Lesley Verhofstadt is the Family Lab director and head of Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology. She developed research programs on:
1. Behavioral, emotional, and cognitive dyadic processes underlying couple(dys)functioning, including:
emotion regulation
empathic accuracy
psychological needs frustration
support provision
conflict management
2. Couples and families under stress. Research is currently conducted within couples/ families confronted with:
pediatric cancer
advanced cancer
sexual violence
perinatal depression
professional burn-out
parental burn-out
COVID-19
Strongly committed to foster evidence-based couple and family therapy, Lesley Verhofstadt takes editorial roles in scientific as well as professional journals, serves as board member of research as well as professional organizations and committees, both at a national and international level. She is involved in multiple multi-nation and cross-cultural studies within her research field. She teaches Bachelor & Master courses on Couple & Family Psychology, Couple & Family Therapy, Clinical Psychology, and Counseling Skills at Ghent University. She is a certified Couple & Family Therapist, and staff member/trainer within the Postgraduate Training Program in Couple, Family, and Systemic Psychotherapy at Ghent University. She furthermore is an active trainer in several psychotherapy training programs in Belgium and abroad.
Ann Buysse was the former head of the Family Lab and is currently dean of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at Ghent University. Her research focuses on mechanisms underlying the process of influence in families in topics such as adoption, blended families, families with children with disabilities, donor families, divorce, mediation, family therapy, sexual health, communication, family support, family solidarity, attachment, blue psychology, etc. Projects are carried out in close collaboration with various stakeholders, with a focus on generating real world impact and societal innovations. Her teaching assignment has long included family studies, systems therapy, and mediation, and more recently primary care. She held various positions at both the faculty and scientific, policy or social organizations.
Alexis Dewaele is a Familylab Faculty member and associate professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at Ghent University. He is senior lecturer in qualitative research methods in clinical psychology as well as coordinator of PSYNC. PSYNC is a Ghent University interdisciplinary consortium dedicated to improving the mental health of all citizens and running research projects in close collaboration with diverse stakeholders. Throughout his career, he build up elaborate research experience in the study of sexual minorities (LGBT+ communities). He was and is involved in diverse European funded projects (e.g., Erasmus+, Cost Actions) on the topics of sexual- and mental health, co-creation and research impact.
Expertise and Research Interests:
Sexual orientation, gender identity, and minority stress
Sexual health
Qualitative and quantitative research methods
Societal impact and co-creation as related to research within Social Sciences and Humanities
Luc Van den Berge is as guest professor at Ghent University involved in courses on clinical psychology and couple and family psychology/therapy. He has a PhD in educational sciences and is a systemic and narrative psychotherapist. He is an accredited trainer and supervisor within the BVRGS and works in a child- and adolescent mental health service in Ghent (CGG Adentro). He is also an associated trainer at the Interactie-Academie (Antwerp) and works in a private group practice De Luwte, as a supervisor. He is also working as a voluntary research assistant at KULeuven. He is interested in (the history of) concepts that constitute and inform the broad research and clinical field of interpersonal models in psychology. He published on parenting support and different aspects of systemic therapy.
Laura Sels is an FWO postdoctoral fellow at the Family Lab. The key goal of her work is to better understand and ultimately improve dynamic emotional processes in close relationships. Some of the research she has done, that she is currently doing or will be doing, focuses on:
Emotional linkages between romantic partners: do partners become emotionally attuned to each other, do they catch each other’s emotions, do they become more similar,.. and what can this tell us about relationship quality.
How perceptions and emotions interact with each other: are partners’ perceptions of the occurring emotional processes more important than the emotional processes actually taking place, how do certain aspects of their emotions impact their partner perceptions?
How certain emotional processes (emotional disclosure, empathic accuracy or actual empathic understanding, and felt understanding) interact with each other in maintaining high-quality relationships.
Dagmar Stockman works as a PhD student on the impact of adult sexual violence. Specifically, she investigates how experiencing sexual violence as an adult affects not only the individual, but also the romantic partner and the couple’s intimate relationship. Alongside teaching and conducting research, Dagmar is involved in many sexual violence prevention efforts and she works as a clinical psychologist in a private practice. Dagmar works under the supervision of prof. dr. Lesley Verhofstadt & prof. dr. Kasia Uzieblo (VUB)
Pauline Verhelst is a BOF funded PhD student working on interpersonal emotion regulation strategies (IERS) within couples facing perinatal depression. More specifically, she examines:
which types of IERS couples facing perinatal depression use
which types of IERS are adaptive within couples facing perinatal depression
how IERS relate to other psychological risk factors for perinatal depression
Pauline works under the supervision of prof. dr. Lesley Verhofstadt, dr. Laura Sels, & prof. dr. Gilbert Lemmens.
