Psychiatric Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist, and Infant Mental Health Specialist, is the Founder and Executive Director of Golden Apple Healing Arts, LLC and its Self-care and Choreosophy Institutes. She is an international expert in salutogenic healthcare and nursing science specifically focused on precision self-care, nurse-herbalism, health culture diplomacy, integrative holistic behavioral health nursing, and healthcare reform. Dr. Libster’s contributions to integrating emerging technologies and healing traditions are demonstrated by two decades of publications, unique educational programs, and inspirational events for thousands of nurses, healthcare providers, and the public on five continents.

In 2006, Dr. Libster founded the Bamboo Bridge Global Tea House in partnership with Sigma Theta Tau  International Honor Society in Nursing. Today, its World Cafés for Conversational Leadership and  Global Tea Houses continue to promote peace through international health culture diplomacy. In 2009,  Mohawk Wisdom Keeper, Mrs. Cecilia Mitchell bestowed upon Dr. Libster the responsibility of “Carrier of the Five Arrows of Hiawatha” which is the story of the Great Peacemaker whose “new mind”  peacemaking solution became the Iroquois Confederacy. She has designed and published four practice models: The Healing Relationship Model for Integrative Nursing Practice, the Cultural Diplomacy Model, the Tao of Integrative Nursing Assessment (TINA) Model, and the Elements of Care^®, which integrates her 27 years of experience in classical Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine and knowledge of the five elements with nursing science in a salutogenic-oriented, energetics first approach to care.

Dr. Libster is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Integrative Nursing and is the author of numerous journal publications, editorials, and eleven books including the award-winning Herbal Diplomats, a history of the women of the 19th-century American botanical healthcare reform movement. Her research and writing demonstrate that nurses’ historical leadership as experts in Self-care and as health culture diplomats in the creation of healing environments in partnership with plants and other elements are well-positioned to address current concerns and advance community health solutions to climate change within and without.

Currently, Dr. Libster is the Director of the state-funded Salutogenesis-Oriented Solutions  (SOS) -Youth Program in Wisconsin, a behavioural mental health workforce development program for nurses who would partner with Asian-American communities using a health culture diplomacy community mental health approach to address the high suicide rates and low sense of belonging in Asian-Wisconsin youth.  Her existentialist approach to this work led her to Viktor Frankl’s and Paul Wong’s inspiring work with youth. She is delighted to join the INPM community and hopes to have a cup of tea with members soon!

The post New Member: Martha Mathews Libster appeared first on International Network on Personal Meaning.

That is when I started to pursue my study of psychology. Currently, I am a counselling psychologist trainee in a gambling addiction centre. Seeing many gamblers and their families struggling in this brutal reality, the pursuit of meaning allows individuals to endure their suffering. Alongside my pursuit as a counselling psychologist, I have also worked in the learning and development field for over 10 years. I also have an interest in human motivation and behaviours. I aspire to advocate the importance of mental wellness, particularly in the corporate field where there are a lot of suppressed emotions and hidden mental health issues. With my experience conducting hundreds of sessions on psychology and mental health, I started an initiative called Mind/Matters to increase mental health awareness in the community.

The post New Member: Catti Lee appeared first on International Network on Personal Meaning.

I began my career as a training manager and consultant, eventually venturing into the fast-food industry as a store owner. A pivotal moment in my journey came when I met Dr. Brian Stiller, the World Evangelical Alliance Ambassador, who opened doors for me at World Relief Canada and Tyndale Seminary. This connection led to my role as Director of Outreach, where I focused on fundraising and building strategic partnerships.

Following a call to serve, I transitioned to the role of Lead Pastor at First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco. This position allowed me to lead a vibrant congregation, providing spiritual guidance and support to the community.

I later served as Associate Pastor at Bayview Glen Church in Toronto. This experience provided an opportunity to collaborate with a diverse group of individuals, contributing to the church’s mission and growth. My work involved developing programs and initiatives that supported the church’s vision and expanded its reach within the community.

Driven by a desire to make a broader impact, I founded Fuller Life Church in Toronto. This new endeavour created a welcoming and inclusive space for individuals seeking spiritual growth and connection. Simultaneously, I served as an adjunct professor of Leadership and Theology at Canada Christian University-College and Theological Graduate Studies. For 14 years, I shared my expertise, shaping the minds of future leaders and contributing to their academic and spiritual development.

In 2016, I sought to enhance my training, speaking, and coaching skills further. I became a Maxwell-Certified independent speaker, trainer, and coach, specializing in leadership development. Additionally, I obtained certification as a DISC Behavioral Analysis Consultant and Trainer, equipping individuals with tools to understand and improve their interpersonal dynamics. I also became a licensed MBTI practitioner, helping individuals and teams enhance their personal and professional relationships.

