My research focuses on the translation from science to practice, and vise versa. IDuring my PhD at the VU university, I implemented the recommendations of the new Multidiciplinairy guideline on suicidal behavior within Dutch mental health institutions. A train-the-trainer program called PITSTOP suicide consisting of a face-to-face training with e-learning support was developed and implemented within 10 large mental health institutions. At core of the training module was the CASE interview, a relative simple implementation technique allowing professionals to structurally assess suicidal behavior.

In 2017 I received a GGZ-fellowship to study suicidal behavior from a complexity science technique. This research was done in close collaboration with the psychological methods department from the UvA. It resulted in different papers and tutorials where we applied network analysis to both cross-sectional and longitudinal data. In 2023 I received a grant from the Urban Mental Health to study the complexity of suicidal behavior using computational models. I was scientific member of the guideline suicidality for Dutch Mental Health professionals, and editor of the Dutch handboek on suicidal behavior. 

Next to my scientific work, I have written two books on the translation from science to practice. In the first one, “Mythen over Zelfmoord”, I wanted to illustrate the way science contributed to our understanding of suicidal behavior. In the second book, “is het leven een 7?”, I tried to understand the daily workings of a psychiatrist (who happened to be my father) from an evidence based perspective.  We also made a podcast, which has been downloaded 100.000 times. I provide lectures and workshops for mental health professionals, educational professionals, the police and students.