Talking about one-self is never an easy task. I would start by simply saying that I am a Lebanese
mental-health consultant, psychotherapist and clinical psychologist who has been expanding his
work for the past years within the Mero region.
My first work experience started while I was finishing my M.A. in Clinical Psychology and Psychopathology in Beirut and got the chance to join SKOUN for a couple of years. Back then it was a new pioneering Lebanese NGO specialised in addictions. The place was full of energy and on-going discussions and researches, as it was aiming to provide alternative medical and therapeutical solutions for people facing severe addiction.
In 2010, I decided to travel to France to specialise in facilitating group therapy modalities, joined the CEFFRAP (school for Psychodrama), and started an M.A. in Art-Therapies with an emphasis on using play with adults and children.
I also started, without finishing, a third university major in Anthropology, and achieved extensive training in fields related to mental health (psychodrama, psychodynamic) and in art related fields (improvisation, interpretation, theatre of the oppressed, screen writing).
I lived and studied in France for 7 years (2004-2011). I practiced in public schools, social centres, residential non-medical units, and residential medical-units, private sectors, etc. I met amazing mentors and peers, evolved, and understood that the question of identity - how it is shaped, how it cracks, how it transforms - was at the very core of who I am, and therefore, of my clinical interest.
When I came back to Lebanon in 2011, I had a first long experience of 5 to 6 years in the world of NGOs, where I had the opportunity to become more knowledgeable and familiar with emergency contexts, and to serve from the inside (as an employee) in 2 main local NGOs, Himaya and Abaad, at both field and strategic levels. I also become a lecturer at Saint Joseph University in different departments, and started my private practice, which has kept going since that time.
The NGO world built my expertise on child protection and gender based issues, and opened communicational channels and opportunities with Ministries (health, justice, social affairs), Universities (USJ, Catholic University of Milan), international partners (ISS -“International Social Services”), and International agencies and organisations (UN agencies, World Vision, Save the Children, Expertise France, etc.).
Throughout those 5 years, I became concerned by how projects were strategised, implemented, framed, and how staff well-being was always considered as secondary, in a domain that defines itself as “humanitarian”. This led me to increase my researches and investments towards organisational resilience and understand how organisational staff-care and organisational duty of care had a significant impact, not only on the performance and growth of an organisation, but also on their growth, welfare, and the mental health of their employees.
Since 2016, I shifted my interventions through consultancies on 2 main topics: organizational resilience and duty of care. Amongst the organisations I worked with are: The Konterra Group, IMC (International Medical Corps), ICRC (International Committee for the Red-Cross), TdH (Terre des Hommes Italia), SCI (Save the Children International), LRC (Lebanese Red Cross), IMS (International Media Support), etc.
In 2022, I officially joined the SLP (Société Libanaise de Psychanalyse), an officially recognized Lebanese psychodynamic body with whom I have been training, presenting case studies and group studies, since 2012.
