Felicity Runchman is a counsellor and trainer at Open Briefing. Felicity has over a decade’s experience in the social care and non-profit sectors, and has specialised in the humanitarian and human rights spheres since 2015, including two years at InterHealth Worldwide. Widely travelled, she has a professional interest in the particular experiences of stress, burnout, and trauma in individuals working in high-risk contexts and remote settings. In addition to her role at Open Briefing, Felicity has a small private psychotherapy practice and regularly delivers mental health trainings for organisations whose staff work internationally or in challenging environments. She is a contributor to the book Psychosocial Support For Workers On The Move: Improving Global Staff Care (Routledge, 2023). Felicity holds a master’s degree in counselling and psychotherapy and is accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
Felicity is an independent consultant acting on Open Briefing’s behalf.
Dr Cynthia Grguric is a psychologist and coach at Open Briefing. Cynthia has over 20 years professional experience in clinical practice, assessment, and supervision; humanitarian staff care and employee relations; cross cultural and diversity issues; psychosocial education; and critical incident response and crisis management. Alongside her private practice in New York, Cynthia also works as a psychotherapist with Doctors of the World/HealthRight International. She is a member of the UN Development Programme gender equality and empowerment expert roster and the International Criminal Court war crimes investigation roster. She previously served as the interim director of psychological health for the New York National Guard. Cynthia holds a PhD in international psychology and a master’s in counselling psychology. She is a member of the American Psychological Association of International Psychology and the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation. Cynthia is also a Board Certified Coach.
Paulina Acosta Del Rio is a psychologist at Open Briefing. Paulina is an EMDR practitioner and CBT therapist, and holds a master’s degree in intercultural psychology. She also integrates into her practice elements and tools from non-violent communication and mindfulness. Paulina worked in mental health and psychosocial support in the humanitarian sector for more than a decade, including in Sudan, Central African Republic, Palestine, Lebanon, Papua New Guinea and Bangladesh with Médecins sans Frontières, Action Against Hunger and Handicap International. She has had a private practice in Paris since 2016, and is registered with the Regional Health Agency in France. A native of Colombia, Paulina is fluent in Spanish, French and English.
Lynn Keane is a counsellor at Open Briefing. Lynn is a qualified, accredited and experienced counsellor and psychotherapist, with particular experience working with complex trauma and PTSD presentations. She was previously the psychological health services lead for East Africa and global safeguarding lead at InterHealth Worldwide, where she delivered staff wellbeing and trauma counselling interventions in South Sudan, Somalia, Turkey and Kenya. She has also worked as a consultant to the global staff wellbeing section at UNICEF. Lynn holds a master’s degree in integrated counselling and psychotherapy and has been in private practice for over 10 years. She is accredited by the United Kingdom Council of Psychotherapy (UKCP), a member of the British Association of Counsellors & Psychotherapists (BACP) and registered with the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care.
Lynn is an independent consultant acting on Open Briefing’s behalf.
Karen Abbs is a counsellor at Open Briefing. Karen has been a practising therapist specialising in trauma for 20 years, and has worked in the humanitarian sector for the last decade. She was previously the mental health adviser to Médecins Sans Frontières and the Centre for Victims of Torture and the global training manager for InterHealth. She has two decades of wellbeing and safeguarding experience spanning Kashmir, Central African Republic, Sudan, Swaziland, Iraq, Jordan, South Sudan and Kenya as well as the United Kingdom and Canada. Karen holds a master’s degree in psychology and expressive arts therapy and is a member of the British Association for Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP) and accredited by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
