Ramanthan Raguram is a well-known teacher and researcher in the field of psychiatry. He worked for many years as Professor of Psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore where he was the Chairperson of the Postgraduate Training Program. He was invited by the Government of United Arab Emirates to initiate a post graduate training program in psychiatry for the first time in that country. After completing this assignment he has now taken over as the Head of the Department of Psychiatry at KIMS Bangalore.He is the recipient of several awards both nationally and internationally. He was a WHO fellow at the University of Toronto, Canada and University College, London. He was a Visiting Professor under the NIMHANSFULBRIGHT Academic Initiative Program at the Department of Psychiatry, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Jersey, USA and was instrumental in initiating a cross cultural exchange program of medical students and psychiatric residents. He officiated as the coordinator for ICD-10 Field Trials in India. He has recently been invited to be in the Board of Governors of the World Association of Cultural Psychiatry. His main interest is in the field of cultural psychiatry. In particular he has been interested in examining the interface between illness experiences and professional diagnostic categories especially with regard to stigma of mental illness. He has also been involved in examining the impact of traditional methods of healing on psychiatric disorders.
Suman Fernando (formerly a consultant psychiatrist in UK for over twenty years) is Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences and Humanities at London Metropolitan University (UK). Of Sri Lankan origin, Suman received his medical education at Cambridge and London (UK). He started his career in psychiatry in Sri Lanka but later moved to UK where he was a consultant in the British National Health Service for over twenty years, while being involved in non-governmental services for minority ethnic groups and writing and training on issues of ‘race’ and cultural diversity. During that time he became well known for his critical approach to Eurocentric notions of psychiatry and psychology and wrote some of the seminal books in the field covering issues of racism and cultural difference, such as Race and Culture in Psychiatry (1988) and Mental Health, Race and Culture (1991). He was given the National Black Mental Health Achievement Award sponsored by the National Mental Health Association (MIND) in 2000 but turned down the offer of OBE award in 2007 in protest at the changes in mental health legislation pursued by the (then) British Government. During his long career in the field of mental health, Suman has maintained a special interest in issues involved in developing mental health services worldwide. Between 2007 and 2012, he was consultant to a research and capacity building project called the Trauma and Global Health program co-ordinated by the Division of Transcultural Psychiatry at McGill University (Montreal) involving four countries in the Global South and he has become a leading voice in the movement advocating for mental health services to be local rather than global, embedded in communities they serve, drawing on a variety of psychological and medical knowledge systems and led by the diverse needs and cultures that exist in different parts of the world. He has written and lectured widely in UK, Sri Lanka and Canada on issues of ‘race’ and culture in psychiatry and latterly on mental health development in the Global South. Suman was given a Lifetime Achievement Award for Culture, Race and Mental Health by OISE (University of Toronto) in 2011. Books by Suman include Mental Health, Race and Culture (third edition, 2010) and Mental Health Worldwide; Culture: Globalization and Development (2014). Further details of publications and notes: http:// www.sumanfernando.com.
Agostino Portera is Professor in Intercultural Education at the University of Verona and director of the Centre for Intercultural Studies in the University of Verona (Italy), Italy. He has published seven books and several articles on immigration, identity, Intercultural education and intercultural competences. His latest books Globalizzazione e pedagogia interculturale (Globalisation and Intercultural education), Erikson, Trento, and Intercultural and Multicultural Education: Enhancing Global Interconnectedness (edit in 2011 witht C.A. Grant) Routledge New York, deals with opportunities of intercultural intervention in schools. He studied Psychology in Rome and obtained his Ph.D. in education at the University of Freiburg (Germany).
Tony Toneatto is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and cross-appointed to the Human Development and Applied Psychology program at the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education. He is also a registered Clinical Psychologist. He received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from McGill University (Montreal) and spent 23 years at the Centre of Addiction and Mental Health (Toronto) as a research scientist. He is currently the Director of the Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health undergraduate program at the University of Toronto Dr. Toneatto has published widely in the areas of substance and behavioral addictions, especially pathological gambling, and mindfulness meditation. He is also currently completing training in psychoanalysis at the Toronto Institute of Psychoanalysis.