Leila van Imschoot is a PhD student on the Family Solidarity 2.0 project, which investigates intergenerational solidarity in postmodern families from an interdisciplinary perspective. The project aims to provide a new legal and social framework that is inclusive to all types of postmodern families. More specifically, the goal of her research is to facilitate a more nuanced understanding of family solidarity by tackling psychological research questions, e.g. ‘How is solidarity reflected in the day-to-day contexts of families?’, as well as statistical problems like ‘How can we extend dyadic analysis methods to facilitate research with young children, and provide accessible tools to applied researchers?’.
Leila works under the supervision of prof. dr. Ann Buysse & dr. Lara Stas (VUB-UGent).
Nikki Taelemans is a PhD student working on empathic accuracy, referring to how accurate people can estimate others’ thoughts and feelings while interacting. She is especially interested in the trainability of empathic accuracy. Nikki works under the supervision of prof. dr. Lesley Verhofstadt and dr. Laura Sels. Alongside conducting research, she is also a teaching assistant, involved in the courses Assessment Interpersonal Processes and Systemic Therapy.
Sophie Van Hoyweghen’s PhD research is FWO funded and focuses on the psychosocial dynamics of genetic testing for cancer predisposition syndromes (CPSs) in children. Her work is embedded in the multidisciplinary “DHECIPR” project . She examines:
the decision making process regarding genetic testing
the psychosocial consequences of CPSs among children and their family members
the need for professional psychosocial support in the genetic testing process
the knowledge about genetics among families with a CPS and how this affects the advice given, uptake of and experience with regular surveillance for CPS
Sophie works under the supervision of prof. dr. Lesley Verhofstadt, prof. dr. Kathleen Claes, dr. Sabine Hellemans, & dr. Robin De Putter.
Vincent Ronse De Craene works as a PhD student investigating topics regarding LGBTQ+-experiences and family functioning. He works under the supervision of prof. dr. Lesley Verhofstadt and prof. dr. Alexis Dewaele.
Alongside teaching within clinical courses provided by the Family Lab and conducting research Vincent also works as a systemic psychotherapist at a group practice for psychotherapy in Ghent. He works with individuals, couples, parents, and families that are confronted with a range of complex circumstances or experiencing multiple psychosocial problems.
Davide Pirrone is a PhD student working on an IBOF funded project under the supervision of prof. dr. Lesley Verhofstadt & prof. dr. Batja Gomes De Mesquita (KULeuven). His work focuses on understanding emotion dynamics in intimate relationships from a relationship goals perspective.
Lilly Scharmer is a PhD student working on an IBOF funded project. She is especially interested in the predictive validity of emotion dynamics for individual and relational well-being across cultures. Lilly’s work is supervised by prof. dr. Lesley Verhofstadt, prof. dr. Eva Ceulemans (KULeuven), and prof. dr. Batja Gomes De Mesquita (KULeuven).
Paul is a PhD candidate working on a VLAIO funded project on burn-out, supervised by prof. dr. Lesley Verhofstadt & prof. dr. Peter Kuppens (KULeuven). The key goal of his PhD research is to develop and validate the IPPS assessment tool and intervention protocol for burn-out treatment which is characterized by a focus on interpersonal processes and value (in)congruency in particular. The following questions are examined:
What information does the IPPS data convey about burn-out and related interpersonal processes?
What is the therapeutic effectiveness of the IPPS intervention protocol?
What are the therapeutic mechanisms involved in the IPPS intervention protocol?
Paul furthermore works as a staff member and systemic therapist/supervisor at the Interactie-Academie (Antwerp).
Lore Remmerie is a PhD researcher studying the concept of sexual well-being in young people through participatory methods. The project aims to advance the cross-cultural understanding of sexual well-being, as well as improve strategies for meaningful youth participation in research on sensitive topics like sexuality. Lore works under the supervision of Prof. dr. Kristien Michielsen (KU Leuven), Prof. dr. Alexis Dewaele (Ghent University), and Prof. dr. Joseph Tucker (The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine).
Nina Szyf
Description
Nina Szyf is a PhD student at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Ghent University (joint PhD) within the FWO-SBO project on the relationship between pornography consumption, perception of pornographic material, sexual functioning, and well-being in various minority groups. Her PhD is supervised by Prof. Dr. Gily Coene (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Prof. Dr. Alexis Dewaele (Ghent University). With a background in Communication Sciences, her research focuses on the societal impact of digital phenomena, particularly in the field of sexuality and media.
Before starting her PhD, Nina conducted research on the legal and social dimensions of deepnudes (pornographic deepfakes) at Ghent University, which earned her a nomination in the finals of the 'Vlaamse Scriptieprijs' (top 5). She later collaborated as an external researcher at the University of Antwerp on projects related to deepnudes, digital partner violence, and online safety, working with institutions such as the Institute for the Equality of Women and Men and Child Focus.
Her work aims to bridge academic insights with practical applications to foster a more inclusive and informed understanding of sexuality in the digital age.
