Advocacy

As a trained psychotherapist, I am a recognized advocate for mental health and emotional wellbeing.

During the pandemic, I developed a model for preventing and mitigating burnout on individual and organizational levels. It has been my pleasure to present this model in many global settings – and often on a pro bono basis.

MESPERO: Impact for Resilience, which I founded and 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 develop and implement innovative projects, such as a psychological first aid remote training initiative benefiting front line humanitarian workers in Yemen.

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 a variety of leading-edge events, sustainability initiatives, multimedia broadcasts, 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.

Active in the climate change movement for decades, I scale results with a global yet community-based approach. Innovations have included television broadcasts viewed by millions via US public access (an example is here) and an SDG 13 HUB complete with virtual-learning modules and an interactive project showcase.

At COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, I participated in bilateral meetings, mentored a youth team of activists, and co-launched a capacity-building project linking climate change with human trafficking. At the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, I coordinated an informal side event.

In July 2023, I launched Bridging Climate Divides at the United Nations in Vienna and look forward to expanding this space for inclusive development of transformative narratives and bottom-up solutions for climate impact.

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, I initiated and coordinated a World Day against Trafficking in Persons event which featured a live broadcast plus a corresponding exhibition highlighting the artistic expression of individuals with lived experience.

This was followed in 2022 by an art exhibition, interactive installation, and event I organized in the context of World Day: The SDGs and Human Trafficking: Lived Experience Leads.

I am currently developing an interactive digital showcase spotlighting people with lived experience and others working against human trafficking and modern slavery.

As a career educator with decades of global experience, I have had the honor of accompanying generations of young people on their path to self-discovery.

And as an activist, I have supported high potential youth to focus their vision and scale their dreams.

In my view, empowerment is inherent – not provided. So, the best mentoring involves creating opportunities for young people to explore their own potential in safe, inclusive, innovative and cooperative environments.

That approach is reflected in all of my current activities: initiating and organizing the July 2023 World Youth Skills Day event at the United Nations in Vienna, scaling psychological solutions, destigmatizing personal narratives, advocating for social change… and so much more.

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.’

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