Lana Stermac is Professor and Interim Associate Dean Research, International and Innovation at University of Toronto. Her research is in the broad area of posttraumatic health and health promotion and focuses largely on the effects of traumatic and adverse events on mental health and education. Professor Stermac works with a number of populations including sexual assault and sexual victimization survivors as well as immigrants and refugees from war-zone areas across the globe. She has had several projects focusing on issues around school age violence, sexual violence against women, and posttraumatic mental health. Her most recent project entitled, Sexually Coercive Behaviours on Campus, examines the effects of unwanted sexual behaviours on the educational experiences and academic performance of culturally diverse women undergraduates in Canada. Another recently completed project entitled, Traumatic Stress and Learning, examined the educational components of successful academic environments for war-zone immigrant and refugee students with histories of adverse events or trauma. Professor Stermac has consulted on these topics to various agencies and is currently collaborating with scholars across Canada and internationally. She is also involved in training programs in evidence-based interventions in cognitive-behaviour therapies and is the current Academic Director of the Certificate in Cognitive Behavior Therapy at OISE. She is a senior editor of an international journal in counselling psychology. Professor Stermac's research has been supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
David Paul Smith is Chief Psychologist and Director of training at St. Bernard Hospital, Chicago and President and CEO at Integrated Psyche Services, SC, USA . he is a part time faculty at Saybrook university, San Fransisco and the Chicago school of Professional Psychology.
Roy Moodley is Associate Professor in Counselling Psychology at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. His research and publication interests include traditional and cultural healing; multicultural and diversity counselling; race, culture and ethnicity in psychotherapy; and masculinities. Roy co-edited Transforming Managers: Gendering Change in the Public Sector (1999); Carl Rogers Counsels a Black Client: Race and Culture in Person-Centred Counselling (2004); Integrating Traditional Healing Practices into Counselling and Psychotherapy(2005); Race, Culture and Psychotherapy: Critical Perspectives in Multicultural Practice (2006), Handbook of Counselling and Psychotherapy in an International Context (20 12)
Ravindra Naidoo is a registered Clinical Psychologist with 33 years of practice experience. He was the President of the Southern African Association for Student Counselling and Development in Higher Education in the period 1995-2000. He has served at King Edward VIII Hospital in KwaZulu Natal, lectured in the Department of Psychiatry in the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine and served as the Director of the Student Counselling and Careers Centre at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is presently in private practice. Dr Naidoo has presented several papers on Traditional Healing in South Africa at national and international conferences. He has a deep interest in the development of culturally-relevant therapies.
Bonnie Meekums is a lecturer in counselling and psychotherapy at the University of Leeds, UK. She is both a registered psychotherapist and a pioneer of Dance Movement Psychotherapy within the UK. Author of two books (Creative group therapy for women survivors of child sexual abuse; Dance Movement Therapy) and many peer reviewed journal articles, Bonnie has also served as Symposium Co-Editor for the British Journal of Guidance and Counselling and continues to serve on the Editorial Board. She has lectured worldwide, including the USA, China, Poland, Latvia, Croatia, Spain and the UK. At Leeds, Bonnie leads a BACP accredited training programme, the MA Psychotherapy and Counselling, as well as supervising PhD students and engaging in her own research. Her current research interests include: Arts for health (and in particular, Dance Movement Psychotherapy); Practitioner development; and Emancipatory research methods including Participatory Action Research. She is also currently working on two systematic reviews of Dance Movement Therapy (depression and dementia).
John Carey is a Professor of School Counseling and the Founding Director of the Ronald H. Fredrickson Center for School Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA. Dr. Carey is co-author of the books Evidence-Based School Counseling: Making a Difference with Data-Driven Practices; Achieving Excellence in School Counseling: Building Motivation, Self-Direction, Self-Knowledge, and Relationships; and, Multicultural Counseling in Schools: A Practical Handbook.He is currently working with a team of international scholars to develop an International Handbook for Policy Research on School-Based Counseling to be published by Springer.Dr. Carey received a 2014 Fulbright Specialist grant to help Korea University incorporate evidence-based practice into their school counseling graduate program. He received the 2010 Cooperinc International Scholar Award to support collaborative research and program development at the Dipartimento di Filosophia, Pegagogiae Psicologia, UniversitàdegliStudi di Verona.In 2007, Dr. Carey received the Counselor Educator of the Year award from the American School Counselors Association to acknowledge his role in the promoting the improvement of school counseling practice through research. Dr. Carey a leader in the evidence-based school counseling movement and has extensive, documented in coordinating large multi-site research projects related to outcome and policy research. He has served as Principal Investigator or Co-PI on many funded research projects including: statewide evaluations of school counseling programs in Idaho, Utah, and Nebraska; and a College Board- funded study to identify the characteristics of school counseling programs associated with successful college transitions for low income and minority students. Dr. Carey is currently collaborating with colleagues in Italy and South Korea to evaluate Eccomi Pronto--a research-based preventative/developmental curriculum for elementary students based on the principles of positive psychology .
