As a trained psychotherapist, I am a recognized advocate for mental health and emotional wellbeing.
My SHE OR HE model is effective at preventing and mitigating burnout on individual and organizational levels.
MESPERO: Impact for Resilience, for which I serve as Executive Director, is focused on building capacity and mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) for those in last-mile settings. To that end, we are developing innovative projects in Syria and Ukraine.
As Executive Director of SDG2030.me, I head an intergenerational team initiating and implementing monthly innovations around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
So far, that has included an SDG 3 virtual art museum plus a variety of leading-edge events, broadcasts and multimedia initiatives and learning architectures.
I have also initiated and organized related conferences, such as: Achieving Gender Equality and Female Empowerment: A Collaborative Vision of SDG 5.
SDG 5 Thrive, for which I am a founder, promotes cultural sharing among youth – with an emphasis on women of a refugee background.
For decades, I have taken an innovative media approach to nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
Via the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, I co-created a series of nuclear-related television segments that won multiple US national awards; The Medical Consequences of Nuclear Weapons is an example.
I also initiated and produced a related German-language documentary for the Austrian broadcaster ORF, some informational short pieces, and virtual-learning materials such as this sample.
Most recently, I co-organized the COP26-connected event ‘NUCLEAR CLIMATE CHANGE: An Interactive Forum Based on the Sustainable Development Goals.’
For years, I have been interested in increasing awareness about trafficking, for example, having developed messaging strategies with stakeholders in aviation security and education.
In 2021, in cooperation with the International Forum for Understanding, I initiated and implemented a World Day against Trafficking in Persons event which featured broadcasted interactive discussions and performances plus a corresponding exhibition highlighting the artistic expression of those with lived experience in human trafficking. I also created a page of related virtual learning material.
Plans are to branch out in 2022 by supporting book projects and educational initiatives already in development. Stay tuned!
I have met WWII witnesses from many countries and tried to understand how they had coped with ongoing devastation – and then gone on to create personal peace.
My dream is to conduct further in-depth interviews with people who have witnessed war and to find recurring themes and coping strategies across cultures, across decades. I see this project as a book and/or as eLearning material freely available to educational institutions across the world… time will tell. Learn more about this project
