Draft:Jakob van Wielink

J.P.J. (Jakob) van Wielink (Eindhoven, Oct. 21, 1974) is a Dutch leadership coach and trainer. He is an author on leadership, transition, loss and grief.

Youth and studies

Van Wielink grew up in a Catholic family in the Kempen region of Brabant on the border with Belgium. His parents both worked in education. He attended elementary school in Eersel and secondary school in Veldhoven, after which he studied constitutional and international and European law at Tilburg University. Van Wielink obtained his teaching certificate from the then Center for Nascholing of the cooperating University of Amsterdam and Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.

Career

Van Wielink initially worked as a lawyer in immigration law in The Hague and a lawyer in family law cases in Utrecht. He then co-founded the first higher professional education law course in the Netherlands at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. Van Wielink taught international law at the University of Amsterdam, where he was also deputy director of the Amsterdam International Law Clinic. At the end of his first, legal, career phase, he was involved in peace and justice projects in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Aceh (Sumatra, Indonesia), among others through the Catholic human rights organization Justitia et Pax.

Beginning in 2004, Van Wielink shifted his focus and took multi-year courses in coaching and therapy. He learned the craft of coaching and training at several renowned education and training agencies. He spent a period interning with the Premonstratensians at Berne Abbey. After retiring from the monastery, he worked for seven years as a leadership coach for IMD Business School in Lausanne (Switzerland) and Singapore and initiated The School for Transition (De School voor Transitie). In 2017, he founded this leadership institute, which is housed in Huissen (the Netherlands) together with Marnix Reijmerink. Van Wielink is also a faculty mentor at the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition (USA).

The core of Van Wielink’s work has always been to design and provide learning interventions that focus on identity development at the individual, professional and organizational levels. He is a founder of the application of secure base thinking in coaching, therapy and counseling and is an educator and trainer for professional coaches in this thinking. He works internationally as a coach for C-level leaders and their teams in the private and public sectors. In his work and through his publications, Van Wielink has developed into an expert in the field of (personal) leadership, loss and grief and transition.

Recognition

In 2021, Van Wielink's book The Language of Transition was nominated for the Dutch title “Management Book of the Year. The foreword was written by holocaust survivor Edith Eger. The book joined four other books on the shortlist.

The jury report wrote: ‘Talk about calling. The Language of Transition lets you discover what your calling is as a leader and how you use it to find the key to change: for yourself, for the people around you and for your organization. Not an easy read, but the authors Jakob van Wielink, Riet Fiddelaers-Jaspers and Leo Wilhelm manage to find a nice balance between the contemplative and the practical. A book that radiates craftsmanship and invites the conversation about matters that are far from obvious in the context of organizations. But very necessary.’

Memberships

Since 2022, Van Wielink has been a member of the International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement (IWG). The IWG is a non-profit organization which supports leaders in the field of death, dying and bereavement in their efforts to stimulate and enhance innovative ideas, research, and practice.

Van Wielink is also a member of and active in the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC).

In 2022, he was the Ira Nerken International Keynote Speaker at ADEC's annual conference.

Private

Van Wielink is married to Russian-Dutch Svetlana van Wielink, conductor and piano and voice teacher. They are parents to Vika, an ophthalmologist in training.

Van Wielink - art and music lover - sings in the Nijmegen Byzantine Choir, where his wife is conductor. He is active in the Roman Catholic Church.

Bibliography

Van Wielink has written numerous books, contributed to (international) handbooks on coaching, therapy and transition, and translated books into Dutch.

Author

Books in English:

• The Craft of the Secure Base Coach. Enabling Transition. With Klaartje van Gasteren, Marnix Reijmerink, Anne Verbokkem-Oerlemans, Leo Wilhelm and Riet Fiddelaers-Jaspers, 1st ed., 2024, Routledge.
• The Language of Transition in Leadership. Your Calling as a Leader in a World of Change. With Riet Fiddelaers-Jaspers and Leo Wilhelm, 1st ed, 2023, Routledge.
• Loss, Grief, and Attachment in Life Transitions; A Clinician’s Guide to Secure Base Counseling. With Leo Wilhelm and Denise van Geelen-Merks, 1st ed., 2019, Routledge.