Sachin Jain completed his Masters (Clinical Psychology) in India and Ph.D in Counselor Education and Supervision from the University of Wyoming. He is a certified K-12 counselor and Mathematics & Physics teacher. He has published two books, 35 articles in peer-reviewed journals and numerous presentations and book chapters. Some of the awards he received include the "Outstanding Dissertation in Counseling" from the American Educational Research Association; "Outstanding contribution to scholarship” awarded by the University of Idaho. Currently he is serving as Chair of the American Counseling Association's International committee & President of Indian Association of Mental Health counselors and member of CACREP's international committee. He has also served as a Specialist in the US Army National Guard. In past he had trained counselors and teachers at the Oakland University, University of Texas-Pan American & University of Idaho. He has received 30 grants including from Humanities councils at Michigan, Texas, Idaho and Wyoming.
Hilary Brown is Emeritus Professor of Social Care, Canterbury Christ Church University UK and has a PhD in Social Work. She has specialized throughout her career in the causes of abuse and the most appropriate responses to abuse of vulnerable groups at policy, organizational and individual levels. She has worked with the Council of Europe to develop policy on disability to ensure that people are respected and included wherever possible in mainstream society and institutions. She is a practicing psychotherapist and supervisor and has been teaching the principles and practice of Cognitive Analytic Therapy to students at Christ University Bangalore over the last four years exploring with students how this profoundly social and empowering model can be made relevant to provision in India. She is interested in professional development, support and codes of conduct as the new profession of counselling roots itself in India alongside more traditional models of personal and pastoral guidance and healing.
Jessie Emilion is a BACP accredited Counsellor and UKCP registered Cognitive Analytic Psychotherapist and Supervisor. She has been working in the NHS for 20 years in various capacities as a senior clinician, trainer and manager. She has a particular interest in bi-lingualism, culture, language and race and the impact of these factors on mental health, development of self and therapeutic alliance. As a trained interpreter she has extensive experience of working with refugee communities, asylum seekers and voluntary sector organizations both as a clinician and an interpreter. Other areas of interest are maternal mental health including psychological issues related to fetal abnormalities, post-natal depression, and repeated miscarriages. She set up and managed a multi lingual Comprehensive Counselling and Psychotherapy Service for Women within Newham Health Care NHS Trust for seven years. She teaches on the CAT programmes in the UK, India and in Qatar. She is central to the Introduction of CAT in India and has developed the model further by incorporating religious, cultural and societal values, making it adaptive, appropriate and relevant to the Indian Society and the Indian Psyche. This model is consequently well suited for developing nations where the modernization, commercialism and internet globalization has brought its own problems around consumerism and intergenerational cultural conflicts which often manifests as sexual violence, obsessive behaviors, and addictions including internet porn. Jessie Emilion is currently employed by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust as Clinical Team Lead and by CRUSE Bereavement Support as Consultant Psychotherapist and Supervisor.
Ted Lo is a community psychiatrist originally from Hong Kong. He has worked with the diverse communities in Toronto for the past 30 years. He consults to several community mental health programs. As well, he developed the cultural psychiatry curriculum for the psychiatric residents at University of Toronto. He has taught and wrote about cultural competence across the world. He was the recipient of several awards in this area. Traditional healing and psychotherapy is another subject he is passionate about and developed the Delicious Moment therapy with a naturopath, Dr. Mami Ishii .
