GUESTS and ORGANIZERS

Conference Guests:

Rawaa Alsamman

Lived in Damascus, Syria where she Studied English literature and was trained in HUMAN DEVELOPMENT & NLP & TOT TRAINER & CONSULTANT. Then worked as private English Teacher (2005-2009).
From 2009 to 2012 was a Trainer & consultant in “Unlimited Horizons” Institute also in
Damascus Syria. Susequently was a Trainer & consultant in different institutes in several federal
states in Algeria (from 2013 to 2015). From 2017 until now works at the In INKONTAKT Gestalt Institute Berlin leading a group (Circle of Peace) for Arab women. Sharing experiences, supporting & empowerment exchanging 3(Circle of Peace). Leads also online group for |Arab women in Germany, Europe and the Middle East since Corona 2020 until now. In Novembrer and December 2018 trained as healt guide KummRum e.V. .

Trained as a cultural mediator and health guide in the psychiatric care for refugees. Trained also in Gestalt therapy and became a Gestalt therapy trainer assistent in 2019 in the INKONTAKT Gestalt Institute Berlin – was involved in the 1-year Training with Arab participants (Change in Dialogue) & (Identity & Flight).

Worked as as a psychological consultant in GSJ Refugee Dormitor in Berlin in 2019-2022.

Since January 2021 till today works as a Family Helper at Navitas Gmbh in Berlin, Germany and is a psychological Gestalt Consultat in the Anti-Violence field Communication and action for women – Eulalia Eigensinn e.V in Berlin Germany.

Hanna Alen, Finland

A Finnish gestalt therapist, supervisor and coach. In addition to therapeutic work she has a passion for organisational development, both in NGO’s and private sector.

She believes her ethical responsibility in her profession is to actively work towards a just world for all, to work for equal human rights and for protecting our mother earth. Lately she has been saying that it seems for an activist there is not a day off these days when the conservative, fascist and ethno-nationalistic winds are blowing hard everywhere. No one is free until we all are free. 

Recently she formed a group called Psychotherapists for Humanity with psychotherapist colleagues in Finland, and they have been actively demanding ceasefire and raising awareness of the situation in Palestine, e.g. about human rights violations and the long-standing and deep psychological impact of war and apartheid, and thus intergenerational trauma, and also of the environmental impacts of the war. 

She is also a member of the EAGT Climate Crisis and Biodiversity working group and a founding member of a group of eco-gestaltists meeting on a regular basis. 

Amidst tough times when it is hard to believe in humanity, she finds these words by Joanna Macy supportive: 

”Active Hope is not wishful thinking. Active Hope is not waiting to be rescued by some savior. Active Hope is waking up to the beauty of life on whose behalf we can act. We belong to this world. The web of life is calling us forth at this time. We’ve come a long way and are here to play our part. With Active Hope we realize that there are adventures in store, strengths to discover, and comrades to link arms with. Active Hope is a readiness to discover the strengths in ourselves and in others; a readiness to discover the reasons for hope and the occasions for love. A readiness to discover the size and strength of our hearts, our quickness of mind, our steadiness of purpose, our own authority, our love for life, the liveliness of our curiosity, the unsuspected deep well of patience and diligence, the keenness of our senses, and our capacity to lead. None of these can be discovered in an armchair or without risk.”

Oliver Baiocco, Germany

Social Scientist (MSc) , Gestalt- and Body Therapist (DVG, EAGT), Coach and Counsellor Working in Germany and Estonia. Co-Founder of the Estonian Gestalt &Training Center ,Member of the General Board of the EAGT. Working as an EAP Counsellor for an large EAP Institute and in private practice, active member of the Crisis Platform of the HR & SR of EAGT.

“I am deeply convinced that psychotherapy and counselling cannot be apolitical.
Even the attempt to define them as apolitical is highly political.
Every pain, every suffering and every support is embedded in a larger biographical-historical-social field that needs to be taken into account.
Otherwise, we wander blindly and pathologize the individual instead of contextualizing their experience. Meaning is always a function between the self and the field. After all, de-contextualization is a political power tool for blinding real conditions and cementing them.“

Kalliopi Chaziri, Greece

Studies in Sociology and a Master’s degree in Criminology.  For the last sixteen years has been working mainly in the field of migration in Athens and on the Greek islands. Part of her work icludes identification of victims of human trafficking. In the last years she has been is involved in training professionals working in the migration field.  