Teaching Assistants
dr. Katty Kochman
Description
Katty Kochman is a teaching assistant for courses on qualitative data analysis. She is interested in data analysis and instructional design. She has worked on several interdisciplinary research projects involving topics of motivation, gamification, and process analysis. She also has an active interest in socio-cultural programs and their optimization. Before her Phd, she worked as a supervisor within the LAUSD for children with behavioral intervention needs.
Mieke Van Daele is a systemic psychotherapist, supervisor and play- and music therapist. She started her career in a psychiatric institute for children in Amsterdam (Paedologisch Instituut) as clinical diagnostician and practitioner and furthermore, she worked with multi-problem families in Special Youth Care in Flanders. In addition she worked as a staff member, trainer, psychotherapist, and supervisor in the "Interactie Academie" (Antwerp). During her career Mieke specialized in working with young children/families facing multiple psychosocial difficulties. In her work with young children (up to 8 year) Mieke uses music and play as alternative therapeutic tools besides words or verbal therapy. Mieke has written articles regarding topics such as child abuse, aspects of methodical parent guidance, setting issues and playfulness in child therapy. As a member of the Family Lab’s teaching staff, she is involved in practical teaching of interventions in the field of youth and family therapy.
Lies Pauwels began her career as a lecturer in Orthopedagogics at Hogeschool Ghent and is currently a solution-focused systemic trainer and psychotherapist. As a solution-focused systemic therapist, Lies works with couples, families and individuals. Although her approach is strongly solution focused, she is also inspired by the non-violent resistance/new authority approach to support parents. She is a freelance trainer for Sensoa (Expertise centre for sexual health), VCOK (Training centre for parenting) and Awel (Free helpline for youngsters). As a member of the Family Lab’s teaching staff she is involved in assessment as well as intervention courses in the domain of couple and family therapy.
Melissa Schaessens is a clinical psychologist and a systemic psychotherapist. She works as a therapist in Therapeutisch Zorgpunt N (Roeselare) with individuals, couples and families. Common themes – in the therapeutic processes she’s been guiding – are helping families and couples through divorce, dealing with affairs, new stages in the family life cycle, building new relationships with stepfamilies, etc. As a member of the Family Lab’s teaching staff, she is involved in practicals on assessment as well as intervention in the field of couple and family therapy.
Sabine Hellemans is a clinical psychologist and a systemic psychotherapist. Currently, she works at the Center of Medical Genetics at UZ Gent in helping patients with a hereditary disease. As hereditary diseases often affect entire families, she focuses on family communication and their ability to cope with the psychosocial impact of a diagnosis. Furthermore, she is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Biomolecular Medicine (Faculty of Medicine). Her current research examines the psychosocial impact of hereditary cancer syndromes in children. She obtained her PhD within the Family Lab, investigating intimate partner violence and its relational dynamics. She was also a team member of interdisciplinary research projects on sexual health in Flanders (i.e., Sexpert) and on (school) mediation (i.e., Fittif). As a member of the lab's teaching staff, she is involved in the course on Interpersonal Models in Psychology.
Bert De Lange is a clinical psychologist, systemic psychotherapist and a certified trainer and supervisor at Rapunzel vzw. He’s worked for more than 20 years as a psychologist and psychotherapist in youth - and disability mental health care. He works in his private practice for family therapy, couples, supervision and training. He has specialized in contextual systemic therapy, family play therapy, and experiential intergenerational family and couple therapy. As a member of the Family Lab’s teaching staff Bert is involved in practical teaching of assessment of interpersonal processes as well as intervention in the field of couple and family therapy.
Gaia Van Cauwenberge
Description
Gaia Van Cauwenberg is a clinical psychologist who works at the Centre of Sexology and Gender at the University Hospital Ghent (UZ Gent). Here she assesses, guides and gives therapy to gender variant children, adolescents and young adults. Since these young people are still surrounded by their caregivers she also focuses on the family communication and dynamics, and on the coping abilities of the parents and siblings. Part of her job at the hospital involves training caregivers throughout Flanders in how to counsel gender variant young people and their families. Before this, Gaia worked at the Transgender Infopunt (TIP) where her (research) projects focused on the wellbeing of trans children, trans adolescents and their parents. At the Family Lab, she is a teacher assistant for the course Gender studies and Sexology.
Michelle Deceuninck
Description
Michelle Deceuninck is a clinical psychologist and a systemic psychotherapist. She has her own independent practice in which she mainly works with individuals and couples. In addition, Michelle is active as an intervisor within "Netwerk Kwadraat", which is the conventioned psychologists group in the Central West Flanders region. Furthermore she has additional training within primary care psychology and trauma. As a member of the Family Lab’s teaching staff, Michelle is involved as a practical assistant for the courses primary care - short-term intervention and mediation.
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