25 YEARS OF PHYSICAL THERAPY
After graduating in 1987, Wilco van Steenes gained his first work experience as a physiotherapist at the Marine Corps in Doorn and Rotterdam. Here he learned what it means for the body to be in top condition every day under physically demanding conditions.
Immediately after his time as a naval officer, he got a job offer at a large leading Physiotherapy Practice in Leiden. Starting as an employee, Wilco worked his way up to full partnership; and for the next 25 years, carried out his physiotherapeutic activities here.
Probably thousands of people passed through Wilco's hands during those years. They were years of deep and intense conversations with his patients... years in which he became a trusted pillar of support for many of his patients in the most difficult times of their lives.
Wilco became one of the first physiotherapists in The Netherlands to specialize in the behavioral and psychological aspects of chronic pain disease. He advanced from a generalist to a specialist in this area – and would, in the course of the final 17 years of his practice, develop and perfect skills in empathic listening, in asking the right questions, and in gauging the right timing to deal with specific emotions.
Wilco retired from his practice on January 1, 2015. At that time he was 51 years old. Not really an age to consider stopping with work. So why did he stop? Why step away from an influential position and practice after 25 years, at only the age of 51?
Because, in Wilco's own words, ‘something more meaningful’ had come on his path... something great and magical, something that could transform human life dramatically.
What exactly was that something that happened?