Trausti Ólafsson

Trausti Ólafsson holds a PhD from The University of East Anglia and was awarded The Advanced Diploma in Psychodrama by The Northern School of Psychodrama in England. Trausti has for twenty years taught drama and theatre theory at The University of Iceland, and has been responsible for several academic and practical seminars at The Iceland University of the Arts. He has also taught drama and acting at The Role Centre in Reykjavík and directed a few theatre performances with groups of people who attend The Role Centre on regular basis. In 2012 Trausti was a visiting lecturer at The University of Colorado, Denver, and he has published widely on his research, both internationally and locally.

Sigrún Sigurðardóttir

Sigrún has worked at Bataskólinn since it started in 2017, both teaching and running the school. She has written and taught many of the courses offered at the school.

Vagnbjörg Magnúsdóttir

Vagnbjörg Magnúsdóttir, commonly known as Vagna, serves as the chairman of Bati góðgerðarfélag, a charitable organization that operates halfway houses for both male and female who have completed a prison sentence. In addition, Vagna is the founder and proprietor of Varðan meðferðarstofa, an outpatient treatment facility for individuals directly or indirectly impacted by addiction.

Vagna holds a master’s degree in Addiction Counseling from the Hazelden Betty Ford Graduate School of Addiction Studies in Minnesota. Currently, she is in the process of completing a master’s degree in trauma at the University of Akureyri, focusing specifically on adverse childhood experiences, particularly those arising from an environment characterized by addiction or dysfunctionality.

Vagna possesses a keen interest in exploring the interaction between trauma, addiction, and other mental health conditions. She is of the opinion that every person’s road to recovery and healing is unique and should be approached from a compassionate and trauma-informed perspective, regardless of the treatment modality employed.

Helga Arnardóttir

Helga Arnardóttir is a project manager at the Icelandic recovery college (Bataskóli Íslands) and a consultant at the Icelandic mental health alliance (Geðhjálp). She holds a BA degree in psychology, a Master’s degree in health-and social psychology and a diploma degree in positive psychology. Helga has been interested in mental health from a young age and is passionate about different approaches to mental health care that empower the individual, cultivate more hope for each person’s future and inclusion in society.

Agnar Bragason

Agnar Bragason is 57 years old and from Reykjavik, Iceland. He currently works as the manager of Batahús for men. Agnar has been to prison multiple times, but he stopped using twelve years ago and has been clean ever since. He has been working with prisoners for the better part of these years. Agnar worked as an addiction therapist in Krýsuvík for about 2 and a half years and has a diploma from the European Certification Board as an Alcohol & Drug counselor.

In 2018 he started working as a consultant in a group for the Icelandic government on a project to help reform ex prisoners and change the way people who have been to prisons are treated after they´ve served their sentences. This, among other projects, led to the founding of Batahús(Recovery house) in January 2021. Batahús is a house where people with addiction a mental issues can come and live for up to two years. Agnar has been managing Batahús for men since the beginning.

Guðrún Ebba Ólafsdóttir

Guðrún Ebba is a trained primary school teacher and has a postgraduate diploma in Mentoring for practicing teachers. For years, she was part of the leadership of The Icelandic Teachers Union, for example as the Chairman of the Reykjavík Teachers’ Association, Vice-chairman of The Icelandic Teachers Union and was also the first Chairman of The Association of Teachers in Primary and Lower Secondary Schools. Guðrún Ebba was a city representative in Reykjavík’s City Council 2002-2006 and sat, among other things, in the city’s municipal, welfare and education council as well as one appeal committee. She translated two handbooks for teachers and school principals published by the Directorate of Education. Guðrún Ebba has decades of experience in conducting courses both in Iceland and abroad, including for teachers, school administrators and other school staff.

Guðrún Ebba has a lot of experience working with and for women struggling with trauma and addiction problems. Together with other women, she founded Drekaslóð and Rótin (The Root – Association for Women’s Welfare). She has led courses and groups for Rótin, Hlaðgerðarkot, Kvennaathvarfið, Stígamót, Drekaslóð and Bati – Charity Association. She was also a member of the board of Blátt áfram and was an instructor at courses run by the company. Guðrún Ebba translated and wrote manuals and project booklets for the Root’s courses and was responsible for their development. Guðrún Ebba’s story, Ekki líta undan, recorded by Elín Hirst, was published in 2011. Guðrún Ebba works as the director of Batahús for women.

