Annemie Declercq: social engagement, work and the story behind this blog

My name is Annemie Declercq. I am based in Hooglede, near Roeselare in West Flanders, Belgium. Social engagement has been a recurring part of my life: listening to people, taking their circumstances seriously and asking what support is actually accessible to them.

This is an English introduction to the personal background behind narcisme.blog. Most of the website is written in Dutch. For the main Dutch-language author introduction, visit About Annemie Declercq. Links below are labelled when they lead to Dutch articles.

An early interest in social engagement

In my younger years, I was involved in activities with children facing social disadvantage, the Fourth World movement, Chiro youth work in Oostnieuwkerke and work with migrants in Brussels. These experiences brought me into contact with lives very different from my own.

They also helped shape a question that has stayed with me: do people have a real place in the community, and are they being heard when decisions affect them? Concern for others becomes more useful when it leads to listening, practical support and a willingness to question exclusion.

A career connected with employment and welfare

I began working at VDAB in Roeselare in 1988, initially as an administrative assistant in a training centre. After gaining a consultant qualification through Vokans, I moved into consultancy at the construction training centre in 2007. In 2014, my work developed towards employment and welfare support.

That background brought me into contact with people facing more than a question about a vacancy. Health, income, housing, education and access to services can all affect the choices available to someone. Understanding those circumstances matters when discussing work or participation.

This is a description of the background I have shared on the blog, rather than a live record of an employer’s services or my current job duties. Views expressed on this website should not be read as official statements from VDAB.

For the ideas behind this part of my writing, see How important is work? (Dutch) and A humane approach to employment activation (Dutch).

Studying orthopedagogy

I graduated in orthopedagogy in September 2019 after studying through distance learning at HOGENT alongside employment. Orthopedagogy concerns support and participation for people in the circumstances in which they live, learn and develop.

For me, studying was also a reminder that understanding people is an ongoing task. A qualification does not remove the need to listen, examine assumptions or recognise the limits of your own role. Different questions call for different kinds of professional support.

Foster care and responsibility

My husband and I became foster parents in 2013. Foster care has involved cooperation with services and with people who each have a role in a child’s life. It also asks for patience and attention to needs that cannot be reduced to one simple explanation.

This introduction deliberately leaves out a child’s current age, private experiences and living arrangements. A family story can explain something about my commitments without making another person’s life part of the public record.

Listening to people whose voices are overlooked

In the personal account on which this introduction is based, I described meeting young people who felt unheard and people struggling with poverty or exclusion. Those encounters strengthened my commitment to taking people’s own accounts seriously.

Listening does not mean assuming that everyone has the same history or needs the same response. Nor does an experience of poverty tell us what kind of parent someone is. A person’s situation deserves to be understood with care, rather than explained through a label.

Social engagement also involves asking questions about institutions and policy. What makes support difficult to reach? Are expectations realistic? Is someone’s dignity being respected? The blog provides space to explore those questions and to make room for more than one perspective.

What readers can expect from the blog

Narcisme.blog brings together personal reflection, explanatory writing and reading routes on relationships, harmful behaviour, recovery and social questions. These are different kinds of text. A personal account can explain a viewpoint; it does not by itself establish a general psychological finding.

The articles can help you put a question into words or find a route towards further information. They cannot determine a diagnosis for you or someone in your life. Where medical care, immediate protection or individual professional advice is needed, a blog has clear limits.

Where to begin

If you read Dutch, Start here: the website’s reading routes (Dutch) is a useful starting point. You can choose a topic that fits your question rather than trying to read everything. The guide to trauma and appropriate support (Dutch) offers another route for readers looking for background on that subject.

If you are reading in English, this page introduces the person behind the writing. It does not imply that every linked article is available in English. You are welcome to take what is useful, check the sources and choose an appropriate next step for your own circumstances.

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If this article resonates with you, please share it. Sharing helps us help more people on their journey. Also follow us on social media. Rate this text with your comment and like. Thank you!

Toxic people and their organizations cause great damage to society. Everyone is subject to it and our society is increasingly moving towards even more narcissistic anti-democratic tendencies. That’s why we give you the growth tasks for free. They are full of self-care tips, self-healing tips and options for trauma processing so that you have more opportunities.

Thank you so much for your support!

For further reading on self-awareness and relationships: ** How to Be the Love You Seek by Nicole LePera (English e-book).

You can translate all the text: Are you taking a step forward today with a growth task?

Welke kleine stap past vandaag bij jou?

Neem mee wat je helpt. Je kunt één inzicht laten bezinken, iets opschrijven of steun vragen. Kies wat bij jouw mogelijkheden past; ook rust nemen mag.

Wil je verder lezen? Kies via Start hier een gids die bij jouw vraag past.

Goed om te weten: onze informatie ondersteunt inzicht en zelfreflectie en vervangt geen persoonlijke diagnose, behandeling of professioneel advies.

Een vraag of fout melden? Neem contact op met ons. Vermeld bij een fout de link en de betrokken passage. Dit contactkanaal is geen crisisdienst.

Lees in onze publicatieprincipes hoe we werken meer over onze achtergrond, bronnen, correcties en commerciële verwijzingen.

Liefs,
Annemie Persyn-Declercq en Johan Persyn
Wij vallen. Wij staan op. Wij groeien.