Linda Lucas, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, MA, LCPC, has extensive training in Satir Transformational Systemic Therapy. Linda is an enthusiastic, experienced trainer and provides trainings for professionals, teachers, educators, staff and families working with at-risk adolescents, attachment issues, addictions, couples, families, grief and loss, and self-care. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Sangamon State University in Springfield, Illinois, USA, and earned a Master of Arts in Human Developmental Counseling at the University of Illinois, Springfield, Illinois, USA. Linda is the Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Satir Institute of the Pacific, past president of the Satir Institute of the Pacific, Clinical member of the Satir Institute of the Pacific, and a member of the Satir Institute of the Pacific Training Directorate. She is an approved senior trainer and faculty for the Banmen Satir China Management Center. In addition, Linda is an active member of the Idaho Mental Health Counselor’s Association, and provides Ethics classes for the Idaho Mental Health Counseling Association. Linda provided Satir Transformational Systemic Therapy to adolescent females, families, and couples at Northwest Children’s Home in Lewiston, Idaho, USA for the past 17 years. Linda is a certified supervised for licensed professional counselors. Linda travels throughout the world conducting Satir Transformational Systemic Therapy experiential, dynamic workshops and programs.
Meetu Khosla is Associate Professor of Psychology at Daulat Ram College, Delhi. She is a visiting associate Professor at the University of Warsaw, Poland . She is the recipient of several academic honors including Erasmus mundus Scholarship, Fullbright– Nehru visiting Lecturer Fellowship, Indian Council for Social Science Research, University Grants Commission , Shastri Indo– Canadian Institute to name few. She has several publications in Internationally peer reviewed journals and chapters in edited books.
Simon Vearnals is Chartered Consultant Psychologist, AFBsS with the British Psychological Society and a Practitioner Psychologist with the Heath and Care Profession Council. He has worked extensively as a clinician, clinical researcher, supervisor and trainer across primary, secondary and specialist services in the NHS and Research Institutions for the past 25 years. His training also includes post- graduate systemic and CBT approaches to working with couples and families. More recently he’s been involved in training and supervising trainees in Pakistan on a BACP accredited counselling training. He has a particular interest in the role and impact of couple therapy across cultures.
Njoki Nathani Wane, Ph.D. (University of Toronto), is a Professor in the Department ofSocial Justice Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Until September 2014, she was the Special Advisor on Status of Women at University of Toronto & Director of Centre for Integrative Anti-Racist Research Studies (CIARS). For the last twenty years she has been researching, writing and teaching in the areas of Black feminisms in Canada, African feminisms, African indigenous knowledges, anti-racist education in teacher education, African women and spirituality, and ethno-medicine. She has published widely in journals and anthologies in the areas of African women and indigenous knowledge, Black Canadian feminisms; African women and spirituality, anti-colonial thought and ethno-medicine. In the last four years she has been involved in the following research project that were part of CIARS projects: 2012- 2013 Investing in Diversity. Leadership Mentorship program for aspiring leaders SSHRC project ($96,333). 2011-2014 Students’ Mobility and Its Impact on Schooling in the Metropolitant Regeion of Barcelona, Types, Processes and Trends. (Euro 70,000). The research project was coordinated by Professor Silvia Carrasco from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona as Principal Investigator. However, one of her graduate students spent two years with CIARS. 2011-2014 - Engaging Girls, Changing Communities: Examining Girls Ways for Civic Engagement and Leadership SSHRC project ($200,000) (co-applicant with professors from York University and University of Windsor). CIARS organized seminars and workshops. 2009 - 2014 “Anti-Poverty Community Organizing and Learning” (APCOL). The APCOL project studies activist learning and development in the course of anti-poverty organizing in communities in the Greater Toronto Area.$1,000,000 (Wane sub-grant, $48,000). Funder: Social Science and Humanities Council of Canada – Community University Research Alliance (CURA) Grant (Collaborator & Case Study Leader). In 2015, she was nominated for the distinguished educator at OISE. Also, in 2015, she was awarded The Decolonized Anti-Racist Educator’s Award by University of Toronto.
