
Tine Schellekens
Grace as psychological experience

In her PhD research, Tine Schellekens investigates the psychological understanding and experience of grace. She is involved in an interdisciplinary collaboration between psychology (Prof. Dezutter) and theology (Prof. Dillen). In line with other constructs (e.g., forgiveness, humility) and framed within a psychological approach, grace will e.g. be studied as a state (feelings or experiences of grace) and as a trait/tendency (openness to experience grace). Tine uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, including self-report questionnaires, web based tools and in-depth interviews. She is interested in the lay conceptualization of grace and the delineated psychological experience of grace. Furthermore, she is interested in existential psychology, posttraumatic growth and conceptualizations of self and other.
Tine received a grant for fundamental interdisciplinary research from KU Leuven in January 2018, after joining the Meaning Research in Late Life team of Professor Dezutter at KU Leuven in August 2017. Previously, she had worked for over a decade as a clinical psychologist and therapist in a Multifunctional Centre for children, adolescents and families with severe emotional and behavioural problems. She is specialized in psychodynamic psychotherapy (Postgraduate KU Leuven, 2016). She combines her PhD Research with a small therapeutic practice in Limburg. Characteristic of her approach is a clear focus on the question and the expertise of the client himself. She obtained her master’s degree in Clinical and Health Psychology from KU Leuven in July 2004.