Christine Caldwell, Ph.D., BC-DMT, LPC, ACS

Christine Caldwell, Ph.D., BC-DMT, LPC, ACS, is the founder of and professor emeritus in the Somatic Counseling Program at Naropa University in Boulder, CO, USA, where she taught coursework in somatic counseling theory and skills, clinical neuroscience, research, and diversity issues.

Her work began forty years ago with studies in anthropology, dance therapy, bodywork and Gestalt therapy, and has developed into innovations in the field of body-centered psychotherapy. She calls her work the Moving Cycle. This system goes beyond the limitations of therapy and emphasizes lifelong personal and social evolution through trusting and following body states. The Moving Cycle spotlights natural play, early physical imprinting, bodily authority, and the transformational effect of fully sequenced movement processes.

She has taught at the University of Maryland, George Washington University, Concordia, Seoul Women’s University, Southwestern College, Pacifica, and Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, and trains, teaches and lectures internationally. She has published over 30 articles and chapters, and her books include Getting Our Bodies Back, Getting In Touch, The Body and Oppression, Bodyfulness, and Conscious Moving.

Dixon Chibanda, MD

Dixon Chibanda, MD is the founder of Friendship Bench. He is a leader in the global conversation to democratize mental health care, published researcher, and author of The Friendship Bench: How Fourteen Grandmothers Inspired a Mental Health Revolution. He is a practicing medical doctor and professor of psychiatry & Global Mental Health at the University of Zimbabwe and The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He is the Director of the African Mental Health Initiative (AMARI) and a founding member of Coalition for Scaling Mental Health.

Dixon started the Friendship Bench in one of Harare’s townships called Mbare in 2006. The Friendship Bench has now been refined and adapted in all 10 provinces of Zimbabwe and replicated in over 10 countries. For over a decade, he has been a key player in bringing stakeholders from local health authorities, health professionals, national and international researchers, and donors together to form successful collaborations. In his role as PI on several research projects, he has led the Friendship Bench team through randomized control trials (RCT) which have consistently showed evidence for the intervention’s effectiveness.

Dixon has explored the intersection of indigenous knowledge and western models of care to develop sustainable interventions in global health. His TED talk on why he trains grandmothers to treat depression describes the journey of the Friendship Bench. The Friendship Bench has been featured in major media like The PBS News Hour, CBS, New York Times, BBC World Service, and more. 

Matthew Desmond, Ph.D.

MacArthur “Genius” and Princeton sociologist Matthew Desmond was launched onto the national stage as an expert on contemporary American poverty with the publication of his Pulitzer Prize winning bestseller Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. Desmond’s latest book, the instant #1 New York Times bestseller Poverty, by America investigates why the United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy.

Desmond is the Maurice P. During Professor of Sociology and the founder and principal investigator of the Eviction Lab at Princeton University.  In 2018, The Eviction Lab published the first-ever national dataset of evictions in America, collecting millions of data points going back to 2000, and it has gone on to serve as a resource hub for the millions of American renters who faced increased housing insecurity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A former member of the Harvard Society of Fellows, he is also the author of the book On the Fireline, the coauthor of two books on race, and the editor of a collection of studies on severe deprivation in America. He has written essays on educational inequality, dangerous work, political ideology, race and social theory, and the inner-city housing market.

Keita Franklin, Ph.d.

Dr. Keita Franklin is a nationally recognized leader in behavioral health, known for transforming how individuals, communities, and entire systems respond to mental health and suicide prevention. Over a distinguished 25-year federal career, she served as a Senior Executive in both the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs, leading suicide prevention efforts that impacted over three million Service Members and twenty million Veterans and their families. Her work was instrumental in historic policy reforms, including a Presidential Executive Order to bridge critical gaps between military and veteran care during high-risk transitions.

A trusted advisor to Congress, the White House, and national security leaders, Dr. Franklin has shaped behavioral health strategies at the highest levels of government. She also served as Director of Behavioral Health for the U.S. Marine Corps, where she spearheaded programs supporting service members and families impacted by war, trauma, and stress.

In the private sector, Dr. Franklin continues her mission to advance mental health innovation, having served in leadership roles where she designs systems and promotes evidence based practices in mental health and suicide risk screening. She is a published author whose work spans topics such as trauma, resilience, leadership, and the unique experiences of women in military service.

Rev. Professor John Swinton, FBA, FRSE, FISSR, RMN, RNMD

John Swinton is Professor in Practical Theology and Pastoral Care and Chair in Divinity and Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen. For more than a decade John worked as a registered mental health nurse. He also worked for a number of years as a hospital and community mental health Chaplain alongside of people with severe mental health challenges who were moving from the hospital into the community. In 2004, he founded the University of Aberdeen’s Centre for Spirituality, Health and Disability.

He has published widely within the area of mental health, dementia, disability theology, spirituality and healthcare, end of life care, qualitative research and pastoral care. John is the author of a number of monographs including Finding Jesus in the Storm: The spiritual lives of people with mental health challenges. (Eerdmans 2020) which won the Aldersgate prize for outstanding interdisciplinary work within theology. His book Dementia: Living in the memories of God won the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Ramsey Prize for excellence in theological writing. John is married with 5 children. John is also a musician and a songwriter, His album – Beautiful Songs About Difficult Things can be found at: https://open.spotify.com/album/6TvUBFhAcDH1u8L6dV8web?si=_IxIsyYkTayOBUfTYEsrZw

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