Deirdre Beneken Gnd Kolmer

Dr. Deirdre Beneken genaamd Kolmer is professor Informal Care at The Hague University of Applied Sciences (www.dehaagsehogeschool.nl/lectoraat-mz) and PhD supervisor at Tranzo, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Tilburg University. During the past decade, she studied the field of family care in the context of research, education and everyday practice. In 2001, she started a pilot study on the support, recognition and general well-being of family-caregivers, resulting in her dissertation ''Familycare and care responsibility: the art of meeting each other" and her subsequent doctorate in 2007. With this work, she introduced a relational approach to health care.

Across The Netherlands, Beneken gives lectures and presentations to different audiences and in various fields of expertise, such as: GP and hospital care, palliative networks, clinical geriatrics, neurology, members of the Boards of Health, the elderly and youth and well-being.She is also connected to the Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen and the HigherVocationalColleges of Rotterdam as a visiting lecturer.

In the 1990s, Beneken worked in child and youth psychiatry in Holland and in rehabilitation centers in India. As an educationist, she has specialized in educational philosophy. Her recent publications include: "Mantelzorg: wikken en wegen. Op weg naar een Care Justitia" and "Social work in the meeting of two cultures" (Eburon publishers). Palliative care, parentification, demand-driven methods of working, foundational analysis, attachment theory and the field of ER (emotion regulation) are her core themes.