AS A TEENAGER and later she worked as a horse trainer backing and training young horses. Now this could be a very dangerous job, especially when she was dealing with young and unruly stallions fresh from the fields where they had grazed since they were born. She realized then that in order to make sure these beautiful muscular creatures wouldn’t throw her over the fence she needed to learn to judge their character and “read their minds” to stay one step ahead all the time. It worked (most of the time).

 

WHEN ADULT LIFE KICKED IN her interest in minding minds shifted from the animal kingdom to human nature. She obtained a degree in business administration and became increasingly fascinated with the human mind. For instance, when she was working as a marketing advisor she needed to come up with ways to make sure people wanted to do business with the organization, or as an IT consultant developing applications that fit well with the user's way of working.

 

IN HER THIRTIES she moved out and up, meaning she moved abroad and took on managerial jobs. First, she went to Africa for a couple of years and then to India on another long-term assignment. While living abroad, she discovered that “reading minds” was a whole different ball game, and she needed to step up her mentalization game. This was necessary not only to be successful in her job, but also to develop a new social life and (again) to stay safe, for she barely hit the ground in Kenya when violence broke out during the 2007 presidential election.

 

AFTER FINISHING HER FINAL ASSIGNMENT IN INDIA (2012) she took some time off to go back to university and pursue a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Psychology. After completing her studies, she has specialized in mentalization-based performance and has been developing the products and services featured on this website. 

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Anique van der Putten, M.Psych., B.B.A.

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