For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by children. I’ve always gravitated towards them, and a vivid memory I have is of teaching a little girl to walk. She probably was a little over a year old at the time, and together with our moms we were waiting for a siblings ballet class to finish. To pass the time, I walked around supporting that little girl with my hands. After numerous circles around the room, she walked without my support and I felt such joy for having contributed to her development of such an important new skill. Of course, this skill did not develop because of my one-hour input, but at that moment I felt enormous pride for having made such a vital contribution. That fascination for how children develop and what makes them behave in certain ways has stayed with me since.
I received a Bachelor degree in Child and Youth Psychology at Utrecht University (2013). During this time, my interest in children developed into a particular interest in children’s social-emotional development. After my Bachelor, I entered the Master Forensic Child and Youth Care Sciences at the University of Amsterdam (2014-2016). My interest in academia in general and intervention research in particular was sparked while writing my master thesis on social-emotional skills interventions for delinquent youth and working as a research assistant at the Forensic Child and Youth Care Sciences research lab. In August 2016 I started my Ph.D. project at the Research Institute for Child Development and Education (RICDE) of the University of Amsterdam. In my research, which was part of the ZonMw-funded project “Consortium Sociale Vaardigheden”, I conducted a meta-analysis and multiple microtrials to assess what drives the effects of childhood social-emotional skills interventions.
In March 2020, I joined a new project assessing the effects of parenting intervention Family Check-Up in the Netherlands. As part of this project, I have trained to become a certified Family Check-Up coach. Besides my research and teaching responsibilities at the University of Amsterdam, I help parents identify strengths and challenges in their family management and parenting skills in my role as Family Check-Up coach.
I currently hold a position as assistant professor with the Forensic Child and Youth Care research group. More about our Masters program can be found here (website is in Dutch)
Brechtje de Mooij 