I started my bachelor’s degree out of general interest and without a specific career goal. I found the clinical content interesting, and I enjoyed the practical training for therapeutic conversations, but at that time, I didn’t intend to become a therapist.

From my second year onward, I also began studying philosophy. At my university in Rotterdam, it was possible to pursue a double bachelor’s degree in this combination. I actually enjoyed philosophy more than psychology, often I felt that many of the philosophers had a quite deep understanding of the psyche.

Since I generally enjoyed studying — especially philosophy — I transferred to the University of Basel after my bachelor’s and initially started a master’s in philosophy, aiming to become a full-time academic. But I soon abandoned that idea, as the whole environment felt somewhat detached from real life and sterile.

I switched back to psychology, this time for a master’s with a focus on personality and developmental psychology. A highlight was working in a research group that conducted various studies on the therapeutic use of psychedelics.

For my master’s project in the field of human–computer interaction, I investigated which needs are fulfilled in social VR spaces. To do so, I recruited and interviewed VR users in VRChat and AltspaceVR.

My father works as an undertaker, and after my studies I thought such a “down-to-earth” profession with a psychological component might suit me as well. For two years, I did everything there was to do in the small undertaking business and definitely learned a lot in the process. Today, I still handle the accounting and occasionally fill in during vacations.

During that time, alongside the funeral work, I also began writing academic papers for students as a ghostwriter. Through that work, too, I learned a lot and gained a very different perspective on academic teaching and research.

In 2023, I decided to move back to Leipzig to offer low-threshold psychological counseling as a freelance psychologist, at first in a traditional practice space.

Since 2024, I have been a Heilpraktiker für Psychotherapie (licensed alternative practitioner for psychotherapy), because I took the corresponding exam. Nevertheless, for now I remain active in the field of psychological counseling, without any claim to offering healing in the medical sense.