Welcome to Justin Cooper’s practice!
A warm welcome to my website. My name is Justin Cooper, I am a native-English speaking therapist, counsellor and teacher with a practice in west Amsterdam. My services include hypnotherapy, relationship therapy, mindfulness, counselling, men's work, systemic constellation and workshops focusing on healing the wounds in our male and female energy. I also teach on various professional courses at the Academy of Psychodynamics.
My personal vision
The way I work is both down to earth and practical and at the same time holistic and integrative. I strongly believe that every human being has a sort of self-healing ability, an inner source, with which we can restore the balance in ourselves and improve the quality of our lives. Just like learning to drive a car you can also learn to tap into your own inner resources.
Furthermore, I see my work as a 'wake-up call' which means helping you break through the layers of conditioned behaviour and fear so you can reconnect to what is really important to you and be true to yourself.
It's about following your heart with an open, expansive mind. This is where creativity and spirituality meet, where playfulness and curiosity are alive and fulfilment and purpose serve as an inner compass.
OWN, LOVE & HEAL it workshops
These workshops for women and men have different themes related to owning, loving and healing our male and female wounds. They are geared to releasing our amazing potential to live and embody grounded, empowered and heartfelt lives, where our male and female energy are in balance and serve one another. More info here.
Testimonials
You brought me in a very deep state of relaxation which is still working through my body one day later. You really tuned in to how I was feeling. It felt extremely healing to give so much attention to the stress and tension in my body and also to myself. Thank you!
I’m finally pursuing my dreams and have opened my own counseling practice! It took me quite a while but ultimately I thought that life’s too short to keep on postponing our dreams due to our insecurities and fears. Thank you so much for all your guidance!
I would like to take the opportunity to thank you again for your help. My husband and I attended your therapy sessions over 3 years ago. We were trying to conceive & had been for 3 years previous, without success. Your hypnotherapy resulted in us successfully conceiving, only a month later! The day that I read the positive pregnancy test was one of the happiest moments of my life! That and of course the days of my sons’ births.I now have a second son who is nearly one year old. I will be forever grateful to you for helping us in this unique way. Bless you & I hope you are healthy & well. Thanks again!
Justin was the first person I confided in after years of private pain regarding my inability to feel comfortable with my sexuality, even in loving relationships. After struggling to be emotionally and physically able to have sexual intercourse, it remained an over-intense experience which often left me in tears. I felt unable to get in touch with my sexual desires, to express them or really enjoy my own sexuality. Hypnotherapy helped me to get to connect to this part of myself through which I started to build up a new solidarity with myself and put my own needs first. With this growing sense of self-worth and ability to articulate my needs, I started to learn to change or walk away from self-destructive situations and relationships. This was a healing and transformational process.
The atmosphere is relaxed and you work at a pace that’s really good for me. I always feel understood and you help me go deeper into my thoughts and help me reach feelings I am unable to feel without guidance at this point. I am also learning skills that I can also use by myself. The sessions have made a huge difference to my life, I am no longer bogged down with irrational fears. You have helped me to breathe through the fear and connect with the feelings underneath. This has helped me get a grip and feel like I’m getting back the control over my life.
Its been a while since our last session. Its 2016 and I can’t believe how my life has changed. The work that we did together is really showing its fruits. I feel alignment in a way that I have never felt it before. My life is really shifting in the direction of my dreams and some how the stream of LIFE that i was blocking subconsciously is flowing like never before. I now have an amazing partner, an amazing job and I have found a really nice apartment to live in and above all, I feel soooo GOOD! I’m a strong believer in hypnotherapy. It really improved my relationship with myself.
I’m not sure if you will remember me, but I came to see you in September 2012 and I wanted to send you a quick email to say thank you. Thank you for your helping me to find myself again. Since seeing you, I gained the confidence to leave end my marriage. It’s been a bumpy and somewhat dark path at times, but a path that needed to be taken. I’m truly happy for the first time in a long time and I like who I’ve become. We managed to split amicably for the sake of the children and I think/hope they have come out of the situation unscathed. So thank you for your time, advice and for listening. I nearly didn’t turn up to our first appointment as I was scared about what it would be bring, but I am so glad I walked up those stairs and rang the bell – it was truly life changing.
Thank you so much for guiding me through my subconscious issues, I wouldn’t have been able to have done without you. The way you work is very special, no other therapist has been able to understand and help me in the way that you have helped me. I’m wishing you all the best in your life.
Thanks so much for your help, I’m doing great! Haven’t had a cigarette since before our last session! I feel fantastically free!!!!!!The first thing I did was go to all my favorite spots and the hardest areas I loved to smoke before, to get the hardest part over with. I even booked myself a little holiday to test my strength to see if I seriously kicked it. The beach was another one of my favorite spots to smoke. I did it all and am happy to report I am no longer a smoker! Thank you so much
The sessions have had a huge impact on my life. I came to you struggling in the aftermath of a burnout feeling like my world had been turned upside down. I have been able to understand what was going on inside myself and how old behavioural patterns created the burnout. The work we did on my relationship with my parents has helped me find healthier and more effective ways of working, and most importantly, I have learned to take care of myself more. Thank you so much!
Men’s work group monthly sessions
To become a truly empowered man you need two things: Brotherhood to help you own and channel the positive power of your male energy and secondly, a true connection to your feelings and the holding capacity of your female energy. This is the essence of this men’s work group: The empowered and loving man. More info here.
My personal story
After graduating with a first class honours degree, I pursued a career in journalism and publishing and communications. Following several promotions I worked as Group Editor for a number of magazines until my lifestyle of deadlines, stress and a lot of travelling started to take its toll. With two slipped discs I would still drag myself to the office, I was really hard on myself and was scared to let people down and to come across as weak or needy. One day the straw that broke the camel’s back became reality for me.
A complicated operation was unavoidable and when I woke up from the anaesthetic, I had (temporary) paralysis in both legs. I fell into an acute depression and isolated myself from those I most needed. With a lot of soul-searching I was able to start dealing with my inner demons and get behind the steering wheel of my own life. An intensive period of rehabilitation followed in which I had to learn to walk again. This whole experience marked a major turning point in my life during which I became more interested in personal and spiritual development.
I have been working as a fully certified hypnotherapist since 2003 and find it both a privilege and a joy to be able to help guide people, both individually and as a couple, through challenging and difficult periods in their lives. I know what if feels like as I have had my own share of painful and difficult experiences.
I am also a fully certified mindfulness trainer and offer courses in mindfulness and self-compassion in both groups and on an individual basis in my own practice. This is not only something I love teaching it is also an integral part of my life. Furthermore, I also teach at the Dutch Academy for Psychodynamics.