01 / YPO & Forum

Forum can go deeper than you think. Much deeper.

For YPO, where leaders gather to tell the truth.

Forum works because of trust, vulnerability, and the discipline of experience-sharing. I am a clinical health psychologist and systems family therapist. For thirteen years I have facilitated Forums on three continents, with more than five hundred retreats and events behind me. I know what Forum can be at its best, and how rarely groups get there.

My work is to take your Forum into that depth: the emotional depth where change happens, and where a group of individuals becomes a genuine collective.

When we stay at the level of what happened, we inform each other. When we listen for what has not been said, we transform.

Why this is different

Most Forum retreats are well-designed and competently facilitated. They create connection, surface some vulnerability, and send members home feeling good. What they rarely do is reach what the Forum has been carrying but never says out loud.

My clinical training takes the work further, into what members keep out of sight, the hidden dynamics, the unspoken agreements, the things a Forum carries but never names.

Beneath the structure is where the truth lives.

This is for your Forum

This work stays inside Forum’s own protocol: confidentiality, experience-sharing, mutual accountability. It takes the group further into that same ground. The methodology adapts to your group; the depth does not.

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Loes facilitating a Forum

Member voices

Loes’s energy is only matched by her knowledge. That combination allowed us to go deeper in order to continue building a meaningful Forum.
Guillermo Penso Blanco Guillermo Penso Blanco Chairman of the Board, Materiales de Plomería C.A. YPO Retiro Madrid Integrated
It’s rare to find someone who can hold space so gently that people find the courage to meet the parts of themselves they’ve been avoiding. After four years in Forum, this retreat reminded me why this work matters so much. My heart is full.
Valentina Crombach-Garay Valentina Crombach-Garay Strategic Membership Programs Manager (EMEA), YPO YPO Global
Our Forum retreat, facilitated by Drs Loes Fokker, was truly transformative. We got to know each other at a far deeper level, and deepened the trust between us. Our Forum meetings since have become more meaningful — filled with emotion and real take-home value. A wonderful next chapter for our YPO Forum.
Shreevar Kheruka Shreevar Kheruka Managing Director, Borosil Ltd YPO Bombay
Loes has a rare ability to create an atmosphere of trust where I can simply be myself — gentle, warm and deeply present. Even in the more difficult moments, I always feel supported and well accompanied.
Amina Laraki Slaoui Amina Laraki Slaoui President, AMH Group YPO Morocco
Some people enter our lives with answers. Others arrive with questions that stay long after the conversation ends. Loes has always been the latter — a rare gift for looking beyond success, beyond the noise, to what truly matters.
Sunny Bhasin Sunny Bhasin CEO, UTB Envirotec YPO Budapest
Loes has an amazing gift for connecting with your soul and helping it see more clearly, deeply and compassionately. Her practical and professional experience, training and array of tools make working with Loes truly life-changing. I would recommend Loes for anyone looking to lead a richer and more fulfilling life.
Dick Simon Dick Simon Founder & Board Member, Sensorium Therapeutics YPO Gold (Northeastern US)

The Four Passages · In a Forum

The same arc, walked by a Forum

The Four Passages are the method I walk with any group. Here is what each passage becomes in a Forum. A Forum doesn’t reach depth by talking about it. It’s walked there, in order.

Depth Trust Transformation Belonging
01

Depth

Meeting what’s underneath

Beyond the “Me”.

Members arrive in their roles: founder, CEO, the one who has it handled. We start intensely, often with the empty chair, speaking to someone who is not in the room, so real emotion enters and each member meets what lies beneath.

02

Trust

Becoming fully seen

From “Me” to “I”.

When members drop the version of themselves they usually show, the room changes. Trust stops being a rule and becomes something felt: each person seen as who they are.

03

Transformation

Light and shadow, without shame

From “I” to “We”.

With that trust we reach the shadow and the unspoken agreements. Met without shame, they stop dividing the group, and the Forum becomes a true “We”.

04

Belonging

Exchanging “Pursuit of Happiness” with “Aliveness”

From “We” to “All”.

A Forum that has gone there together stays committed. One member’s courage becomes the group’s aliveness, carried into every meeting, and into the companies and families its members lead.

Walked in order, they carry a Forum up a level. A Forum is itself a journey, and each transition asks for the passages to be walked again, adapted to where the group now stands.

Core Forum programmes

Most programmes come with a workbook I build for that specific group: a printed booklet of topics, chapters and exercises, not a slide deck. Open a programme to read more and see inside its workbook.

02

Forum Fundamentals

I build the foundation for Forum. I equip members with the skills to share vulnerably, listen deeply, and create trust that sustains their Forum for years to come.

Delivered as YPO’s certified programme, with YPO’s own materials.
03

Forum Moderator & Leadership Development

I strengthen the capacity of Forum leaders to guide with clarity and care. I focus on facilitation, conflict navigation, and keeping the room safe for deeper conversations.

Delivered as YPO’s certified programme, with YPO’s own materials.

What members experience

01 / Warmth & Safety

I create a trusted space where members feel comfortable to open up and be fully themselves.

02 / Depth with Care

I take people beyond the surface, into what’s real, while holding them with compassion. We go deep by invitation, never by force; the intensity is offered, and each member chooses how far to go.

03 / Structure & Flow

Sessions are well designed and alive to the dynamics of the group.

04 / What Lasts

Members leave with deeper trust, stronger connection, and practices that last far beyond the retreat.

Beyond the single Forum

Working with YPO Chapters

Everything above is about a single Forum — the small group that meets each month. A Chapter is the wider circle: the regional body that unites all the Forums in a city or region, and brings their members together.

At that scale, a Chapter’s learning calendar is more than a list of events: it is a journey. I help Chapters design and host experiences that are meaningful, relevant, and alive across the whole community — for members and spouses alike, across all of the Chapter’s Forums.

Idea Labs

Co-created design sessions where members help shape the Chapter’s learning year.

Chapter Retreats

Immersive multi-day experiences for members and spouses. Connection, renewal, and the conversations the calendar never makes room for.

Learning Journeys

Forum depth carried into the Chapter’s year-round programme, so the learning lasts.

The custom design process

Every Forum retreat I run is designed for one group. Every engagement begins with one honest conversation, usually with the Forum moderator or retreat planning team, to understand your group’s history, current dynamics, and specific growth edge. From there, I design something that fits exactly where you are.

Before I design anything, I read the group with my own diagnostic, a survey built alongside the official YPO instruments. The design then starts from where the Forum actually is.

The Forum Diagnostic A quiet read of the group, before I design a single exercise.

In their own words

What are the top five issues you’re facing — in business and in life?

Where has your Forum not worked well, or left you frustrated?

What do you need to get the most out of this Forum?

Rate the Forum so far1 poor – 10 excellent

Trust8
Following protocol7
Commitment to Forum9
Depth of connection8
Dealing with conflict6

Built alongside the official YPO instruments · a sample of the questions

Ready to go beneath the surface?

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