World Bank Group

About the Presenters

Ann Marie Willhoite, MA in Counseling Psychology (Northwestern University), is an International Clinical Advisor for Mental Health (Center for Victims of Torture, CVT). She advises mental health program development and service delivery in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, clinical supervision for mental health professionals in the field, and works on global mental health advocacy in Washington, DC.

James Walsh, MPP (Harvard University), works on Behavioral Initiatives at the World Bank and served as a member of the World Development Report 2015 team, which examined how development interventions can be improved by including a richer understanding of the human actor in policy design.

Guglielmo Schininà is Head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Mental Health, Psychosocial Response, and Intercultural Communication Section. He co-directs “Psychosocial interventions in Migration, Emergency and Displacement” (Sant’Anna University, Pisa) and the Executive Master in “Psychosocial Support and Dialogue” (Lebanese University). For almost 20 years world-wide, he has promoted psychosocial wellbeing for migrants, trafficking victims and crisis-affected populations.

Elisabeth (Beth) Babcock, MA, PhD (Harvard University) is President, CEO of the Crittenton Women’s Union (CWU), a Boston-based national non-profit organization whose mission is to move families out of poverty. Since 2009, CWU’s brain-science informed anti-poverty approach, Mobility Mentoring™, has radically improved economic mobility outcomes for participants and has been endorsed and adopted by state governments, non-profit organizations, national foundations, and academic institutions.

Dr. Akinsulure-Smith, PhD (Columbia University) is Associate Professor in Psychology at City College (City University, New York) and a Senior Supervising Psychologist (Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture). She works with culturally diverse populations: forced migrants, survivors of human rights abuses and armed conflict. The series features her work in the Sierra Leone Youth Readiness Initiative (YRI), an evidence-based behavioral intervention for war-affected youth.