Kabul Airlift – Eva Bayer

We founded the “Kabul Airlift” project in August 2021, when the Taliban took over Afghanistan and the German government failed to live up to its responsibility towards endangered Afghans. As a group of journalists and activists, we have helped vulnerable people from Afghanistan to leave the country safely – and continue to do so today.

Our networks in Afghanistan as well as in Pakistan expanded very quickly, enabling us to inform people at risk about safe options exiting the country. We share our knowledge with other NGOs and raise awareness by highlighting relevant issues to the German and International public through our press channels. We are advocating the interests and concerns of endangered and vulnerable Afghans to the German Government.

Chara Kallilnteri, Greece

Lawyer working with migrants and refugees.
Studies include a Bachelor’s degree in Law and LLM in International Studies. Has worked for the past seven years in the field of migration assisting, among others, survivors of torture, trafficking and SGBV, as well as minors asylum seekers in Greece.

 Heike Kammer, PBI reppresentative, Germany

Heike Kammer

I was born 1960 in west Germany, went to school in Berlin, working in west Germany and later getting a peace activist in Germany and Abayala, Latin America.

I met PBI in 1986 in Guatemala. In 1988 I was a volunteer in PBI team in El Salvador.

From 1990 to 1994 several times volunteer of PBI team in Guatemala.

From 1995 to 1996 volunteer in PBI team in Colombia.

From 1999 part of SIPAZ (international service for peace) till 2006. Mostly volunteer but 3 year civil peace service ZFD with PBI in SIPAZ.

1999 a got the human rights award in the city in Weimar in Germany.

Since 2006 I am part of PBI peace education in Germany.

From Mexico I brought the puppet theater for peace. Since 2010 I am a freelance in peace education and puppet theater.

As a volunteer I participate in the PBI working group to support the field volunteers.

Also in care and solidarity with Mexico and Central America.

Antonia Konstantinidou, Greece

Born in 1969 in Thessaloniki, Greece. BSc in Psychology, MSc in Social & Clinical Psychology (1994). Gestalt Psychotherapist, Trainer, and Supervisor since 1998. Co-founder of Training Institute “Gestalt Foundation”. Member of Association of Greek Psychologists, H.A.G.T. (Hellenic Association for Gestalt Therapy–founding member, ex-president), European Association for Gestalt Therapy (E.A.G.T); European Association for Psychotherapy (E.A.P.); European Certification of Psychotherapy (E.C.P.) & EuroPsy Holder. She works internationally as Gestalt Therapy trainer & supervisor and conducts lectures and workshops with topics such as: diagnosis, psychopathology, and supervision in the context of Gestalt Therapy. Since 2019 she also leads groups on Mindfulness.

E-mail: konstant108@gmail.com

Helena Mering, Sweden

 is a Swedish Gestalt therapist based in Gothenburg. 

She has a background in music and theater and has been a climate activist for some years. 

Illia Mstibovskyi, Ukraine

Ph.D., is a gestalt therapist, coach, family therapist, and trainer. He was educated in Gestalt therapy in the Gestalt Associates Training Los Angeles (GATLA), the French Institute of Gestalt Therapy (IFGT), the Institute for Gestalt-Oriented Organizational Consulting (IGOR, Frankfurt), the Paris School of Gestalt (EPG), and the Moscow Institute of Gestalt and Psychodrama (MIGIP). He has been a trainer at MIGIP since 1999, supervisor since 2001, and senior trainer of the Southern Regional Gestalt Institute (SRGI).
lllia Mstibovskyi is the founder of Gestalt therapy in Kharkiv in Ukraine, where he organized and conducted groups together with MIGIP trainers, having trained dozens of known Ukrainian Gestalt therapists. He published 20 articles on the theory development and practical applications of Gestalt therapy. Since 2014 he has participated in research work for proving the efficacy of Gestalt therapy in an international team. After the outbreak of war, he lives in Germany. He is a member of the European Association for Gestalt Therapy (EAGT and GPO), the German Association for Gestalt Therapy (DVG) and the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR).

