Who We Are?

In my professional life, I have focused mainly on the development of individuals, groups and institutions. Within a time span of 15 years, during which I lived and worked in different countries and cities, I acquired a considerable amount of experience regarding inter-cultural differences, innovation, social change and creativity.

Beside my academic background in sociology and anthropology, during the course of my interaction and work with multi-cultural and multi-linguistic societies and groups, I have learned that we are in need of re-assessing and reviewing our everyday, or so called “normal” behavioural patterns, work modes and thinking processes; that doing so, will release new energies and lead to the discovery of new meanings and motivations in our lives.

At the beginning of my career, I worked as a clinical oriented sociologist, group process consultant, inter-cultural action researcher, advisor and country coordinator in a number of European Union Cultural Research Fund supported cross border research and cooperation projects, in Berlin, Vienna, Bratislava and different border cities in Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey, on various subjects, including “modes of cultural mobility, identity and migration”. During the times I spent working for the Turkish Grand National Assembly as a parliamentary and leadership advisor, as well as part time lecturer at various universities both in Turkey and abroad, I observed how our emotions, our life experiences, our expectations, our fears and our fragility impact upon our work relationships.

All of my above experiences have resulted in a growing interest to further understanding how shared psychological experiences and social traumas impact upon group relations; what are the effects of our large group identities; how we experience prejudices; how we convey our feelings of “the other” to future generations. My experiences have also led me to question the role of our emotions in ensuring peaceful co-existence and social justice between diverse ethnic, national, religious and ideological groups. As a result, my fields of interest have multiplied and my career dynamics have evolved.

I have been privileged to observe, first hand, the change and transformation of human beings and systems. I have passionately devoted myself to helping people connect with their “feeling spaces” where lasting changes and transformation take place, which in turn is the catalyst for systemic change.

Systems are closely attached to people. Without changes at the people level, systems changes cannot take place. Systems change when people change and people change when they “feel” something. Changed people, change systems.

The question I have asked myself is, “How can we help eliminate the fear associated with systemschange”?