Being a person-centered practitioner is the melting pot of diverse personal and professional experiences across psychotherapy, diplomacy, politics, business consultancy, and life in seven different countries. These varied experiences have profoundly shaped my perspective and practice.

My journey includes serving as a diplomat in Bosnia and NATO, witnessing and navigating the aftermath of war, and embarking on an ongoing process of personal and collective healing. This path has fueled my search for understanding the factors that lead to conflict and my commitment to finding ways to contribute to greater peace and justice in the world.

One way I have pursued this commitment is by practicing the person-centered approach in my daily interactions—within the therapy room, my family system, personal relations, and as a group facilitator—which has reinforced my hope in the innate human capacity for growth and constructive action when nurturing conditions are present.

Building on this foundation, I acknowledge that the challenges we face today demand not only personal agency but also collective action, which we envision to nurture within the Peace Project in the 21st Century. The Peace Project is the current iteration of what began in the 1980s as the Carl Rogers Institute for Peace, co-founded and co-directed by Carl Rogers and Gay Barfield.

Since November 2022, alongside Gay Barfield, fellow person-centered practitioners, and participants, we have been gathering as global citizens from diverse backgrounds. United by our shared commitment to peace and social justice, we aspire to create ripple effects at every level—personal, interpersonal, and intercommunal.