My commitment to elevating leadership practices led me to serve as the Executive Director of the John Maxwell Leadership Enterprise. In this capacity, I endeavour to foster a culture of excellence, empowering leaders to maximize their potential and achieve extraordinary success. Implementing the proven Maxwell Methods of Leadership, speaking, training, and consulting, I help individuals and organizations cultivate their passion for growth and development.

My Friendship with Dr. Paul Wong

I first heard of Dr. Paul Wong during my time at Tyndale University and Theological Seminary. Despite our proximity, we never had the chance to engage in meaningful conversations. It was only until recently, through attending my daughter’s church—which Paul and Lillian also attend—that our paths crossed again. Paul was a founder of the mother church that birthed this current congregation, and our frequent interactions during and after church services have allowed us to develop a genuine friendship.

Our bond has grown quickly, thanks to our open, vulnerable, and transparent conversations. The warm hospitality and graciousness of Paul and Lillian have significantly contributed to the rapid growth of our relationship.

My Delight in Joining INPM

Upon Paul and Lillian’s invitation to join INPM, and after prayerful consideration, I am excited and grateful to become part of such a prestigious organization. I am committed to making meaningful contributions to INPM, leveraging my professional experience and passion for personal meaning to support the organization’s mission. I look forward to collaborating with the esteemed board members and contributing to the success of INPM.

Thank you for considering my application. I am eager to work with all members of INPM and advance our collective goals.

The post New Member: Nelson Kung appeared first on International Network on Personal Meaning.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have a turning point early in my life to conceive the idea of practicing medicine as a mission, not just as a career. I admire seeing myself as a part of the miracle of healing human bodies.

My interest in psychology started where I was practicing as a doctor of obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN). In many countries in Africa and the Middle East I was faced with the fact that every human being has a deeper need than merely touching their material bodies–many of my patients also needed to heal their souls and minds and find meaning in the midst of misery.

My vision is slowly growing as I am facing my own suffering and searching for the meaning behind it.

I am very excited to be part of the INPM community and look forward to embodying emotional maturity and gaining a deeper understanding of life’s meaning.

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Currently, I am in Suceava, the capital of Bukovina region, where I have relocated as part of my professional journey, as an Assistant Professor at the Ștefan cel Mare, University of Suceava. This region is famous for the UNESCO registered painted monasteries and its amazing country-side views.

My career path started in 2013, when I applied for a bachelor psychology program with the excitement and interest of understanding why people behave in the way they do and how this influences their psychological functioning.

During my master, I had an abroad experience in Turkey within the Erasmus program, as a way of discovering new meanings to the student life. I was absolutely impressed by the kindness of the Turkish people and their ability to find positive meaning in their day to day activities.

Throughout my Ph.D studies, I had the opportunity of working in three international lab centers (Deusto Stress Research Lab, Spain; Centre for Cross-Cultural Psychology, Greece; Social Psychology Lab, Turkey). During this time, I was interested in how culture is influencing the emotional experience of romantic partners and the role played by different emotion regulation strategies in emerging couples’ functioning. This was then followed by my postdoc, where I was interested to examine how specific individual emotion regulation, such as acceptance and positive cognitive reappraisal, influence the romantic partners’ intimacy.

Nowadays, my research focuses on the protective and risk factors of personal growth, effects of intrapersonal and interpersonal emotion regulation strategies on personal experience and couple functioning, and ultimately the link between stress, coping and family functioning.

Another pining point in my professional journey is teaching. Everything started to make sense for me more than ever when I was preparing the class on Humanistic Psychology. I started to read more about Positive Psychology, Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT; an existential therapy) and in 2021 I started my EFT psychotherapeutically training. When the COVID-19 pandemic started I realized the importance of interpersonal relationships and the importance of hope, self-compassion and gratitude. When the war started in Ukraine, close to our borders, once again I realized the importance of relationships and positive mindset.

Through all of the recent experiences, I can clearly say that working with Syrian children in Jordan and with Ukrainian refugees were the most challenging experiences of my life. The university where I teach, was one of the most involved institution from Suceava to accommodate and to distribute necessary products to the Ukrainian refugees at the border and in the city of Suceava. All the efforts were joined to help alleviate the needs, and to offer support were needed (in all terms, for instance: psychological support). The moments shared during those time were the ones who brought meaning to my life, hope for our world and appreciation for the people I have meet; for their strengths, their bravery and their capacity to find resources and to establish a purpose in this times of uncertainty.

I look forward to meaningfully and purposefully learning from you and growing along with you.

e-mail address: andreea.ursu@usm.ro

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My professional and spiritual journey developed with the gradual realization that in order to be effective in my desire to serve, I had to learn about and integrate the latest achievements of many sciences into my research if I were to attain my goal; studies in theology, philosophy, psychology, psychiatry, psychotherapy and neuroscience were crucial to name but the most important ones.

Thus, my academic path started in 2001, when I carried out my first research on a little-known part of the history of philosophy in the United States at the end of the nineteenth century, the so-called “Bostonian School” and its founder Borden Parker Bowne who inspired Martin Luther King Jr. civil rights movement.

During my time of research on American personalism, I also started a degree in psychology and psychotherapy. As my research interests broadened, so did my passion for delving into the mystery of the human being. Over the years, I initiated interdisciplinary research in personality psychology, psychiatry, psychotherapy and philosophy and eventually in neurobiology. This led to my reaching into the analytic philosophy of psychology, and thus the philosophy of the mind.

As a result of these years of exploring, I began to merge into entirely different aspects of my research, which was followed by a fuller integration of knowledge about the human, including both scientific and the humanistic-existential approaches where my spiritual mentor became Viktor Emil Frankl with his understanding of who we are as spiritual-psychic-physical beings. I discovered in his work the best expression of my own belief in humanity being created in the image and likeness of God and endowed with free will and intellect.

Presently, I share my knowledge of Logotherapy and more generally that of existential and spiritual issues in counseling with my students at Saint Paul University in Ottawa. My passion remains research and teaching on issues touching spirituality, philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience in order to create a larger and more holistic understanding of the human being in view of the psychotherapeutic process leading to achieving the full human potential. My most recent book Integrating Spirituality into Counseling. Methods and Practices (Routledge 2023) was conceived to assist students in becoming partakers of change in our contemporary society in their own right.

The post Andrzej Krzysztof Jastrzębski, O.M.I appeared first on International Network on Personal Meaning.

The advocacy work that she’s done as a mid-life career change and post traumatic growth experience of personal hardship is turning a new leaf. She has spent the past several years focusing on applying existential new-wave positive psychology to the helping and healing of female survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and trauma. The focus of her work includes discovering new ways for individuals and groups to cultivate meaning-centered spaces. When we collectively agree on fueling a sustainable, conscious space for growth, we all thrive as citizens of the world.

Karen’s pedagogy reflects her philosophy that leans back toward Dr. Chris Peterson’s now-renowned commentary that all people matter. To become good citizens, we must cultivate a balanced life. Currently, she is living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Southern United States. She is a practicing digital nomad who writes on the edge of her mountain top as a metaphor for the lessons learned in life. As we celebrate the human experience across our lifespan, we become more aware of a whole-person approach to understanding who and what we are to each other, to our belief systems, and to ourselves.

The International Network on Personal Meaning is a pivotal point of connecting our worldview with the application of both science and how we live our daily lives to the best of our ability. Karen looks forward to writing and interviewing those who cultivate kindness, gratitude, joy, and love as a way of being. Her calling card can be found at henryhealing.com.

The post Featured Member: Karen Henry appeared first on International Network on Personal Meaning.

Ko Alex tōku ingoa

Nō Liverpool ahau

My name is Alex

I am from Liverpool in the UK]

I live in Aotearoa, New Zealand and have done so for the last 12 years.  I work as a counsellor in both private practice and part-time in a local high school in Auckland and have just received a scholarship to study a PhD at the University of Auckland.  I am married to my husband, Ray, a Deputy Principal at a local school and have a son (aged 20) and a daughter (aged 19), who are also studying at University.  I enjoy practising mindfulness and yoga, have ran a few marathons to raise money for diabetes, and rejuvenate my wellbeing in nature walking my dogs.

In 2020 I completed a Masters in Counselling.  My research thesis was entitled: ‘Meeting God in Thin Places’ – Clients experiences of counselling through difficult life experiences.  It was rooted in the indigenous Celtic wisdom that describes ‘thin places’ as geographical locations on earth where the space between heaven and earth is described as ‘tissue paper’ thin, and Māori indigineous belief in the creation of the world through the metaphor of Tihei-wa mauri ora (see figure 1.).  It was a small scale qualitative research, that used the methodology of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to hear the voices of six participants’ experiences of feeling especially close to God/The Divine, through the most difficult times in their lives.  Finding meaning in the depths of te korekore (see figure 1.) was an important element towards growth and wellbeing via the processes of surrender, acceptance and trust.

