The See the Triumph International Ambassadors Program
We are thrilled to announce the launch of the See the Triumph International Ambassadors Program in 2016! Through this program, we will partner with individuals in countries around the world who will partner with See the Triumph to internationally extend our mission of (a) extending the stigma surrounding intimate partner violence and (b) supporting survivors of intimate partner violence.
See the Triumph International Ambassadors are formal partners with the See the Triumph campaign, and they will volunteer with us, with the goal of extending the mission and work of See the Triumph to different countries in a manner that is consistent with the needs and cultural values of each country. In each country, the Ambassadors will vary, based on their unique set of skills, knowledge, and interests, as well as the prioritized needs in their countries.
If you are interested in volunteering to help us to build the See the Triumph International Ambassadors Program or to learn about becoming an Ambassador for your country, please contact us here: http://www.seethetriumph.org/contact-us.html.
Our current group of See the Triumph International Ambassadors represent Finland, Turkey, Cameroon, and Germany. To learn about our Ambassadors for each country, please see below.
See the Triumph International Ambassadors are formal partners with the See the Triumph campaign, and they will volunteer with us, with the goal of extending the mission and work of See the Triumph to different countries in a manner that is consistent with the needs and cultural values of each country. In each country, the Ambassadors will vary, based on their unique set of skills, knowledge, and interests, as well as the prioritized needs in their countries.
If you are interested in volunteering to help us to build the See the Triumph International Ambassadors Program or to learn about becoming an Ambassador for your country, please contact us here: http://www.seethetriumph.org/contact-us.html.
Our current group of See the Triumph International Ambassadors represent Finland, Turkey, Cameroon, and Germany. To learn about our Ambassadors for each country, please see below.
Finland
The See the Triumph Ambassadors for Finland are Marja Salmi and Tiina Santaranta. In Finland, they will represent See the Triumph through networking with other colleagues who work to support survivors of intimate partner violence, promote the See the Triumph campaign, and begin to translate some of the existing See the Triumph resources into Finnish, especially those resources that are relevant to their clinical work with trauma survivors. To learn more about Marja and Tiina, please read their bios below.
Marja Salmi holds a Master of Psychology degree from Tampere University and became a psychotherapist in 2001. She specializes in working with clients impacted by sexual abuse and violence, for which she received specialized training between 2002 and 2004. She is a family therapist, a trainer and educator, and has been trained in senso-motor psychotherapy. Marja has worked in a crisis center with families who seek help because of domestic violence, as well as in a family clinic where she worked with families and children who had experienced incest and sexual abuse.
Tiina Santaranta is a psychotherapist who specializes in complex crisis and trauma psychotherapy, as well as working with clients who have experienced sexual abuse and violence. Tiina also provides couples counseling and sex therapy, as well as uses Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy in her work. Tiina also has long-term specialized experience working with victims of torture in Finland.
In 2015, Marja and Tiina founded Traumaklinikka.fi. In the trauma clinic, they offer brief and longer-term training on various trauma issues, offer clinical supervision, and conduct psychological research on cognition, mental health, dissociation, and social capability. In their clinic, both Marja and Tiina provide therapy with youth and adults who have faced a range of traumatic experiences, as well as more general therapy for couples, families, parents, and children.
Turkey
The See the Triumph International Ambassadors for Turkey are Ezgi Toplu Demirtaş, Nazlı Büşra Akçabozan, and Fevziye Dolunay Cuğ. In this role, they will network with other interested colleagues in Turkey, as well as manage a Twitter and Facebook account that will include information translated into Turkish from See the Triumph’s social media platforms.
Ezgi Toplu Demirtaş, herself a dating violence survivor, recently received her Ph.D. degree in Psychological Counseling and Guidance from Middle East Technical University in Ankara with a research focus on psychological dating aggression. Her dissertation was a quantitative study that examined college students’ experiences with psychological aggression perpetration and their relations to societal, parental and personal variables. Originally from İzmir, she completed her undergraduate degree in Teaching from Eagan University. Currently, she works as a research assistant at Middle East Technical University. Her research focuses primarily on gender issues, dating violence, psychological aggression, and LGB issues. She manages a Twitter account (@FlortSiddeti) where she posts about dating violence to raise awareness about it. She also acts as a women’s and LGBTI rights activist with a feminist consciousness. Ezgi also collaborates on research related to intimate partner violence in Turkey, especially related to the training of mental health professionals related to family violence.