Niels Roelen, the Netherlands

 

After finishing grade school I was conscripted in the Dutch army. At first I didn’t feel like wasting my time, but after a while I realized that my ideas about the organization where basted on biases. After nine months I applied for the Royal Military Academie and as a young officer I went to Cyprus on a UN mission. After several placings as an officer I left for a short visit to Iraq and later on Afghanistan. On this last mission I started writing. After 25 years as an army officer, a period in which I wrote two books and several newspaper articles, I choose to follow my passion and became a writer.

As a freelance author, I wrote many articles and journals for daily newspapers, magazines and on my own website. www.nielsroelen.com

On the website you will also find a personal project, letters to my mom. The idea is that I’ll be silent at her funeral and instead will share feelings and memories I have with her while she’s still alive. All the digital letters are sent in hard copy on special paper tot her as well.

Besides these letters you will also find ‘inktpatronen’. Opinions on the war in Ukraine in about 190 words. The idea is that the bullets I carried during patrols in Afghanistan are replaced by words. Words that are meant to give ordinary people an glimpse of what war does to people. Weapons have evolved in mighty machines but the effect of war on people hasn’t changed since Remarque wrote All Quiet on the Western Front.

Mariia Rohalska, Ukraine

Graduated from the Faculty of Psychology of the Zaporozhye National Technical University, as well as the 2nd (therapeutic) and 3rd (supervisory) stages of the training program in Gestalt therapy at the MIGIS Institute in the city of Dnepr, Ukraine. Since 2012, she lived and worked as a Gestalt therapist, supervisor and teacher of training programs on Gestalt therapy at the MIGTIK Institute in Moscow, Russia. Since 2020, Mariia lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Mariia has been actively involved in psycho-social assistance to Ukrainian refugees in the city of Düsseldorf, as well as in helping Gestalt therapists from Ukraine in their adaptation to Germany. Maria is currently training to become a cognitive behavioral therapist within the framework of German psychotherapy legislation and works in a psychiatric clinic in Essen as a clinical psychologist.

Nick Thorpe, UK, Hungary

A writer, film-maker and award-winning BBC journalist, specializing in eastern Europe and the Balkans, born in England in 1960. He studied Modern Languages at the Universities of Reading (UK), Dakar (Senegal) and Freiburg (Germany), graduating in 1982. He has lived in Budapest since 1986, and is married with 5 sons. He reported on the fall of Communism throughout eastern Europe and the break-up of Yugoslavia for the BBC, Independent, Observer, and Guardian, including the wars in Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia. He has been BBC Central Europe Correspondent since 1996. With BBC colleagues, he won a Peabody award for coverage of the Refugee crisis in 2015, and a Lovie award for best internet reporting in 2018.

He is the author of 3 books:

The Road Before Me Weeps – On the Refugee Route through Europe (Yale UP, 2019)

The Danube – A Journey Upriver from the Black Sea to the Black Forest (Yale UP, 2014)

’89 – The Unfinished Revolution – Power and Powerlessness in Eastern Europe (Reportage Press 2009, Endeavour Press 2015).

A 4th book: Where the Waters Come From – A Carpathian Journey (Yale UP) will be published in November 2024.

He has also directed or presented 20 documentary films, most recently – The Danube – Against the Flow (2020), a series for AMC/ Spektrum TV.

Other links:

TedxBudapest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmGfpSWx5tU

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Thorpe

 

 

Beatrix Wimmer, Austria

 

Psychologist and Gestalt therapist in Vienna. Past president of EAGT, president of the Austrian Association for Gestalt therapy OEVG. She has been working in women’s counselling centers and is in private practice as Gestalt therapist and supervisor since 1997. Beatrix has recently founded the working group on Climate Change & Biodiversity in EAGT. She is teaching Gestalt therapy in Nepal and Switzerland. She has authored articles on Gestalt therapy and co-edited the book “Women in Gestalt therapy”. Since the beginning of the war against Ukraine she has for six months in 2022 been engaged in supporting Ukrainian Gestalt therapy colleagues in “support process groups”.