Ragnhild Fugletveit

Ragnhild Fugletveit is Associate Professor at Oslo Metropolitan University. She holds a PhD in Social work and Social policy from Oslo Metropolitan University. Fugletveit’s research centers on drug abuse, mental health problems, stigma, power, professionals, residential institutions, work inclusion and rehabilitation.

Fanney Björk Ingólfsdóttir

Fanney, Sigurborg and Svava are activists fighting for social change in the mental health sphere and have all worked in NGOs relating to mental health. They co-wrote a book “Boðaföll” about alternative approaches to suicidality and self harm with three other. They are people with lived experience of distress and survivors of psychiatry.

Fanney is pursuing a master’s degree in creative writing. Her hobbies include literature, film, nature hikes and traveling into alternate universes in her mind. Sigurborg is an occupational therapist, is enthusiast about slow living and good coffee.  She enjoy using dancing and nature to explore emotions. Svava recently became a solo mother by choice, is an occupational therapist and is taking an MA in disability studies. She enjoys walks in the woods, zumba and house plants, among others.

Sigurborg Sveinsdóttir

Fanney, Sigurborg and Svava are activists fighting for social change in the mental health sphere and have all worked in NGOs relating to mental health. They co-wrote a book “Boðaföll” about alternative approaches to suicidality and self harm with three other. They are people with lived experience of distress and survivors of psychiatry.

Fanney is pursuing a master’s degree in creative writing. Her hobbies include literature, film, nature hikes and traveling into alternate universes in her mind. Sigurborg is an occupational therapist, is enthusiast about slow living and good coffee. She enjoy using dancing and nature to explore emotions. Svava recently became a solo mother by choice, is an occupational therapist and is taking an MA in disability studies. She enjoys walks in the woods, zumba and house plants, among others.

Svava Arnardóttir

Fanney, Sigurborg and Svava are activists fighting for social change in the mental health sphere and have all worked in NGOs relating to mental health. They co-wrote a book “Boðaföll” about alternative approaches to suicidality and self harm with three other. They are people with lived experience of distress and survivors of psychiatry.

Fanney is pursuing a master’s degree in creative writing. Her hobbies include literature, film, nature hikes and traveling into alternate universes in her mind. Sigurborg is an occupational therapist, is enthusiast about slow living and good coffee.  She enjoy using dancing and nature to explore emotions. Svava recently became a solo mother by choice, is an occupational therapist and is taking an MA in disability studies. She enjoys walks in the woods, zumba and house plants, among others.

Dumitrița Simion

Dumitrița Simion is a Romanian who has been living in Iceland since 2019. She holds a BS in Psychology and an MS in Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy and has been working as a project manager in mental health organizations since 2010. In Iceland, she has managed European projects about mental health education, and offered peer support to immigrants, in the organization Hugarafl. She currently sits on the board of W.O.M.E.N. Samtök kvenna af erlendum uppruna, where she oversees the peer counseling service.

Magnus Hald

Magnus P. Hald is a psychiatrist from Tromsø, Norway. For more than 10 years, until 2018, he was Director of the Division of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, University Hospital of North Norway. He has long been interested in the development of a network-oriented perspective on mental health, based on ideas that have come from his working with “reflecting teams” and “reflective processes.” For the past few years, he has been engaged in the development of “a medication-free unit” within the University Hospital. He works now as a senior consultant psychiatrist with this unit.

Amanda Francis

Amanda was first introduced to Intentional Peer Support when she was working as a young person of colour peer support group facilitator during the pandemic and was lucky enough to be core-trained in 2020. Amanda began working with the IPS central team shortly after and has recently become a trainer in 2022. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, raised in Toronto, Canada, and living in Manchester, England. Amanda loves to meet and connect with people from all intersectional paths and diverse cultures.

IPS resonates with her so deeply as she often reflects on what communities of colour and young people need and finds that IPS meets their need for mutuality, connection, and collectivism better than any clinical service she has witnessed or engaged with. If it’s not evident already, Amanda is most passionate about accessible and culturally applicable mental health and peer support for the global majority, race and gender discourse, sustainable fashion, and intersectional environmentalism.

