Developing Nations Training Fund

Submitted by admin on February 15, 2012 - 11:30am
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(See note about this year's fundraising and generous donors at the bottom of this page.)

We need your support!

ACBS is an international society but in many corners of the world it is difficult for professionals to attend ACBS conferences and trainings due simply to cost. The Developing Nations Fund helps send ACT trainers to the developing world and provides scholarships for attendees and presenters from developing nations to attend the world conference.

Often a very small amount of help can make a huge difference in their home country -- professionals often play a very important role in public policy and determining what kinds of services are available.

Every dollar/euro/yen goes to helping those in need -- not a nickel goes to administration. Since its inception ten professionals in developing countries around the world have come to the the ACBS World Conference, and several trainings have been held in developing countries.

Money collected for this fund is distributed by an ACBS Developing Nations Fund committee, in cooperation with the Developing Nations Special Interest Group. Scholarships are awarded based on need and merit.

Won't you help? You may donate via Paypal by using the button below. (thermometer updated daily, not after each transaction... sorry)

(IMPORTANT! AFTER ENTERING YOUR DONATION AMOUNT BUT BEFORE ENTERING YOUR PAYMENT INFORMATION, CLICK THE BUTTON JUST BELOW THE ENTERED AMOUNT THAT SAYS "Update Total."  IF YOU DO NOT DO THAT, IT WILL TREAT YOUR DONATION AMOUNT AS "ZERO" NO MATTER WHAT AMOUNT YOU PUT IN AND THEN IT WILL NOT ONLY REFUSE THE APPARENT NON-DONATION IT WILL ALSO ERASE ALL THE CREDIT CARD AND OTHER INFORMATION YOU'VE ENTERED AND YOU WILL HAVE TO START ALL OVER. VERY FRUSTRATING.)

Please note that this contribution does not qualify as a tax-deductible charitable contribution, according to USA tax law ... but it's a nice thing to do.

2012 ACBS Developing Nations Scholars

Chhori Maharjan is the senior counselor and program director for Friends of Needy Children, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing psychosocial therapy to disadvantaged children and young people of Nepal. Chhori and her team of psychologists at the Ankur Counseling Center provide counseling to adults and children in the Kathmandu area and the income generated through this counseling helps to fund free treatment for disadvantaged children, many of whom struggle with trauma, disability, and homelessness. Since 2006, Chhori’s group has provided training to over 700 mental health providers, including counselors, child care professionals, Buddhist monks, and women’s groups from all over Nepal. In addition to her direct clinical work with children, parents, and teachers, Chhori plans to share her experiences at WCX in an on-going training program that will include mental health professionals, paraprofessionals, university professors, and students of psychology and social work.

Christian Vonjoe is a Senior Health Education Officer at the Health Education Division of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in Sierra Leone. Christian’s program develops and disseminates educational initiatives and behavioral interventions that promote healthy behavior change at both the individual and community levels. Christian uses a contextual behavioral approach to develop culturally appropriate health messages that combat stigma, discrimination, and the persistence of inaccurate information about HIV, tuberculosis, reproductive health, and immunization. Christian also provides counseling to individuals with HIV and tuberculosis, emphasizing values and flexibility in their approach to managing their illness and engaging with their communities. Christian plans to share his experiences at WCX with the various assessment, education, communication, and intervention programs within the Ministry of Health.

The 2011 Scholarship recipients: (click a name below to see what 2011's recipients have been doing)

The 2010 Scholarship recipients:

The Developing Nations Fund began with a spontaneous effort to support two therapists from Sierra Leone, to participate in our World Conference in Reno. One was Sister Liz Onwuama, a teacher and catholic nun, who worked with traumatized refugees during the civil war and trained teachers all over the country to deal with traumatized children. The second was Bondu Manyeh, a social worker, who started the Graceland Counselling Services during the war to help especially women who were captured and abused, at times for years.

They came to the World Conference in part because of a program run by Beate Ebert, a German ACT clinician, who has been in Sierra Leone training professionals in ACT for traumatized people (for more on her program see www.commitandact.com). ACT trainers JoAnne Dahl and D. J. Moran went to Sierra Leone to do trainings following the Reno World Conference (2010).

On behalf of the ACBS Developing Nations Committee, I'd like to thank the hundreds of you who chose to give of yourselves and support the ACBS Developing Nations fund. I am so delighted to let you know that we have officially surpased our "10 for 10" goal of $10,000 in honor of World Conference X!!

We also wanted to let you know that just because we met this one goal doesn't mean that we're done living our value of expanding the reach of ACBS to developing nations. The donation link will always remain "live" - so, for those of you who have made pledges to donate book royalties or conference/training proceeds - we look forward to receiving those donations. And for the rest of
you, please know that your contributions are also welcome throughout the year. Get a bonus at work - how about celebrating with a small donation to the fund? Feeling warm and fuzzy about an interaction with an amazing colleague on the other side of the world that ACBS helped you get to know - how about supporting the continued expansion of the community with a donation to the fund? You get the idea. :)

We'll try to give you a little break from these requests for a while, but we'll definitely gear up for some more fund raising around the time of the Conference and again here in Washington, D.C. Remember that not a penny of the funds donated go to administrative overhead - 100% is used for the purposes of disseminating CBS in developing nations. Stay tuned for new, upcoming efforts in
this domain. (Hint: start scanning your bookshelves for amazing CBS-oriented books that might be even more valued in a new home!)

