Karen Holtmaat

Dr. Karen Holtmaat is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, affiliated with the Mental Health department. She specializes in meaning-making processes in stressful contexts, focusing on climate psychology and psychosocial oncology. Her research explores eco-emotions related to climate change, interpersonal emotion regulation in romantic relationships, and psychological interventions for cancer patients. She coordinates clinical psychology education programs, including the Master's track and Bachelor’s thesis supervision.

Education:

• Coordinator of Master’s track in Clinical Psychology
• Course coordinator for 'Psyche & Soma'
• Supervisor of Master’s theses in Clinical Psychology

Research Interests:

• Climate-related mental health and eco-emotions
• Emotion regulation in romantic relationships and cancer caregiving dyads
• Efficacy of eHealth interventions like Oncokompas for palliative care
• Long-term effects of meaning-centered group psychotherapy

Grants & Projects:

• Contributed to the ADJUST-study on cancer patient psychological treatments
• Co-developed LearnPAL mobile learning tool for palliative care
• Recipient of the Dream Green grant for sustainable mental health initiatives

Labs & Teams:

• Member of the Rhythms of Relating research team
• Involved in the MiMoMent project on perinatal mental health in migrant populations
• Active in Stichting Klimaatpsychologie, leading education and research initiatives