Lisa Archibald

Lisa Archibald (she/ her) had a rocky childhood and even rockier teen years, she first accessed peer support as a young person many moons ago. This worked out way better than the clinical support she received! After graduating university in 1999 she started to facilitate peer support groups, set up and coordinate peer advocacy services then eventually went on to establish and work with a number of peer communities and grass roots projects.

From 2013-2020, Lisa began some big adventures including living and learning in New Zealand for nearly 7 years where she supported the growth & development of the Intentional Peer Support New Zealand hub. After feeling home sick and exhausted with battles and fights with immigration, Lisa moved back home to Scotland in 2020. Lisa is an experienced IPS trainer and supports IPS training coordination, hubs, and curriculum development. In 2022, Lisa became a co-director of Intentional Peer Support.

Chris Hansen

A New Zealander by birth, Chris has been involved in local, regional, national and international peer support and advocacy initiatives for 25 years and in mental health sector planning and politics from a service user perspective. Other roles have included clinical and management roles in mental health services (before being promoted to certified service-user status), leadership within NZ’s award-winning anti-discrimination campaign, research for the NZ Mental Health Commission, and involvement in the development of the NZ national mental health strategic plan and workforce development strategy. 

Chris was a member of the New Zealand delegation to the United Nations for the development of the Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; has served on the board of the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry and has played a key role in the development of several peer-run crisis alternatives. Chris Hansen is a Co-Director of Intentional Peer Support and has been co-teaching and developing Intentional Peer Support in the United States and in other countries with Co-Directors Shery Mead and now Lisa Archibald for the past seventeen years.

Robert Whitaker

Robert Whitaker is the author of five books, three of which tell of the history of psychiatry. In 2010, his Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness won the U.S. Investigative Reporters and Editors book award for best investigative journalism. Prior to writing books, he worked as a science reporter at the Albany Times Union newspaper in New York for a number of years. He is the founder of madinamerica.com, a website that features research news and blogs by an international group of writers interested in “rethinking psychiatry.”

Dr James Davies

Dr James Davies graduated from the University of Oxford in 2006 with a PhD in social and medical anthropology. He is now a Reader in Psychology at the University of Roehampton. James is also a practicing psychotherapist, who started working for the NHS in 2004. He is the co-founder of the Council for Evidence-based Psychiatry (CEP), which is secretariat to the All Party Parliamentary Group for Prescribed Drug Dependence. James is the author of the bestselling book Cracked: why psychiatry is doing more harm than good and the more recent: Sedated: how modern capitalism created our mental health crisis.

James has published four academic books with presses such as Stanford University Press, Karnac Press, Palgrave Macmillan and Routledge, and has spoken about his research internationally, including at the universities of Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Brown, UCL, Oslo, Columbia (New York), The New School (New York), and CUNY Graduate Centre (New York). He has also written for the media; his articles have appeared in The Times, The New Scientist, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Therapy Today, Mad in America and Salon. He has spoken on BBC Radio 4 (The Today Programme & PM), Sky News, BBC World News, BBC World Service, LBC, ITV’s This Morning, News night and various national and local radio stations. He has also extensively consulted for the BBC. ITV. and other media outlets on matters pertaining to mental health.

Andrew Scull

Andrew Scull is Distinguished Research Professor at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of more than 15 books on the history of psychiatry, including Madness in Civilization: A Cultural History of Insanity, from the Bible to Freud, and from the Madhouse to Modern Medicine. His new book, Desperate Remedies: Psychiatry and the Mysteries of Mental Health, will be published by Allen Lane and Penguin Books in April 2022. He has held fellowships from (among others) the Guggenheim Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies and is a past president of the Society for the Social History of Medicine.

Andrew has published in major journals in medicine, psychiatry, law, social and medical history, and sociology, and he has written extensively on psychiatry for a more general audience, publishing in such venues as the Times Literary Supplement, The Atlantic, Scientific American, the Paris Review, the London Review of Books, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the Sydney Morning Herald, and the Nation. He has appeared in several documentaries on BBC television and on the Public Broadcasting System in the United States, as well as serving as an advisor to many others. On radio, he has appeared many times on the BBC, on many public and commercial radio stations in the United States, on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.