Maryam Gardisi
Maryam Gardisi is a cultural scientist and has worked for many years in the field of sociology, particularly in developing improvements for migrant integration within Germany´s educational system. Currently she coordinates the Ipso Care Center in Berlin, Germany. Ipso - international psychosocial organization - is an internationally recognized organization active in mental health care, psychosocial support, and intra-cultural dialogue as a means for peace and reconciliation. Ipso has developed a psychosocial counselling approach which enables people to quickly regain their potential to become active agents of their own lives, caring and taking responsibility for themselves and their social environment. In Germany, Ipso has trained over 140 refugees from 17 different countries with a one-year programme which has enabled them to become professional psychosocial counsellors. Furthermore, Ipso develops concepts for organisations that wish to improve the sustainability of their programmes by introducing a psychosocial component to their projects as a crosscutting issue.