Books in Dutch:

• De achtste dag. Waar Jezus je leven raakt. With Henk Rothuizen, 2nd ed. 2023, Scholten Uitgeverij.
• Taal van transitie. Je roeping als leider in een wereld van verandering. With Riet Fiddelaers-Jaspers and Leo Wilhelm, 5th revised ed., 2023, Circle Publishing.
• Het ambacht van de secure base coach. Transitie mogelijk maken. Met Klaartje van Gasteren, Marnix Reijmerink, Anne Verbokkem-Oerlemans, Leo Wilhelm and Riet Fiddelaers-Jaspers, 2nd ed. 2022, Boom.
• Met zoveel liefde heb ik van je gehouden. Woorden bij persoonlijk verlies. With Denise van Geelen-Merks, 3rd ed., 2020, Witsand.
• Aan de slag met verlies. Coachen bij veranderingen op het werk. With Riet Fiddelaers-Jaspers, 7th ed., 2019, Ten Have.
• Professioneel begeleiden bij verlies. With Leo Wilhelm and Denise van Geelen-Merks, 1st ed, 2017, Boom.
• Rouwregels. Handvatten voor organisaties rond overlijden en terminale ziekte. With Leo Wilhelm, 1st ed. 2015, Witsand.
• Over de rooie. Emoties bij verlies en verandering op het werk. With Bert Cozijnsen, 4th ed., 2013, Kluwer.

Contributions

Books in English:

• New Techniques of Grief Therapy: Bereavement and Beyond. Editor: Robert A. Neimeyer. Chapters with resp. Leo Wilhelm, Denise van Geelen-Merks and Anita Bakker. Balancing Caring and Daring, Memory Reconsolidation, The Secure Base Map, The Transition Cycle, Voice Dialogue (1st ed., 2021, Routledge).

Books in Dutch:

• De essentie van coaching. Principes en praktijk van hedendaagse stijlen. Editors: Yvonne Burger and Laurens Knoop. Chapter: Secure Base Coachen (1st ed. 2024, Boom).
• Doorbreek de cirkel. Waarom opvoeden over jezelf gaat. By Miloe van Beek. Interview-chapter: Je gedrag is een spiegel, kijk erin voor je naar je kinderen wijst (4th ed. 2024, Kosmos).
• Coachende gespreksvoering. Editor: Wim Donders. Chapter with met Leo Wilhelm, Coachen bij verlies: in gesprek over het verlies achter de coachvraag (4th ed. 2022, Boom).
• Ruimte maken voor verlies en rouw in therapie. Editors: Gerd Claes, Johan Maes and Harriëtte Modderman. Chapters with met resp. Leo Wilhelm, Denise van Geelen-Merks and Anita Bakker. Duaal Proces Model en balans van caring en daring, Levenslijn en Memory Reconsolidation, Secure Base Landkaart en continuing bonds, De Transitiecirkel, Voice Dialogue (1st ed. 2017, ACCO).
• Handboek Rouw, Rouwbegeleiding en Rouwtherapie. Tussen presentie en interventie. Editors: Johan Maes and Harriëtte Modderman. Chapter Organisaties als veroorzakers van verlies. Reorganisaties, arbeidsverlies en de rol van de leidinggevende (2nd ed. 2015, Witsand).
• Het complete loopbaanboek. Editor: Susan van Ass. With Leo Wilhelm. De Transitiecirkel. Dialoog over verbinden, afscheid nemen en rouwen (1st ed. 2015, Boom).

Translations into Dutch:

• Care to Dare. De praktijk van secure base leiderschap. By George Kohlrieser, Susan Goldsworthy and Duncan Coombe (translated with the support of Riet Fiddelaers-Jaspers, Marnix Reijmerink and Leo Wilhelm, 3rd ed. 2022, Circle Publishing).
• Laat je niet gijzelen. De internationale bestseller over leiderschap, verbinding, dialoog, en werkelijke verandering. By George Kohlrieser (translated with the support of Marnix Reijmerink and Frederick Wieder, 4th ed. 2022, Circle Publishing).
  

External links

• Official website
• De School voor Transitie
• Portland Institute for Loss and Transition
• International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement (IWG)
• Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC)