| About Us |
Our VisionSEWW envisions a world in which people of all communities live with mental health and well-being and the joy of maintaining a sense of life’s possibilities. Our MissionOur mission is to build a global community that helps to reduce human resource inequities in mental health by supporting and promoting the professional development of the mental health workforce worldwide.
SEWW seeks to connect innovators in community mobilization, advocacy, program design, research, and clinical service provision, who are committed to redressing the inequities of mental health resource distribution globally.
People at SEWWFOUNDER Pamela Y. Collins is the Associate Director for Special Populations at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). She is director of the Office of Global Mental Health and the Office for Special Populations at the NIMH. Pamela completed her medical training at Cornell University Medical College and subsequently trained in psychiatry at Columbia University /New York State Psychiatric Institute. Pamela completed graduate work in public health and a National Institute of Mental Health post-doctoral fellowship at Columbia University. She studied cultural psychiatry and applied medical anthropology as a research fellow in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Pamela is currently the director of the interdepartmental Global Health Track at the Mailman School of Public Health. Her work focuses on mental health and psychosocial aspects of the AIDS epidemic in the United States, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America. Pamela and colleagues developed the HIV prevention curriculum, “Our Selves, Our Bodies, Our Realities” to help women reduce risky sexual encounters, thereby reducing their risk of HIV infection and “Shosholoza for Health” an HIV training intervention for South African mental health care providers”. Her work also examines the contribution of social stigma related to mental illness to women’s HIV risk. Pamela received an Echoing Green Foundation fellowship for social entrepreneurs in 1997.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Cheryl Harris Sharman (President) is an award-winning writer/researcher and community organizer. Her writing has appeared in The Lancet; Scientific American; The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) magazine, Perspectives in Health; The Miami Herald; The San Francisco Chronicle; Central America’s The Tico Times; various textbooks, anthologies, policy reports, and other media. Her first book, Nightshift NYC (University of California), was published to critical acclaim in 2008 and co-authored with her husband, anthropologist/playwright/screenwriter Russell Leigh Sharman. Other ethnographic book projects include HER KIND, on women’s mental health in East Harlem, and ROUGH, on the social networks of NYC mentally ill homeless men. She has an MA in sociology and anthropology (Fordham University) and worked as a Senior Interviewer for an NIMH-funded qualitative study on homelessness and mental health (the New York Services Study, led by Deborah K. Padgett). She lives in Brooklyn, New York, and rural Costa Rica. Sonali Sharma (Treasurer; Chair, Advisory Committee) is an instructor in clinical psychiatry at Columbia University and an adjunct voluntary faculty member at Cornell University’s Payne Whitney Clinic. Allie has a part-time private practice in Manhattan. Her interests lie in health and human rights, international development, global mental health and mental health policy. She is currently an APA-nominated World Psychiatric Association (WPA) Young Psychiatrist Council Member to the 2008 World Congress and is conducting a qualitative study on the feasibility of using health and health diplomacy as a point of entry to Genocide Prevention work under the guidance of Dr. David Hamburg at Cornell. Allie is also an Executive Member of the WPA’s Conflict Management and Resolution Section. She completed her medical training at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Her training in Psychiatry began with an internship at UCSF and residency at Payne Whitney Clinic, New York Presbyterian Hospital at Cornell University. She completed a Master’s Degree in Social Policy and Planning at the London School of Economics.
Brittany Burkett (Secretary) is a corporate communications professional, specializing in branding and sustainable development. She previously served as the Manager of Corporate Communications for Cherokee Investment Partners, a $2 billion real estate private equity fund that focuses on brownfield remediation and sustainable redevelopment. Prior to joining the firm, Brittany worked with New Hope International in Romania and Hungary, where she documented the changing social and political conditions of Eastern Europe. While living in Xian, China, she completed a photo essay and documentary on street children and post-communism development. Brittany received a bachelor's degree in Documentary Studies with a field-study certificate in Human Needs and Global Resources from Wheaton College. She has also served as the staff photographer for several nonprofits and performed modern dance internationally. She and her husband reside in New York.
ADVISORY COMMITTEE Sonali Sharma (Chair) (for bio, see above, Board of Directors, Treasurer) R. Claire Henderson is a clinical senior lecturer in psychiatry at the Health Service and Population Research Department at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London. Her research involves the evaluation of complex interventions in mental health care. Currently her role includes working as Scientific Coordinator for the evaluation of Time To Change, England's largest ever program to reduce mental health-related stigma and discrimination. The program is being carried out by the charities Mind, Rethink and Mental Health Media and funded by Big Lottery and Comic Relief. Claire has both membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Certification with the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. She completed her training in psychiatry in London, followed by a four year training fellowship in health services research at the Institute of Psychiatry in London and a public psychiatry fellowship at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
PROJECT MANAGERS Christin Drake (Social Media; Mentoring Program) is completing a psychiatry residency training program at the Payne Whitney Clinic, New York Presbyterian Hospital at Cornell University. Christin has clinical and research interests in HIV psychiatry, global mental health, and health policy. Her current research is focused on effectiveness of screening tools for mental illness in people living with HIV/AIDS and the relationship between the presence of untreated mental illness and high risk behaviors. Prior to beginning her residency training, Christin developed and managed an after-school program aimed at pregnancy prevention and STI prevention through promoting mental health and education. Christin received a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry with a minor in philosophy from New York University. She completed her medical training at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. Jennifer Kraker (Fundraising) is completing her psychiatry residency at Cornell University’s Payne Whitney Clinic. Jennifer’s interests are in the arena of global mental health, specifically increasing access to care, decreasing the stigma of mental health, and elucidating how nutrition—both under and over nourishment—affects cognition and emotional well being. She is currently an elected American Psychiatric Association Bristol Myers Squibb Fellow in Public Psychiatry examining nutrition and mental health. Jennifer has a Master’s Degree in Human Nutrition from Columbia University’s College of Physicians & Surgeons, and completed her medical training at the Medical School for International Health—a collaborative degree from Ben Gurion University and Columbia’s College of Physicians & Surgeons. She has educated and advocated for underserved populations in both nutrition and mental health in Africa, The Middle East, SE Asia and South America. Serina Deen (Information Management) is a second year psychiatry resident at Columbia University. She graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a BA in psychology. She received her MD and Masters in Public Health from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where she served as the co-president of the International Health Society and the Community Health and Public Policy Interest Group. Her interests lie in global mental health and creative writing.
HistoryThe idea for SEWW was inspired by a dream to bring the tremendous and varied resources of the global community together for the promotion of mental health. Early activities centered around addressing the social needs of women with mental illness in New York, training mental health care providers in South Africa on mental health and HIV, and training primary care doctors in Patagonia in mental health. SEWW was incorporated in New York State in December, 2006. The organization has tax exempt status under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Why SEWW?The mental health of individuals in developing countries settings and indigenous communities worldwide is a frequently neglected area of health care. Yet, significant morbidity and mortality are associated with mental illness. The World Development Report of 1993 demonstrated that mental illnesses cause a greater burden of disease and disability than tuberculosis, cancer or heart disease throughout the world. Often the needs of individuals suffering from mental illness are met poorly, if at all, in resource-poor settings. In these environments one trained mental health professional may have the responsibility of managing clinical care for hundreds of individuals, collecting epidemiologic data, conducting research, and communicating the results with the wider community, as well as training new providers. Mental health-focused non-governmental organizations (NGOs) often help fill the gap, but great need persists. As a result, individuals in need receive limited care, professionals are over-burdened, and development and implementation of new ideas occurs slowly. In some cases innovative approaches to care uniquely suited to these settings are never disseminated to others who could benefit. Mental health workers in these settings often lament the lack of 1) information about mental health issues in their populations, 2) research data to guide development of relevant and feasible treatment/prevention approaches, 3) evidence-based solutions to mental health problems that are not imported from Northern countries, and 4) opportunities to join in the discussion of these issues with their regional and international colleagues. We invite you to use this site to share your field experiences, learn about funding and fellowship training opportunities, communicate research findings, get advice on publication, share your wealth of knowledge by mentoring, or map your career path by working with a mentor. How to Use This SiteThis site is designed to offer you access to funding, training, and human resources in global mental health. The e-mentoring program allows individuals and organizations to link with people who share their interests and can help guide them to success in implementing programs, obtaining funding, navigating a career, etc. SEWW also enables members to contact mental health organizations around the world in order to establish collaborations or gain experience in global mental health through volunteer or training opportunities. |
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