Mgr. Magdalena Lukasová
DZDA Working Group Leader
Magdalena works as a coordinator of professional activities of the SUPREME-MH project and as a coordinator of the training of pedagogical staff for the implementation of the On My Mind programme. She also works as a school prevention methodologist and English teacher at a secondary vocational school. She graduated in Social Pedagogy at the Faculty of Philosophy of Charles University in Prague and is currently a participant of psychotherapeutic training in the Gestalt modality. In the past she has worked in non-profit organizations, in the private sector and in education. She has a long-standing interest in the mental health of adolescents and teachers.
Anna Kagstrom, MSc.
Research group leader
Anna holds a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from California State University, Sacramento and a Master's degree in Global Mental Health from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London and the London School of Hygiene and Medicine. She is involved in research activities related to mental health literacy, human rights, stigma and discrimination, and childhood risks of mental illness. She is also a member of the WHO Collaborating Center for public mental health research and service development.
Marta Fišerová, MSc.
Child mental health specialist - creating materials for children and teachers
Marta obtained a BSc in Psychology from the University of Sussex and subsequently completed a postgraduate diploma in Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the University of Edinburgh. She is currently researching lifestyle and mental health in young adults as part of her PhD studies at the 1st Faculty of Medicine at Charles University and works with Prague Integration, an organization providing mental health support to expats in Prague. Since 2022, she has been working at the National Institute of Health, where she creates content for training in the project "Supporting the mental health of children, parents and teachers in the Czech Republic affected by the war in Ukraine”.
Zoe Guerrero, MSc., AKC
Internal evaluator
Zoe has a degree in Psychology and Global Mental Health from King's College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Zoe has worked on the Destigmatization project of the Na Rovinu Initiative as well as projects within the WHO Collaborating Center involving research on national action plans and mental health literacy and mental health for the Roma population in the country. She has previously been involved in research related to cultural psychology, mental health literacy, the impact of stigma on mental health and the development of destigmatization interventions.
Mgr. Laura Juríková
Researcher - curriculum development and technical materials
Laura studied psychology at Charles University in Prague, where she is currently continuing her doctoral studies. Since 2018, she has been working at the National Institute of Health in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Research Group, where she has been working on the topic of mental literacy and has been involved in the design and development of the On My Mind program within the SUPREME-MH project. She also works in the Suicide Prevention and Research Group, where she has contributed to the formulation of the National Action Plan for Suicide Prevention 2020-2030 and is currently involved in its implementation within the ImpleMENTAL project. In addition to her research activities, she works as a psychologist and therapist.
MUDr. Matěj Kučera
Researcher
Matěj studied general medicine at the 3rd Faculty of Medicine of Charles University in Prague and is currently a PhD student under joint supervision at Charles University in Prague and Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. The topic of his thesis is "Prevention of dementia and related costs in the Czech Republic". Since 2018, he has been working as a researcher in the Public Mental Health Research Program of the National Institute of Mental Health and as a data specialist in the Destigmatization Project, which is part of the psychiatric care reform in the Czech Republic. His research work focuses on topics such as the prevalence of depression in the elderly, destigmatization of people with mental illness, and the psychological and emotional well-being of gifted children.
Mgr. Ondřej Pešout, PhD.
Researcher
Ondřej received his doctorate in educational psychology from North Carolina State University. His primary area of research focuses on the development of self-regulated learning, creativity, and metacognition through applied interventions in formal education. Among other things, he is also a lecturer in educational and developmental psychology at the Departments of Psychology at the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Education at the University of Ljubljana. In 2019, he joined the CAMH team and serves as its research coordinator. He is involved in data processing and writing scientific outputs. He has published several important scientific papers with his colleagues.
Marie Polášková, MSc.
Researcher - creating materials for children and teachers
Marie obtained a BSc in Psychology from Durham University in the North of England and her MSc. in Psychological Research from Oxford University, where she focused on intervention programmes to improve the mental health of primary school children. She joined the NIMH in 2022 and, in addition to her research activities, she is focused on developing materials and training for children and teachers as part of the project "Promoting the mental health of children, parents and teachers in the Czech Republic affected by the war in Ukraine". She also represents DZDA as a consulting partner in regular meetings of the Wellbeing Working Group of the Partnership for Education 2030+ project.
Lenka Sušírová
Project manager
Lenka has been working at the NÚDZ since the end of 2022 as project manager of the project "Supporting the mental health of children, parents and teachers in the Czech Republic affected by the war in Ukraine" supported by UNICEF and WHO. With her work experience across the for-profit and non-profit sectors and her organizational skills, she has an overlap not only in working with people but also in the professional and systemic elements of the corporate structure. At the NIMH, she is responsible for comprehensive project support and oversight.
Mgr. Andrea Včeláková
Researcher
Andrea studied psychology at Charles University in Prague. She has been working at NUDZ since 2018, first as a destigmatization specialist in the project Destigmatization of people with mental illness, and currently she is working on the development of methodological materials in the project On My Mind. Andrea is also a participant in the psychotherapy training at the Institute for Training in Gestalt Therapy.