Johanna Schubert

Johanna Schubert is a psychosocial crisis intervention and staff welfare specialist with seven years’ professional experience, specialized in psychotrauma prevention and therapy to at-risk populations and trauma survivors.

She studied Clinical Psychology, Human Resource Development, and Intercultural Communication at Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany, and the University of Wales, Bangor, UK. Following her graduation, she was selected for an intensive professional development program supported by the German Federal Foreign Office, the “Mercator Fellowship for international Affairs”. Within its framework she consulted the Lebanese Red Cross in Beirut designing and piloting a comprehensive and culturally tailored psychosocial support project for Emergency Medical Technicians including management and staff training. Additionally, she provided stress and trauma awareness workshops not only to paramedics, but also local nurses, social workers, and doctors and led negotiations with local politicians as well as international NGOs and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). In her second deployment, Johanna developed a concept – how to psychologically train and protect war journalists residing in conflict zones, for the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma in New York City. Based on her experience in Lebanon and New York City, she was then invited to review, complement, and summarize the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) staff welfare concept at headquarters in Geneva. Finally, she did the same at the German Armed Forces and composed a crisis intervention manual for in-theatre troop psychologists in Bonn. There she also trained Psychological Operations (PsyOps) media staff in intercultural communication and competence.

For the past five years, Johanna underwent rigorous occupational training as a cognitive behavioral psychotherapist and psychotrauma specialist, working as a diagnostician and psychotherapist at her local children’s clinic and as head psychologist at the district psychiatry’s crisis intervention ward.

At UNC, she is pursuing a Master’s of Public Health Leadership in order to strengthen her expertise in post-war pacification and reconciliation as well as psychosocial disaster management.