International scientific coordinators of the Greek program
CHERYL WHITE and DAVID DENBOROUGH are the current directors of the Australian Dulwich Center, started by Michael White, the founder of Narrative Therapy. Cheryl was a co-founder of the Dulwich Center. David has been a close associate of Michael White.
They are both publishers, writers, trainers and coordinators of Narrative Therapy training programs worldwide. They are the scientific coordinators of the Greek educational program leading to Certification of Narrative Therapist.
Cheryl and David have a wealth of experience engaging in community projects that support individuals, groups and communities experiencing adversity (natural disasters, socio-economic challenges, social violence, abuse, etc.) and have also been involved in support for practitioners who form culturally appropriate ways to prevent and deal with adversity and social and psychological harm. They have worked in this field in many countries around the world with their most recent missions to Kuwait, Rwanda, Canada, Uganda, the US, Zimbabwe as well as many Aboriginal communities in Australia.
Cheryl White brings to the seminars a long history of engaging in feminist thought and practice. David Denborough also brings his love of writing and songwriting and ways they can penetrate work with individuals, family groups and communities.
International Scientific staff
JILL FREEDMAN, MSW, ACSW & GENE COMBS, MD are the most distinguished leaders in Narrative Therapy worldwide. They were among the first students of Michael White and David Epston and are the authors of Basic Narrative Therapy Handbooks.
Jill Freedman & o Gene Combs are co-directors of the Evanston Family Therapy Center, where they offer workshops, supervision, and counseling on all aspects of narrative therapy. They work in the Chicago area and have also provided counseling and supervision services at various schools and social services.
They have co-authored 3 books, among them the first full textbook of narrative therapy: Symbol, story and ceremony: Using metaphor in individual and family therapy, Narrative therapy : The social construction of preferred realities, Narrative therapy with couples … and much more! These include more than 30 book chapters and articles.
They were given the Innovative Contribution to Family Therapy Award by the American Academy of Family Therapy in 2009 and were awarded as Taos Institute Honorary Fellowship in 2010.
In addition, Jill is on the international teaching staff at the Dulwich Center, the educational-therapeutic center that created Narrative Therapy. She has joined the Dulwich team doing community work in a variety of contexts and teaches the Master of Narrative Therapy offered by the Dulwich Center and the University of Melbourne. She received the Excellence Award for Teaching Narrative Therapy from the Vancouver Narrative Therapy School in 2014.
Gene recently retired from his position as a clinical faculty member at the University of Chicago Family Medicine Program. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Family Therapy.
ANGEL YUEN, M.S.W., R.S.W is a school social worker and private practitioner in the multicultural context of Toronto, Canada. She has a particular interest in finding and co-discovering hopeful and creative ways of responding to hardship. She is also a founding member and faculty of the Narrative Therapy Centre of Toronto. In 2006 Angel joined the Dulwich Centre team to become a faculty member for their international courses. She is coeditor with Cheryl White of the 2007 book Conversations about gender, culture, violence and narrative practice: Stories of hope and complexity from women of many cultures.
YAEL GERSHONI, MA is a Narrative Therapist, a clinical certified member of AAMFT (1983) and a certified Supervisor in Marriage and Family Therapy by the Israeli Association (1985). She has worked for decades as co-director of the Partner Barcrai Institute in Tel Aviv, practicing psychotherapy and teaching. She is currently working privately and is an Associate Professor of Narrative Therapy in international training programs at the Dulwich Center, Adelaide, Australia.
DAVID NEWMAN, Narrative Therapist Psychotherapist, researcher and author, was trained by Michael White in Narrative Therapy. He is himself a Supervisor – Teacher of Narrative Therapy. He was a founder of the Charing Cross Narrative Therapy Center (Sydney, Australia) and has taught through this center at dozens of mental health services, voluntary organizations and Australian Universities. As a member of the international teaching staff at the Dulwich Center in Adelaide, Australia, the scientific center created by Michael White himself, he has taught trainees from Canada, Denmark, Hong Kong, Belgium, Great Britain. PA, Argentina, Chile and Brazil.
