T.J. van Woerkum-Rooker MA (Tessa)

Tessa van Woerkum-Rooker (1994) earned her Bachelor's degree in Philosophy and her Master's degree in Spiritual Care at Radboud University. Subsequently, she worked as a spiritual counselor in elderly care, primarily with individuals living with various types of dementia. Through these interactions, she observed that living with dementia is often different from the prevailing notion of a complete loss of one's self. These observations made her want to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to live with a type of dementia.

As part of the NWO research project titled 'Sense of Self in Persons with a Dementia Syndrome', supervised by Prof. Dr. J.B.A.M. Schilderman, Prof. Dr. M.V.P. Slors, Dr. N.P.M. Fortuin and Prof. Dr. M.G.M. Olde Rikkert, she conducts multidisciplinary research into how having a type of dementia alters one's sense of self. The aim of this research is not only to gain theoretical insights into living with dementia but also to make practical contributions to the well-being of this growing population.