MUDr. Peter Pöthe

I am a child psychoanalytic psychotherapist and child psychiatrist, author of many articles and monographs, working in private practice in Prague. I organize and teach relational child psychotherapy within the Institute of Child and Parent Psychotherapy (IPDAR) in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. I am involved in the protection and help of children at risk and traumatized. In 2020 I published the books Emotional Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence (Grada) and The Power of the Unspoken (Portal). More about me at www.dr-pothe.com.

Iva Goldmannová

I'm a psychologist, I studied in Olomouc. I am trained in psychotherapy and clinical psychology. I work with the adult population in the outpatient clinic of clinical psychology and in the inpatient psychiatric department of the hospital. I have experience as a communication trainer and in school psychology. In the Soul Health Project, I try to translate the findings of my field into a form useful for adults who influence students. I like individual approach and transparent communication.

Kateřina Polišenská

My mission in life is social work. I am in my sixth year of working at an elementary school as a school assistant with a focus on social work. I try to be a communication bridge between parents, teachers and students. Currently, I take care of distance education for children from families where they do not have the necessary material or social conditions. I communicate with fifty families in our school who have various problems with distance education. I enjoy looking for ways, "tricks", solutions to engage children from socially unstimulating backgrounds in learning and at the same time be a bridge and support for parents, children and teachers. I am also happy to help the children, families and teachers of your school.

Táňa Zimmermannová

I am a graduated special educator with a state certificate in etopedics and psychopedics. My entire career has been in the field of education, both special and mainstream, which led me to the need to also study teaching for secondary schools. My work experience ranges from young children to educating young people on the cusp of adulthood. After the birth of my own three children, I had a Copernican turn, thanks to alternative education in the spirit of Montessori pedagogy, I began to deal with communication as a prerequisite for interpersonal interaction through which relationships are formed (training in mediation, non-violent communication, Respect and be respected, etc.), which eventually led me to the need for self-knowledge.

 For the last five years, I have been undergoing psychotherapeutic training in solution-focused therapy, working with children using the Kids' Skills method, enriched with bodywork from the perspective of Biosynthesis. As I remain a teacher at heart, my heart theme is the development of learning potential, especially in relation to brain plasticity and the development of cognitive functions (Feuerstein's Instrumental Enrichment, Perceptual-Motor Exercises to correct partial impairment of performance). In my practice I life, it is confirmed that medication helps, but we find true health through healing relationships that help us become aware of our own resources and inner strength.

Ivana Hrubá

I am a mother of 3 teenage sons, a graduated social worker with experience in a low-care facility for children and youth or in drug services. I supplemented my qualifications with the so-called pedagogical minimum for secondary school teachers and studies in social pedagogy. Not only in school, but also in life, I have confirmed that the influence of the environment and the social group or social environment on the development of an individual is so crucial that it is necessary to pay special attention to it. 

That is why in my thesis I dealt with the school and classroom climate. I also had the opportunity to peek into schools as a trainer of primary prevention programmes. I have guided parents in the role of facilitator of parent forums or in Thomas Gordon's P.E.T. - Education Without Losers course. I bring expressive approaches to my work, and I have a course in crisis intervention and psychiatric minimums. I am currently working with the Department of Health to introduce a multidisciplinary approach to the care and support of people with mental illness. I believe that the interventions provided through the For the Health of the Soul project will not only help teachers and their students, but will offer inspiring outcomes from piloting foreign tools and Norwegian good practice at the level of selected regions of the country.

Veronika Ješátková

I studied as a special educator, educator and etoped. Professionally, I have 15 years of experience in a children's home with school as a teacher for children with behavioural disorders. After that I worked as a Consultant of Inclusive Education in Pardubice Region and in Vysočina Region. As a Regional Coordinator for the Transformation of Psychiatric Care for the Pardubice Region in the Deinstitutionalization Project, I became more familiar with the topic of children's mental health and the whole picture of problematic and substandard behavior that I had been encountering throughout my professional career was illustrated.

The For the Health of the Soul project gives me hope for changing the perspective on problematic behaviours and the stories of individual children in schools.

 Anita Stanislavová

I studied Public and Social Policy at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University. I worked in the project of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs focused on networking of social, educational and health actors in the field of social and legal protection of children. Subsequently, I worked at the Agency for Social Inclusion as a local consultant.

I also worked in the project of the Alfa Educational Care Centre "Professional worker at the interface between social services and schools", which was aimed at supporting primary and kindergarten teachers in their work with children at risk and their families. Consultations on appropriate procedures for communicating with disadvantaged families, mediation of follow-up services and direct support in communicating with families were offered.

Michaela Lorenzová 

I studied social work at the Evangelical-Theological Faculty of Charles University in Prague and worked in a special kindergarten during my studies. For several years I was volunteering at BODAJ, z.s., in direct care with clients at the Social Welfare Institute in Ukraine. As a lecturer I was involved in the project Training for Adulthood by Together for Children o.p.s., for children coming out of orphanages or other institutional care facilities. I have a course in experiential pedagogy, which I have used extensively in organizing camps for children and adaptation courses. I moved back to my native Giant Mountains and started working as a tutor in a children's home with a school. At the same time, I also returned to the classroom at Jabok College of Education, with a focus on special and social pedagogy. I uphold the motto that "a gram of practice is better than a ton of theory."

Mgr. Marie Drápalová

I graduated in psychology at the Faculty of Social Studies in Brno, where I continue to study as part of my doctoral studies with a focus on developmental psychology. I am currently working as a school psychologist in a secondary school. I was led to work with children and youth by the Boy Scouts, where I have been leading a scout troop since I was a teenager. In addition to scouting, I was involved in running other (not only) summer camps for children and worked as an animator. While studying psychology, I built on this experience by working in a low-threshold club for children from an excluded locality and by lecturing in nature schools and educational programs focusing on environmental topics. Children have always been and continue to be an inspiration to me.

Bára Polišenská