Thank you again for your generosity! And if you didn't get around to donating yet, why not do so now? :)

Warmly, Sonja (just one of the now 5066 members of ACBS!!!)

(The 200+ donors to this year's effort (As of March 12, 2012): Ayman Abdalhalim, Francis Abueg, ACT ANZO Chapter, Niloofar Afari, Thomas Altro, Donna Ambrose, rob archer, Associazione ACT Italia, Paul Atkins, Mary Atwater, Patricia Bach, John Baranoff, Sonja Batten, richard bennett, Nick Berens, Stephanie Best, Linda Bilich, John Billig, Cynthia Blackledge, David Blakemore, Marie Blom, Helen Bolderston, Madelon Bolling, Frank Bond, Matthew Boone, Michael Bordieri, Michael Bordieri, Tim Bowden, Michele Bowes, Anna Brandon, maria brent, Jonathan Bricker, martin brock, martin brock, Chris Browning, Kara Bunting, Candle in the Window, luisa canon, Helene Cavior, Raylene Chandler, David Chantry, Karin Christensson, Grant Clowers, Rachel Collis, Pierre Cousineau, Lisa Coyne, laura Crosby, G Cunha, Stephanie Czech, Charlotte Dack, David Dawson, Lyne Deschênes, Maritza Díaz Savary, Lilian Dindo, Lilian Dindo, Chad Drake, Robyn Dwyer, Daniel Ek, Gloria Emmett, Jack Engels, Mark Farrington, Robert Fisher, Jan Fleming, Melissa Foks, Cate France, Manuel Garayar Del Castillo, David Gillanders, Brian Glaister, David Glaser, Elisabeth Graham, Jennifer Gregg, Tore Gustafsson, Julie Hamilton, Lindsay Hardie, Christopher Harkness, Christopher Harkness, louise hayes, Steven Hayes, Lynne Henderson, teresa hildebrandt, Sylvia Hill, Paul Hirning, Lee Hogan, Amy House, Ian Hussey, Renae Jarrett, Magnus Johansson, Peter Joy, Maria Karekla, Mark Kaufman, Kate Kellum, Scharryn Kneen, Tänk Koncept, Susana Kugeares, Terry Lahman, Kay Lane, Amie Langer, Päivi Lappalainen, Raimo Lappalainen, galiena lawrence, Robert Lawrence, Jenna LeJeune, jason lerner, Ellen Lewis, Ruth Liebowitz, Jason Lillis, Douglas Long, Michael Ludwig, Tobias Lundgren, Jessie Lundquist, genja lusnats, Ken Mackie, LMSW, Chelsea MacLane, Sandy MacLeod, James Marchman, Melissa Martin-Hersch, Jan Martz, Akihiko Masuda, Irene Matiatos, Agnes Matter-Dang, Christopher McConnell, Julian McNally, Shelley McQuade, Giovanni Miselli, D. J. Moran, Charles Morse, Kingsley Mudd, Amy Murrell, Stephanie Nassar, William Newsome, Juha Nieminen, Cliff Notarius, NYC-ACBS, Stephanie OLeary, Joe Oliver, One Life Education and Training, LLC, One to One Counselling & Education Pty Ltd, Ronda Oswalt Reitz, R Owen Owen, Sylvie Pelaprat, Staci Peron, Barbara Pickering, PinkGreen, Jacqueline Pistorello, Jennifer Plumb Vilardaga, Jennifer Plyler, Polk & Burkhart, Anna Bianca Prevedini, Portland Psychotherapy Clinic, Research, & Training Center, PC, Psychological Flexibility Pty Ltd, Robert Purssey, Wiveka Ramel, fiona randall, Robert Regal, Hilda Rhodes, Kendra Rickard, Natalie Rimlinger, carlos rivera, Judy Rosson, Lindsay Schnetzer, Benjamin Schoendorff, MPs, Benjamin Schoendorff, MPs, Leif Schwensen, Subliminal Science, Louise Shepherd, Tani Shinji, Luis Silva, Colin Sims, Regan Slater, Cheryl Smith, Rainer Sonntag, Joseph Springer, Sylvia Spyrka, Joanne Steinwachs LCSW PC, Corinna Stewart, Guenter Stiewe, Angela Stotts, Thomas Szabo, Krisztina Szabo, Thomas Szabo, Sharon Talovic, Scott Temple, Brian Thompson, Mike Twohig, Barry Unis, Florence Urbain, Ali Uzunoz, Ernesto Velazquez, Sarah Verducci, Jennifer Villatte, Matthieu Villatte, Jean Michel Vincent, Angelika von Sanden, Robyn Walser, GAEL WEALLEANS, Christopher Wemple, Kelly Werner, P whitby, Kerry Whiteman, Rikard Wicksell, Emily Winch, arielle withaar, James Yadavaia, fatih yavuz, Robert Zettle, linda zimmering)