For the last 10 years she has been chairing a community-based organization in Vienna, fostering a Holocaust Memorial Project in her immediate neighborhood.

 

Conference Organizers: The Human Rights & Social Responsibility Committee of EAGT

 

Tomaž Flajs, Slovenia (HR &SR chair)

Full member and certified supervisor of the EAGT, ECP, dipl. GPTI, holder of the GATLA certificate of proficiency. He had served as President of the Slovene Umbrella Organization for Psychotherapy (SKZP) for 4 years (2015-2019) and as President of the Slovene Association for Gestalt therapy SLOGES for 12 years (2004 – 2016). In 2018 he was a member of the working group for the psychotherapy law within the Slovene Ministry of Health. He is a co-founder of GITA Institute for Gestalt Therapy, Ljubljana, where he works as a gestalt psychotherapist, trainer and supervisor. He has trained also abroad, in Croatia, China, Serbia, Austria, Russia, Georgia and Germany. In 2016 he founded the SKZP working group for working with refugees which he led until 2022. At the onset of the COVID pandemy he organised and co-ordinated the SKZP working group for offering psychosocial support which functioned in co-operation with the Red Cross and the Slovene National Institute for Public Health. He has been a member of the EAGT Human Rights and Social Responsibility Committee (HR&SR) since 2020 and is now its chair. He has written several articles on gestalt therapy in Slovene language, among them a short article ‘Political Dimensions of Psychotherapy’ which was published in the Slovene Review for psychotherapy Kairos. He is also a co-author of the book »Dodo se pogovarja: vodnik po psihoterapiji« (»Dodo in Conversation: a Guide to Psychotherapy«).

Maleen Alvarez Ruiz , Spain

My full name is Magdalena Alvarez Ruiz and I am usually known as Malén. I am graduated in
Philosophy in Spain and I have also studied a postgraduate course on Gender in Perú. My
professional way has moved me in the educational field (teacher in secondary school and
university), the social (working in NGOs) and the therapeutic (as trainer in several body-mind
methods, such as Expressive Movement, Authentic Movement and Contemplative Dancing,
and also as Gestalt Therapist). I am a Gestalt Therapist since 2013. Today I share my dedication
between the social field (as a consultant in the Basque Observatory for the Third Sector) and
the therapeutic, and I have recently become a member of the Human Rights and Social
Responsibility Committee.

Maria Denisenko, Russia

Lives in Nizhniy Novgorod (Russia) with her husband and two kids. She graduated as Medical Doctor (2005) and for 14 years had been working as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist in a public mental health service. Maria was trained in Gestalt Therapy at Moscow Institute of Gestalt Therapy and Consulting (MIGTIC), where she then has been working as a trainer. Maria’s areas of expertise include: clinical psychotherapy, group therapy, supervision. Currently Maria works in a private practice as a psychotherapist and psychiatrist. She is also a co-founder and leader of Interregional Institute of Gestalt (Russia). She has publications in the field of psychiatry and psychotherapy. She is accredited by EAGT as Gestalt Therapist and Supervisor. She is also a member of Russian Society of Psychiatrist (ROP) and ECNP

Larissa Didkovska, Ukraine

Ph.D. psychologist, gestalt therapist, trainer and supervisor. Member of the Ukrainian Umbrella Association of Psychotherapy (since 1996), Gestalt therapist with The European Certificate of Psychotherapy (since 2001), Head of the section of Gestalt-therapy of the UUAP (since 2002), the member of Ontario Association of Consultants, Counselors, Psychometrists and Psychotherapists (since 2004, now OAMHP), President of the Ukrainian Association of Gestalt-therapy (since 2006), Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, Ukrainian Free University (Munich, Germany) (since 2009), Associate Professor at the
Department of Psychology, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine (since 2010), member of EAGT since 2018.

• •  crisis counseling, psychotherapeutic support for refugees and displaced
    persons, psychotherapeutic support of combatants, their families;

• • supervision support of psychologists and psychotherapists who work with many categories of people (anti-terrorist operation participants, displaced persons.

• • Publications: on psychology and psychotherapy

Maryna Lemak, Ukraine

Dr Alessio Zambon, Italy/Germany

Gestalt therapist and supervisor, trainer at the Gestalt Institute In-Kontakt.