Nazlı Büşra Akçabozan graduated from the Psychological Counseling and Guidance program at Hacettepe University in 2010. Currently, she is a Ph.D. candidate and research assistant in the Department of Educational Sciences in the Psychological Counseling and Guidance program at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. She has been mainly interested in understanding the motives behind the maintenance of romantic relationships, marriages in particular. Accordingly, she cares about the importance of understanding the role of perceived equity in different areas of relationships and has been conducting studies in understanding various types of relationship maintenance behaviors within the scope of equity theory. She has also conducted research to examine marital quality in terms of conflict and conflict-handling strategies and personality traits of spouses. Büşra regards any prevention and intervention programs aiming to enhance the quality of relationships as significant and essential.
Fevziye Dolunay Cuğ received her Ph.D. in Psychological Counseling and Guidance from Middle East Technical University in Ankara. During her PhD dissertation, she lived in North Carolina for one year and studied with Dr. Christine Murray as a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Counseling and Educational Development at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. They continue to work together on research project that is examining the training of mental health professionals in Turkey to address family violence, including child abuse and intimate partner violence. Currently, she works as a research assistant at Kocaeli University.
Cameroon
Our See the Triumph Ambassador in Cameroon is Mbah Adah, the Executive Director of Mother of Hope Cameroon (MOHCAM). MOHCAM is a nonprofit women's organization located in the North West Region of Cameroon. MOHCAM promotes and foster the rights and development of women and Girls and advocates and fights against all forms of abuses faced by women and girls in schools and communities. In 2016, MOHCAM will incorporate resources from See the Triumph into trainings for 20 groups of women and girls. These trainings will aim to sensitize the participants to the dynamics of intimate partner violence and inform them about the laws and policies in Cameroon about intimate partner violence, as well as resources of where to go in the event that they need help.
Mbah Adah is a female Cameroonian and a dedicated worker in the area of humanities. She is Executive Director for Mother of Hope Cameron (MOHCAM), a non-profit organization in Cameroon that seeks to promote the rights of women and girls, as well as fight against all forms of violence. She believes in respect for women’s rights, leadership, and development. As a victim of domestic violence, she found that advocating and teaching women and girls was preventing many to become victims. She is offering services in local communities and she is very passionate about transforming lives. She dreams of a society where there is respect for human dignity, equality and peace. To read updates on Adah's work in Cameroon, please visit the following See the Triumph blog posts: See the Triumph International Ambassador Report: Mothers of Hope Cameroon and An Update from Mother of Hope Cameroon: Engaging Youth in the Campaign to End Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence.
Mother of Hope Cameroon is a made up of dynamic team of female teachers and volunteers who are empowering and transforming the lives of vulnerable women and girls in schools and communities. Their dream is to be able to create a world where women and girls will be able to maximize their potential for the growth of their communities. The MOHCAM team is dedicated to educating and advocating for women and girls, as well as creating opportunities to build future women leaders. They believe in the values of our mothers and want to give back as mothers in the development of the lives of women and girls living with stigma and pain.
Germany
The See the Triumph Ambassador for Germany is Isabell Schuster. In this role, Isabell plans to share her expertise on the subject of sexual aggression in Germany, as well as cultural factors related to sexual aggression (e.g., gender equality). In addition, she will help to promote See the Triumph via social media, as well as translate some of See the Triumph's resources into the German language and to apply to the cultural context in Germany.
Isabell Schuster graduated with a degree in Psychology from the University of Potsdam, and she also has a degree in Turkology from the Berlin Free University. Currently, she is a PhD candidate in Social Psychology and works at the University of Potsdam. Her research interests include the investigation of risk and vulnerability factors for sexual aggression and the exploration of cultural factors, with a special focus on gender inequality, religiosity, and honor concerns. For her dissertation project, she is conducting a longitudinal study on sexual aggression in Chile and Turkey. Another focus of her work is on cross-cultural research on victim-blaming and rape myth acceptance.
Singapore
The See the Triumph International Ambassador for Singapore is Isabelle Ong. Isabelle Ong received her Ph.D. in Counseling and Counselor Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). Her primary scholarly and counseling specialty interests include domestic violence, trauma and abuse, as well as social justice, multiculturalism, and advocacy. Isabelle is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200) with the Yoga Alliance and has a keen interest in bridging yoga and counseling in her clinical practice and research on trauma. Her dissertation study focused on the trauma recovery of women impacted by intimate partner violence through trauma-sensitive yoga (TSY). Isabelle served as a sexual assault advocate and she received specialized training working with trauma survivors and perpetuators in a domestic violence agency. She is passionate about promoting healthy family relationships and advocating for individuals impacted by domestic violence. Isabelle is excited to promote See the Triumph in Singapore to support survivors of intimate partner violence in the country.