Maria Luca is the Head of the Reflections Research Centre at Regents University London. Her previous administrative roles include Head of the School of Psychotherapy and Counselling Psychology and Programme Director of the MA in Psychotherapy and Counselling. As an accredited psychotherapist with the UKCP and accredited supervisor with the MBACP Maria twenty years of experience as a psychotherapist in the National Health Service and in private practice. She was the School coordinator for the Grundtvig European migrant guidance and support project, involving researching the lived experience of migrants. Maria has taught at British Universities, presented research papers internationally and has been external Programme examiner for Roehampton University, external and internal examiner for Doctorate theses. She is book reviewer for various publishers and also papers in peer reviewed journals. She teaches on postgraduate courses in psychotherapy & Counselling Psychology at RSPP. Her Areas of Expertise include: Conceptualisations and therapeutic activities with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS); migrant counselling and support in European countries; embodiment, bracketing and reflexivity in Grounded theory; integration in psychotherapy; handling sexual attraction in therapy; integrative psychological formulations in psychotherapy.
Rachel Tribe is Professor of Research and Applied Professional Practice at the School of Psychology, University of East London. In 2014 she was awarded the British Psychological Society Award for Challenging Social Inequalities in her work. She is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society. She has over 30 years experience of developing clinical services and conducting research both in the UK and abroad. She is active in national and international consultancy and training work with a range of organizations in a variety of countries. She has experience of working in the private, public, charity and academic sectors both in the UK and abroad. Profeor Rachel Tribe has published widely, including work on diversity, migration and mental health, professional and ethical practice and on trauma. She was a member of the World Psychiatric Association’s Task Force on Migration and Mental Health and the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ expert panel on Improving Services for Refugees and Asylum-Seekers. She has worked clinically with a range of diverse communities. Professor Tribe produced a DVD and guidance notes on Working with Interpreters in Mental Health for the Department of Health in 2011, and she co-edited a seminal text on Working with Interpreters in Mental Health (Brunner-Routledge 2003). She also co-wrote the Guidelines on Working with Interpreters in Health settings for the British Psychological Society. Her latest book co-edited with Dr Jean Morrissey is the 2nd edition of The Handbook of Professional and Ethical Practice for Psychologists, Psychotherapists and Counsellors (Routledge, 2015)
Thierry Bonfanti is a psychologist, psychotherapist, counselor, trainer and mediator. After his training in psychology at the Sorbonne, in Paris, he received his PhD in Sociology under joint supervision from the Catholic University of Milan (Italy) and the University of Western Brittany (France). Trained to the Non Directive Intervention (NDI) approach in the eighties, by its inventor, Michel Lobrot himself, he became one of his main collaborators participating in different research groups, in the organization of international meetings on NDI from 1993 to 2008, in the creation of the NDI review, in the launch of the so-called Café Debate, in publishing some books and many articles. He is now one of the leading exponent of NDI (Non Directive Intervention) approach at an international level. He brings a valuable scientific, cultural, theoretical and methodological heritage little known in the English-speaking world. He his member of the international Federation of NDI in which he is responsible for the research sector. He has been collaborating with several universities in Strasburg (France), Palma (Spain) and Toronto (Canada). He is now teaching in the universities of Trento and Verona in Italy where he is living. He is a practising psychotherapist and supervisor and has been teaching the principles and practice of NDI in different countries (France, Italy and Greece). He has also invented new NDI based social practices promoting interaction and participation in different fields like language teaching, conference and debate leading. He is also an expert in mediation and did his PhD on this topic. He has been working in the field of mediation and conflict management for many private companies like Air France and public administrations like the ministry of justice in Italy.
Further details and notes: http://www.thierrybonfanti.eu
Michael Zimmerman graduated in economics and managed an import-export business for 10 years before beginning his own personal journey by re-training in massage. In 20 years as an acupressure practitioner he has worked in private practice, in hospices and in financial corporations. Since 1998 he has lead professional massage trainings and business skills workshops across the UK and in Europe and has been a regular speaker at health & wellbeing events. He began his Voice Dialogue training in 2004 and has since studied with Drs. Hal & Sidra Stone in California. His Voice Dialogue work is strongly influenced both by his massage experience and by his training in physical theatre, clowning and improvisation. He co-presents Voice Dialogue UK workshops with John and facilitates private clients in Central London. - See more at: http://www.voicedialogueonline.com/michael-zimmerman#sthash.3Hl8O94H.dpuf