In his past he also got a degree in Philosophy and Pedagogy and a PhD in Sociology. Before becoming a doctor he worked as a social worker first and a sociological researcher later for over 10 years. He published many articles in the field of the sociology of inequalities and in that of Gestalt therapy. He also published a novel in Italian.  He joined the EAGT and the HR committee in 2023.

Back room members:

• • Dieter Bongers, Switzerland

• • Guus Klaren, The Netherlands

• • Joanna Kato, Greece

• • Nurith Levi, Israel

• • Katharina Stahlmann, Germany

Guus Klaren, The Netherlands

MSW, is an accredited Gestalt therapist and supervisor in private practice.As Gestalt Practitioner in Organizations (GPO) he has worked for a wide range of organizations in the field of public health, education, (semi) governmental organizations, family business in the process of organizational development. He leads Gestalt workshops in various countries in Europe.
He initially worked as social worker in community development projects in multi cultural areas in big cities in the Netherlands. He was teaching social methodology for young professionals. He worked many years for a local NGO in Ghana West Africa supporting local communities in the field of poverty reduction through educational and micro credit programms.
He is ex president of the Dutch Flemish Association for Gestalt Therapy and Theory. Since 2009 he is actively involved in the activities of the Human Rights and Social Responsibility Committee, initially as a chairman, currently as a backroom member.

Joanna Kato , Greece

MSc psychologist, Gestalt therapist, supervisor and trainer. Polish of origin she lives and works in Greece for the last 30 years. Currently working mostly in private practice, being herself a migrant she is also an associate and volunteer at Babel Day Centre (offering mental health care for migrants and refugees) in Athens, Greece. Joanna trains internationally. She is past chair of the Human Rights and Social Responsibility Committee of EAGT and a member of the Greek Association of Gestalt Therapy (H.A.G.T.). She has been involved in the field of human rights since 1997, has worked in several NGOs. She has co- edited ” Supporting Human Dignity in a Collapsing Field” and is the author of a few articles published in BGJ and GR. She is an E.A.P. member, ECP holder. www.joannakato.com, contact: kato.joan@gmail.com

Dr Nurith Levi,Ph.D., M.S.W., Israel

Nurith is a certified social worker, psychotherapist, Gestalt therapist, family therapist, marriage counselor and a qualified supervisor in these modalities. For over 35 years she was senior lecturer at the school of social work at the universities of Tel Aviv and Be’er-Sheba, Head of the department for Youth At Risk Care Work and Dean of Students and at Beit-Berl Academic college. Nurith is an experienced Gestalt trainer working regularly in Israel and Europe. She was for 9 years member of EAGT Executive Committee, the chairperson of TSC and an active member of HR&SR committee.

She was for 25 years the clinical advisor of the National Defense League For Children, and acts as Advocate Ad Litem for immigrant children in Israel. She has edited four books and authored articles and chapters in the field of psychotherapy, treatment of children, youth at risk and family therapy that are all inspired and influenced by her thinking and living Gestalt.

Nurith lives and works in Tel-Aviv, where she runs a private clinic. Since the breakout of the War, she volunteers on a short-term crisis intervention center for the survivors and refugees of the 7/11 massacre. She is a widow, the proud mother of four, and grandmother of nine darling grandchildren and one great-grandson.

Katharina Stahlmann, Germany

Gestalt therapy, trauma therapy, supervision. Before becoming Gestalt therapist she worked as social worker and body worker. She has been working in private practice in Berlin since 2004 as a Gestalt therapist (individuals, couples, groups), as a teaching therapist and guest lecturer for Gestalt therapy training institutes, and as supervisor for managers and teams in social and psychotherapeutic organizations. She is member of the Human Rights & Social Responsibility Committee of EAGT since 2019 and has worked for a long time for the Office for Medical Refugee Aid with people who do not have a residence permit. She is author of Gestalt therapy articles and editor of the book “Begegnungen mit Geflüchteten – Möglichkeiten der Gestalttherapie“. (Encounters with refugees – possibilities of Gestalt therapy. Reflections on therapy, counselling and politics) www.k-stahlmann.de contact: gestalt@k-stahlmann.de