JANE HUTTON is a social worker, family therapist and narrative therapist. She has many years of therapeutic and educational experience. Among others she has worked in schools and mental health services for children and adolescents and has developed mental health education materials. She has taught in Australian mental health training programs and is a member of the teaching staff at the Dulwich Center for Narrative Therapy, the science center that has recommended Narrative Therapy. She has also contributed to the design and teaching of Postgraduate Programs in Counseling and Social Work at Australian Universities (Christian Heritage College, University of Queensland, QUT Carseldine). He was the speaker of the Postgraduate Program in Counseling Psychology at the University of Thessaly in an open symposium-lecture on Narrative Therapy in 2011.
JOHN STILLMAN is a Clinical Social Worker at the Kenwood Therapy Center in Minneapolis, USA. He uses narrative therapy in his work with children, adolescents and adults facing a wide range of problems. He was trained by Michael White himself and was a member of the first international postgraduate program offered by the Dulwich Center in Adelaide, Australia in 2002. He is a member of the international teaching staff at the Dulwich Center and has provided training courses in Narrative Therapy in Australia, Bangladesh, Mexico, Russia, Singapore and USA. His book “Narrative Therapy Trauma Manual: A Principle-Based Approach” is used in the USA research.
RUTH PLUZNICK is a Clinical Director at the Toronto Mental Health Community Center for Children in Canada. She is the founder and trainer of the Toronto Narrative Therapy Center and a member of the international teaching staff of the Dulwich Narrative Therapy Center in Australia, with 15 years of educational experience. She has extensive experience working with families with severe mental health problems (often living under adverse social conditions). Among other things, she has developed (along with Natasha Kis-Sines) a support and contribution program for children and young people who grow up with parents with mental health problems.
Greek scientific stuff
KASSANDRA PEDERSEN works as a psychologist, MSc, Narrative therapist in private practice in Thessaloniki, Greece. She values and enjoys working with individuals, couples, adolescents, and families who are responding to a broad range of problems and concerns in their lives and relationships, including living with the effects of abuse and gendered violence, relationship concerns, parenting issues, child-free considerations, grief, and bulimia/anorexia.
Alongside her private practice, Kassandra tutors on the Master of Narrative Therapy & Community Work, University of Melbourne & Dulwich Centre.
In addition, she is the key faculty member of Dulwich Centre for the Greek training program in Greece in collaboration with the Institute of Narrative Therapy in Thessaloniki.
Kassandra is particularly passionate in bringing an intersectional feminist consciousness within her narrative practice, and facilitating experience of preferred stories through the deconstruction of the interpersonal, social, cultural and political contexts in which problems arise.
Kassandra’s work has been published at the International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work, Dulwich Centre Publications.
DANIEL K. DANILOPOULOS, has been working privately in Volos as a pediatric psychiatrist since 2000 and as a coordinator of therapeutic horse riding since 2006. He has been trained for 2 years in Systemic Psychotherapy (Postgraduate Certificate in Systematic Practice with Family and Couples) at the Institute of Family Therapy in London, for 3 more years at the Family Psychotherapy Center of Thessaloniki and completed the Training Program in Narrative Therapy and Community Work organized by the Dulwich Center. He has also been trained in Therapeutic Horse Riding and is certified by the Hellenic Therapeutic Horse Association as a basic level coordinator. He has worked in Volos municipal organizations providing services for people with disabilities and psychiatric problems, at the Volos Branch of the Hellenic Center for Mental Health and Research, and has worked with the non-governmental – non-profit organizations ARSIS (Social Organization and Youth Support) and POLITROPO (Social Care Organization). He uses in his daily practice the evaluation of the outcome and the process of psychotherapy by the clients themselves.
Yannis Angelis is a Narrative Strategist, a Facilitator, a Trainer, and an Artist. His work is informed by the principles of Narrative & Gestalt Therapy, Theory U, Community Work, and the Art of Hosting. He is the co-author of “Transforming Organizations” and “Beyond Storytelling”, two books that elaborate on how to work with story-based approaches for individual growth, community building, and organizational transformation.
Amongst others, Yannis facilitates teams in physical and online spaces. He is a trainer on the pedagogy, philosophy, psychology, and technology of online spaces and meetings for optimal engagement, efficiency, and wellbeing. He has co-founded “Beyond Storytelling”, a global network of Story Practitioners who work with the narrative approach as a transformational catalyst for leadership, learning, change, communication, and community building.
