlier
FACT team, Amsterdam
Community-based support for people with long-term mental illness, at home and in the neighbourhood.
Now
Occupational health service
Occupational social worker
Supporting employees through stress, sick leave, burnout and return to work.
Now
Levenzkunst
Own practice
Holistic coaching and therapy, online and in Haarlem and Amsterdam.
Training and practice
- Works with
- Medisch Centrum Vlietzorg, Haarlem
- Training
- Bachelor of Social Work (Dutch HBO), and holistic therapy at Wielwerk Opleidingen
- Dutch Chamber of Commerce
- KvK 96571691
Practical
- Introductory call
- Free, about 45 minutes
- Session
- 60 minutes, €80
- Longer session
- €30 per extra half hour
- Where
- Online by video, wherever you are
- When
- Planned around your time zone
- Language
- English or Dutch
- In person
- In Haarlem, or during my stays abroad
Questions people ask
Is this therapy or coaching?
Both, depending on what you need. Coaching mostly looks ahead: where do you want to go? Therapy also looks at what lies underneath and what’s stuck. In practice they flow into each other, and that’s fine.
Can a session run longer?
Yes. A session lasts an hour, but sometimes you need more time to go deep and come back up gently afterwards. Each extra half hour is €30, and we always agree on it together.
Does it matter where in the world I am?
Not really. All you need is a stable connection and a quiet place where you can talk freely. We plan sessions around your time zone.
Can we work in English?
Yes. Sessions are in English or Dutch, whichever lets you say what you actually mean.
What if I move around a lot?
That’s fine. We can keep a regular rhythm or plan around your travels. A new place doesn’t mean starting from scratch.
Can we also meet in person?
Yes, in Haarlem whenever you’re in the Netherlands. I also plan to spend a few weeks at a time in places where many nomads live, such as Portugal, Spain, South Africa and Bali. If I’m near you, we can meet face to face.
How do I know this is right for me, rather than local mental health care?
We talk about that in the introductory call. After years in mental health care I recognise when someone needs more or different support. I’ll tell you honestly, and help you think about where to find it where you are.
Will my insurance cover it?
Not at the moment. I’m working on the Dutch registration that makes reimbursement possible. International insurers each have their own rules, so it’s worth asking yours.
Is it confidential?
Yes. Everything you share stays between us. I’m bound by professional confidentiality and handle your data in line with the GDPR.
Start with a conversation
Ready to switch off the autopilot? The introductory call takes 45 minutes, is free and commits you to nothing. Get in touch however feels easiest: the form, a call or a WhatsApp message.
- Usually a reply within one working day
- No obligations
- Confidential
Rather talk straight away?
- Send a message