Erik de Soir
Erik De Soir (°1965)
Military Career
Major Erik De Soir graduated from the Royal Military Academy in 1988 with a Master’s Degree in Social & Military Sciences. After fulfilling the Infantry School, he was assigned to the Liberation Battalion of the 1st Mechanised Brigade as a platoon commander.
In September 1991, he was called back at the Department of Behavioural Sciences of the Royal Military Academy, Chair of Psychology, to teach the courses of general and social psychology. In 1997 he fulfilled several military courses (e.g. the Course for Staff Techniques & the Company Commander's Course) before completing his military training with the Candidate Senior Officer Course at the Royal Higher Institute for Defence in Brussels. In 2009, he was assigned as Commander of the Psychosocial Support Section to the Well-being Department of the Belgian Defence. He is currently the Domain Manager Human Factors & Medicine Research at the Department of Scientific and Technological Research of Defence at the Royal Higher Institute for Defence.
Academic Training
Erik De Soir has a Postgraduate Degree in Disaster Management & Disaster Medicine (Catholic University of Leuven, 1991), a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology (Catholic University of Leuven, 1995), a Postgraduate Psychotherapy Training in Systemic Marital, Family & Sex Therapy (Catholic University of Leuven, 1998), a Postgraduate Psychotherapy Training in Hypnotherapy (Scientific Flemish Hypnotherapy Association) and extensive training in psychotrauma therapy & counselling (creative arts therapy, EMDR, sensorimotor trauma therapy, cognitive therapy, e.a.). For several years, he has developed an eclectic model for trauma therapy, based on techniques derived from the traditional Chinese medicine, shiatsu, Buddhist meditation and craniosacral therapy methods.
He is a Dr in Psychology (Utrecht University) and a Dr in Social and Military Sciences (Royal Military Academy). And carried out his PhD research on “PTSD Risk Factors & Determinants in the Aftermath of Technological Disaster” under the supervision of Prof. Dr Rolf Kleber (Utrecht University, the Netherlands), Prof. Dr em. Onno Van der Hart (Utrecht University, the Netherlands) and Prof. Dr em. Jacques Mylle (Royal Military Academy).
Achievements
Erik De Soir created the first Belgian Model for Psychosocial Support of Peacekeeping Operations (for soldiers and their significant others) and elaborated basic principles for Traumatic Stress Management in the military and rescue services. As a crisis psychologist, he regularly participated in peace support operations in Somalia, Croatia and Bosnia, to study the different problems of deployed soldiers and their significant others.
Erik provided lectures and workshops on crisis management, crisis communication and psychotraumatology all over the world and is currently one of the leading experts in fire and rescue psychology.
He is also both a certified fire-fighter and a paramedic and serves as a volunteer fire psychologist in the Regional Fire & Ambulance Brigade of Leopoldsburg. He created a European-wide counselling and support network for the management of traumatic stress in fire brigades, emergency medical services and emergency departments of hospitals, currently known under the name of the Fire Stress Teams (FiST). In 2003, he created the European Association of Fire and Rescue Psychologists – Association européenne des psychologues sapeurs-pompiers (AEPSP).
Erik De Soir is one of the founding members of the Belgian Society for Psychotraumatology (Société belge de psychotraumatologie) and the Revue Francophone du Stress et du Trauma. Between 2001 and 2010, he has been the vice-president of the Association de langue française pour l’étude du stress et du traumatisme and he co-chaired the International Structure & Affiliations Committee within the ISTSS (International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies).
He is the author of numerous books, book chapters and trauma leaflets, translated in several languages.
Erik De Soir is the proud father of three children. In his time off, he is a practical shooting instructor, a martial arts specialist, a Buddhist meditation trainer, a Shiatsu and Craniosacral Therapist and a competitive squash player. His passion also goes to the macrobiotic cuisine and a Feng Shui lifestyle.
Military Career
Major Erik De Soir graduated from the Royal Military Academy in 1988 with a Master’s Degree in Social & Military Sciences. After fulfilling the Infantry School, he was assigned to the Liberation Battalion of the 1st Mechanised Brigade as a platoon commander.
In September 1991, he was called back at the Department of Behavioural Sciences of the Royal Military Academy, Chair of Psychology, to teach the courses of general and social psychology. In 1997 he fulfilled several military courses (e.g. the Course for Staff Techniques & the Company Commander's Course) before completing his military training with the Candidate Senior Officer Course at the Royal Higher Institute for Defence in Brussels. In 2009, he was assigned as Commander of the Psychosocial Support Section to the Well-being Department of the Belgian Defence. He is currently the Domain Manager Human Factors & Medicine Research at the Department of Scientific and Technological Research of Defence at the Royal Higher Institute for Defence.
Academic Training
Erik De Soir has a Postgraduate Degree in Disaster Management & Disaster Medicine (Catholic University of Leuven, 1991), a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology (Catholic University of Leuven, 1995), a Postgraduate Psychotherapy Training in Systemic Marital, Family & Sex Therapy (Catholic University of Leuven, 1998), a Postgraduate Psychotherapy Training in Hypnotherapy (Scientific Flemish Hypnotherapy Association) and extensive training in psychotrauma therapy & counselling (creative arts therapy, EMDR, sensorimotor trauma therapy, cognitive therapy, e.a.). For several years, he has developed an eclectic model for trauma therapy, based on techniques derived from the traditional Chinese medicine, shiatsu, Buddhist meditation and craniosacral therapy methods.
He is a Dr in Psychology (Utrecht University) and a Dr in Social and Military Sciences (Royal Military Academy). And carried out his PhD research on “PTSD Risk Factors & Determinants in the Aftermath of Technological Disaster” under the supervision of Prof. Dr Rolf Kleber (Utrecht University, the Netherlands), Prof. Dr em. Onno Van der Hart (Utrecht University, the Netherlands) and Prof. Dr em. Jacques Mylle (Royal Military Academy).
Achievements
Erik De Soir created the first Belgian Model for Psychosocial Support of Peacekeeping Operations (for soldiers and their significant others) and elaborated basic principles for Traumatic Stress Management in the military and rescue services. As a crisis psychologist, he regularly participated in peace support operations in Somalia, Croatia and Bosnia, to study the different problems of deployed soldiers and their significant others.
Erik provided lectures and workshops on crisis management, crisis communication and psychotraumatology all over the world and is currently one of the leading experts in fire and rescue psychology.
He is also both a certified fire-fighter and a paramedic and serves as a volunteer fire psychologist in the Regional Fire & Ambulance Brigade of Leopoldsburg. He created a European-wide counselling and support network for the management of traumatic stress in fire brigades, emergency medical services and emergency departments of hospitals, currently known under the name of the Fire Stress Teams (FiST). In 2003, he created the European Association of Fire and Rescue Psychologists – Association européenne des psychologues sapeurs-pompiers (AEPSP).
Erik De Soir is one of the founding members of the Belgian Society for Psychotraumatology (Société belge de psychotraumatologie) and the Revue Francophone du Stress et du Trauma. Between 2001 and 2010, he has been the vice-president of the Association de langue française pour l’étude du stress et du traumatisme and he co-chaired the International Structure & Affiliations Committee within the ISTSS (International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies).
He is the author of numerous books, book chapters and trauma leaflets, translated in several languages.
Erik De Soir is the proud father of three children. In his time off, he is a practical shooting instructor, a martial arts specialist, a Buddhist meditation trainer, a Shiatsu and Craniosacral Therapist and a competitive squash player. His passion also goes to the macrobiotic cuisine and a Feng Shui lifestyle.
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