Within a month of completing my Masters, we went into the first round of COVID-19 lockdowns. Being in New Zealand observing from afar the devastating impact corona virus was wreaking on the UK and Europe was unnerving.  During lockdown, I sought positivity and hope, and embarked on the coursera free learning courses in positive pyschology and flourishing through the University of Pennsylvania. They sparked a curiosity to know more, and during the last year I have completed a Diploma of Positive Psychology and Wellbeing through Langley Group (AUS) and New Zealand Institute for Wellbeing and Resilience (NZIWR).  I was very interested in the work of Dr. Paul Wong on meaning and purpose as it resonated with my Masters research, and this sparked further interest in PP2.0.  With spirituality as my top Values in Action (VIA) Character Strength, followed closely by Love of Learning, I am excited to start my PhD investigating further peoples’ lived experiences of spirituality during global existential crises. There doesn’t seem to be a more significant time for this research than the present.

I am enjoying being a member of INPM and very much appreciate the sharing of articles, which I am finding interesting and useful towards my personal area of research and I look forward to making more connections with you all.

Ngā mihi maioha (thank you with appreciation)

Alex

Figure 1. Tihei-wa mauri ora (Pipri & Body, 2010)

The post Featured Member: Alex Green appeared first on International Network on Personal Meaning.

Greetings from New Zealand.  I am Christina Baird, a psychologist based in Auckland.

From when I began studying psychology in 1989, I have been determined to focus on using psychology to help people grow and flourish.  This meant that I didn’t take the straightforward path of becoming a clinical psychologist and working in the area of mental illness.  Rather I developed a complex and diverse base that included developmental, educational, social, organisational psychology and some studies in theology.  I became fascinated by the development of positive psychology and informally (no formal opportunities were available in New Zealand) took every opportunity I could to learn more about it.  When I returned to university in 2019 to finally complete the requirements to register as a psychologist, the process involved trying to bring coherence to my diverse background, experiences and studies. I was introduced to Adlerian psychology and began to use it as a framework to pull all the pieces together.  Although I was still adding new pieces as my internship placement was in the hospice environment, and it was there that I began learning about existential and meaning-centred approaches.  My supervisor introduced me to Adlerian psychology and it was useful to use as a framework to pull all the pieces together

The current focus of my work is providing training, coaching, therapeutic support and supervision to those in health, education, pastoral ministry and social services. With these clients, purpose, values and meaning are a core component of my work.  I am passionate about researching and teaching wisdom; my goal is to equip people to be wise. As we enter this post-covid era, we are awash with information but in many cases lack wisdom.  Yet I believe it is the key skill we need to rebuild, recreate and reconnect our communities.  As I continue the process of putting my diverse experiences into a coherent framework that informs and structures my work, I was excited to discover the work of the INPM, as it resonates with so much of my own journey.  I am looking forward to learning from and with this community as we seek to give psychology away so that people may live psychologically rich and vital lives.

The post Featured Member: Christina Baird, PhD appeared first on International Network on Personal Meaning.

My passion lies in the topic of self-transcendence. This began over a decade ago when I worked as a volunteer counsellor for refugees and asylum seekers. It was then that I met a young Burmese translator in his twenties who ignited my interest in the importance of transcendence, its relationship to meaning in life and its impact on wellbeing. To respect his privacy, I’ll refer to him as Zin. The story goes like this. Usually on quiet days, I would chat with the translators who themselves were asylum seekers that had recently made the harrowing escape out of their homeland via trafficking agents. For context, upon arriving in their new  host country, refugees can be frequently harassed by officials and locals, and generally treated as less then worthy. One day I asked Zin about his monthly salary and how he made ends meet. He told me he earned around US150 a month, out of which he donated half to charity. This blew my mind. He explained how through various innovative ways of communal sharing he was able to still live comfortably and maintain his financial contribution to others which meant so much to him. What amazed me about this soft-spoken young man was not just how his experiences had made him more loving, compassionate, and generous but that by transcending his suffering, Zin had become fearless. He was liberated from that one chronic ailment that so intensely plagues us all: the fear of scarcity. Zin, a person society would describe as one of the meekest among us, was the most accomplished, courageous person I had come to meet. He was psychologically free.

Today, some fifteen years later, I still cannot claim to have reached Zin’s height of transcendent thinking. But I soldier on, and continue with my own practice of self-transcendence, consciously defining what I stand for in this life and how I can bring this into the world. To this end, having discovered the great minds at INPM who share this agenda is for me, just gold.  I like forward to learning and growing with and from you all on all things meaningful and purposeful.

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