Hendrika de Vries is the author of the award-winning memoir When a Toy Dog Became a Wolf and the Moon Broke Curfew, a historical memoir about her childhood in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam during WWII that tells a gripping story of resistance, resilience and female strength in the face of brutality and oppression. Her current memoir is its coming-of-age sequel.

Hendrika’s life experiences have infused her work as a therapist, teacher, and writer.

After surviving the trauma of WWII, she and her family emigrated to Australia when she was thirteen years old. As a migrant girl in 1950s Australia, she already had a clear vision of the woman she wanted to be. With a fierce determination to succeed and a desire to belong, she faced and overcame unforeseen challenges. She earned her place as a South Australian state swimming champion, worked as a secretary to the Chief of Staff of a major newspaper’s Editorial Department, married the paper’s editorial cartoonist and became a young wife and mother.

She moved to America in the nineteen sixties, where her husband won the Pulitzer Prize for his biting political cartoons while she gave birth to their third child and embarked on a course of studies that would lead to her interest in Jungian psychology, master’s degrees in theology and counseling psychology and a career as a therapist.

A depth-oriented marriage and family therapist for over thirty years, she used memories, intuitive imagination, and dreams to heal trauma, empower women and address life transitions. As a graduate schoolteacher she helped students explore the archetypal patterns in their life narratives.

Hendrika holds a BA with Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Colorado, an MTS in theological studies from Virginia Theological Seminary, and an MA in counseling psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara.