Our Team
Amna’s core team is made of psychosocial care specialists, early childhood experts and humanitarians. Lived experience is represented in all aspects of our organisation – from our board to our facilitators.
Najwa Al Abdallah
CEO
Zarlasht Halaimzai
Founder
Gabriella Brent
Director of Programmes
Natalia Kyrkopoulou
Director of Operations
Hajra Daly
Partnerships Manager
Vassiliki Arabatzi
Trainings Manager
Iliana Dimoni
Finance Manager
Stella Malliari
Finance Officer
Devika Kapoor
Trainer and Facilitator
Ben Du Preez
Trainer and Facilitator
Cristal Palacios Yumar
Trainer and Facilitator
Ilayda Cihan
Trainer and Facilitator
Nasma Shwahde
Trainer and Facilitator
Hejer Ben Dhabi
Monitoring & Evaluation Lead
Rania Mohamed
Grants Manager
Hannah Powell
Grants Officer
Wajihah Zaman
Programmes and Partnerships Officer
Tamer Ibrahem
Trainer and Facilitator
Alexandra Mylrea Lowndes
Operations Officer
Randa Abumudallala
Executive Assistant & Board Liaison
Najwa Al Abdallah
CEO
Najwa is the CEO of Amna, and has held executive and non-executive positions.
She has 23 years of senior leadership experience in development and humanitarian organisations worldwide. She has overseen multiple aspects of these organisations, including strategy, finance, people and culture, operations, risk management, compliance, and fundraising.
Currently, Najwa serves as a board member of the International Rescue Committee UK, where she also holds the positions of Vice Chair of the Audit and Governance committee and member of the Safeguarding committee.
Additionally, she is a board member of Medical Aid for Palestinians, where she contributes as a member of the Finance and Operations Committee. Her recent role before joining Amna was Director of Corporate Services at Money Advise Trust in London, UK.
Growing up in a small village in Lebanon in poverty during the civil war built her resilience and determination to work in international development.
Zarlasht Halaimzai
Founder
Zarlasht is the Founder and former CEO of Amna. A former refugee from Afghanistan, she has developed programmes that promote resilience in vulnerable populations in several countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Syria, the United Kingdom, and Greece.
Zarlasht has trained in Childhood and Adolescent Counselling and Psychotherapy at the University of Cambridge and is pursuing a master’s degree in Mindfulness Based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy from The University of Oxford. She is multilingual and was selected as a Kathryn Davis Peace Fellow to study Arabic at Middlebury College in 2016.
Zarlasht has written for several publications including the Guardian, Washington Post, The Independent, Huffington Post, and the New Statesman. Her work has been profiled by the Psychologist Magazine, NPR, Grazia, International Business Times, She Owns Success, and Ground breakers and was the recipient of the 2017 Future Shapers Award from Marie Claire Magazine.
She is a fellow of the Obama Foundation.
Gabriella Brent
Director of Programmes
Gabriella is Amna’s Director of Programmes and a counsellor and psychotherapist.
Gabriella oversees Amna’s international direct delivery, training and capacity-strengthening programmes. Her specialism is adopting a liberation psychology approach, taking therapy out of the therapy room to develop, test and advocate for more holistic systems of care for marginalised communities.
Before working with Amna, Gabriella worked across family law, criminal justice, mental health and drug treatment services piloting and scaling more humane, trauma-informed, systemic models of care. Outside, and inside of work, Gabriella loves to dance!
Natalia Kyrkopoulou
Director of Operations
As Director of Operations and co-founder of Amna Greece, Natalia is Amna’s chief representative for all dealings with Greek agencies, including local government and non-governmental organisations. She has several years of experience in the field, both at large international NGOs and local grassroots organisations, and is Amna’s leading advocate for developing sustainable programmes within Greece. Natalia also leads Amna’s capacity building arm, which provides consultancy and training to organisations to assist them in implementing practices of service delivery and staff care that are both trauma-informed and identity-informed. She speaks French, Greek and English.
“It is so important now to keep focused on the ongoing humanitarian situation here in Northern Greece. The challenges the refugees still face are enormous and complex. We’ve been focusing on the challenge of integration, and for that we need help from two sides: we need practitioners who can communicate with the refugees in their own language; and we need local people who understand the Greek social services system and who can advocate on behalf of the refugees here in Greece.”
Hajra Daly
Partnerships Manager
Hajra is the Partnership Manager at Amna where her role is to engage with new partners to promote Amna’s values based, trauma and identity informed approach for refugee communities in new countries of operations.
She was formerly the lead for Forced Migration at Comic Relief. In her role as the Portfolio Manager, Hajra designed and developed funding programmes including ‘Across Borders’, a programme to support people on the move as they made their migration journey from Middle East, North Africa into Europe.
Prior to that, Hajra has managed diverse portfolios on a range of issues including Violence Against Women and Girls, Child Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking and Vulnerable Young People. She is currently a volunteer interpreter for LGBTI people seeking asylum in the UK.
“I am excited to join Amna at a critical stage when it is launching its new 5-year strategy. I love collaborative working and am looking forward to being a central part of Amna’s expansion and building a network of partners in new countries and communities.”
Vassiliki Arabatzi
Trainings Manager
Iliana Dimoni
Finance Manager
Iliana is Amna’s Finance Manager and is responsible for ensuring Amna’s financial system supports and develops alongside its growing programmes and activities. She is passionate about guaranteeing that Amna can keep creating impact and supporting those in need.
Working at Amna for Iliana is similar to studying: she is constantly learning, having fun in a supportive environment and aiming to be her best every day!
Prior to joining Amna, Iliana has worked in the charity sector in London for eight years. She studied Finance and Accounting and has an MSc in Management of Creative Industries. She loves theatre, is a proud feminist and a mum.
Stella Malliari
Finance Officer
Stella is Amna’s Finance Officer.
She studied Management at the University of Macedonia and she lives in Thessaloniki .
She is excited about being a part of a team that shares a common goal of alleviating suffering and promoting human dignity.
Having worked in the humanitarian sector for the last 7 years she has witnessed the power of collective efforts and the positive outcomes that result from dedicated individuals working together.
Out of the office Stella loves dancing and her dream is to travel around the world!
Devika Kapoor
Trainer and Facilitator
Ben Du Preez
Trainer and Facilitator
Ben is one of Amna’s Trainer and Coordinators, providing capacity-building and wellbeing support to other humanitarian and grassroots organisations working with refugees.
Before working with Amna, Ben spent fifteen years developing survivor advocacy projects, supporting survivors of torture, trafficking, detention and statelessness to speak-out for the changes they wanted to the political systems that shaped their daily realities.
Alongside his work at Amna, Ben is training as an Integrative Counsellor and Psychotherapist. He is also a great lover of sardines, all-things-audio and steam-rooms.
‘I am passionate about working with communities to come together to practice shared healing and grow their collective power in solidarity with eachother. For me, this is completely dependent on spaces built on trust, relationality and play – principles that are all actively celebrated at Amna.’
Cristal Palacios Yumar
Trainer and Facilitator
As an Amna Trainer, Cristal supports organisations working with refugees to develop trauma-informed approaches to their own work.
Cristal is a clinical psychologist and peacebuilder from Venezuela. Before joining Amna, she worked for over 20 years developing & implementing art-based psychosocial support and mental health initiatives for populations affected by conflict and violence in Latin America and the US, while simultaneously developing her practice as a psychotherapist and researcher. More recently, she founded Psicodiáspora, the network of Venezuelan mental health professionals in the diaspora.
When she’s not facilitating healing spaces, you can also find her working on her PhD, swimming, caring for her tropical plants, or dancing!
Ilayda Cihan
Trainer and Facilitator
Ilayda is an Occupational Therapist specializing in Sensory Integration Therapy for children with special needs. After earning her bachelor’s degree, she pursued a master’s in Early Childhood Research at the University of Leipzig, focusing on her thesis titled “Children’s Third-party Interventions in Norm Transgressions within the Context of Discriminative Behavior: Immigrant and Non-immigrant Descent Children in Germany.” During her undergraduate years, her involvement in co-founding an NGO aimed at tackling discrimination and polarization in her home country shaped her proactive approach to understanding broader societal issues. Inspired by these civil society and academic involvements, she joined Amna to shoulder responsibilities in supporting displaced communities.
Nasma Shwahde
Trainer and Facilitator
Nasma is a group facilitator with professional experience of training teams of social workers in the Arab Palestinian community in the field of mental health first aid, trauma and resilience. She has also worked with marginalized groups where she empowers others to pursue their authentic selves and achieve personal growth through the narrative approach.
Nasma was also a lecturer in the Department of Counseling and Human Development – University of Haifa where she provided mentorship and guidance to support students in developing their own therapeutic styles and approaches.
She has created and delivered presentations as a speech-language pathologist. She has treated children with ASD and helped them find their voice and to express themselves effectively implementing different approaches for better communication skills.
Hejer Ben Dhabi
Monitoring & Evaluation Lead
Hejer is Amna’s M&E Lead. She has eight years of experience in project management and M&E in the MENA region.
Before joining Amna, she was responsible for the implementation and evaluation of projects in relief, health, capacity building, and economic empowerment for programs in Libya, Syria, Iraq, and Turkey.
Hejer joined Amna because she believes that psychological support is a fundamental need for every trauma-affected community, and she wants to be part of the healing process that empowers vulnerable groups to reach a better future.
She has a BSC in Engineering, and prior to entering the humanitarian sector, she worked in the aeronautical and automotive industries as a project manager.
Besides English, she is fluent in Arabic and French and aspires to learn more languages as she enjoys knowing different cultures and the way they see the world.
Rania Mohamed
Grants Manager
Rania Mohamed, Amna’s Grants Manager, leads the organisation’s new business development, grant management, and donor compliance function. Leveraging her extensive experience in the humanitarian sector, including working with grassroots and international orgainsations across grants, finance, and partnerships, Rania is a passionate advocate for empowering local communities and serving vulnerable populations. Her dedication is further reflected in her personal enjoyment of travel and cultural exploration.
Hannah Powell
Grants Officer
Hannah is the Grants Officer at Amna where she works across the organisation to ensure effective and efficient grant-making processes. She joined Amna to fulfil her passion of working in human rights and refugee support.
Before joining Amna, Hannah worked as a freelance grant writer while also maintaining a full-time role as an administration executive in the charity sector.
Outside of work she loves to travel! Following her university graduation, she spent two years backpacking from Asia to South America. This trip is what catalysed her affection to work towards supporting disadvantaged communities.
Hannah has a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and a Masters in Global Governance and International Relations.
Wajihah Zaman
Programmes and Partnerships Officer
Wajihah is a Project Officer at Amna for the Programmes and Partnerships team. She works across the teams and country offices in Greece and the UK supporting partnerships and programmes.
She joined Amna because of its values and the compassionate, empathetic care it provides to refugee communities.
Prior to joining Amna, Wajihah worked as a Fundraising and Social Media Officer. She also taught English to Afghan refugees which motivated her to support refugee communities. Outside of work she enjoys travelling, watching movies and reading.
She speaks Pashto in addition to English and has a Masters in Human Rights.
Tamer Ibrahem
Trainer and Facilitator
Tamer is Amna’s Youth Facilitator for the Dinami programme . He is from Syria and based in Thessaloniki.
Prior to joining Amna, Tamer worked in a legal office as an interpreter with refugees and other non-Greeks. He joined Amna because of his passion for overcoming communication barriers and facilitating intercultural understanding across communities.
Tamer also has experience in graphic design and enjoys finding new ways to communicate across communities and in different languages.
Alexandra Mylrea Lowndes
Operations Officer
Alexandra is Executive Assistant to the Head of Operations and Head of Programmes at Amna.
Prior to joining Amna, she lived in Chile where she worked at the UN and in the Refugee and Resettlement department of the Government. She also has experience working in a variety of NGOs and teaching English.
Alex has a degree in International Relations and Spanish from Sussex University and speaks Spanish and English.
When not at work she can be found not-quite-following recipes, with her nieces and nephews or underwater searching for sharks.
Randa Abumudallala
Executive Assistant & Board Liaison
Randa is Amna Executive Assistant and Board Liaison. She has extensive working experience in developmental and humanitarian organizations in the Opt. More than 12 years of experience in managing programs and projects in the sector of livelihood, gender and emergency. Prior to Amna, Randa worked as a Livelihood in Emergency Technical Advisor, program officer and programs coordinator.
Randa role is will provide high-level administrative support to the CEO and Amna’s Board of Directors. In addition to working on and managing special projects including research, data analysis, preparation for public speaking, writing and research. Randa has MBA from Palestine, and got her new Master degree in “Inequalities and Social Science” from the University of Leeds. In her dissertation she deeply investigated the challenges faced by refugee women to access the labour market in the UK.
Growing up in her country as a refugee in the Gaza Strip in Palestine, under Israeli occupation, she witnessed the period of the internal Palestinian division and five wars on Gaza. Randa left Palestine two years ago and lived through the stressful experience of displacement. All of this contributed in building her resilience and determination to continue work providing valuable assistance for all vulnerable groups over the world especially refugee women.
Our Board
Daniel Robinson
Chair of The Board
Cristina M. Finch
Trustee
Karim Bereksi
Treasurer
Abdulkarim Ekzayez
Trustee
Afsana Safa
Trustee
Daniel Robinson
Chair of The Board
Daniel is a barrister with a broad practice encompassing crime, road traffic and regulatory work. He is predominantly based in the Crown Courts, where he both prosecutes and defends.
Before coming to the Bar, Daniel worked for NGOs in the UK, Rwanda and Jamaica. His work encompassed genocide and war crimes, crimes against humanity and human rights in which he retains a strong interest. Daniel spent seven months working for the Council for Human Rights based in Kingston, Jamaica, and has advised defendants on Death Row as to their prospects of appeal to the Privy Council. He is experienced in representing defendants with mental health issues, addiction problems and vulnerabilities.
Cristina M. Finch
Trustee
Cristina M. Finch currently serves as the head of the Gender and Security Division at DCAF – Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance. Cristina is a human rights lawyer and advocate with more than twenty five years of experience in advancing human rights in the areas of women’s and LGBTI rights, hate crimes, and discrimination. She is the former head of the Tolerance and Non-Discrimination Department at OSCE ODIHR and former managing director for the Identity and Discrimination Unit at Amnesty International USA, where she was at the forefront of successful efforts to expand human rights protections against sexual and gender-based violence.
Karim Bereksi
Treasurer
Karim is the board’s treasurer and an international development consultant. He advises clients including The World Bank, UN agencies and FCDO on a range of issues, working across a range of geographies; with a continued focus in fragile and (post-)conflict states. With a strong background in audit and finance, Karim focusses on assignments designed to help donors reduce fiduciary risks through improved oversight and governance mechanisms.
Karim holds a BSC in Mathematics and Finance and is a Chartered Accountant.
Abdulkarim Ekzayez
Trustee
Abdulkarim is a medical doctor and an epidemiologist from Syria. In 2013, Abdulkarim was training to be a neurosurgeon when his residency was interrupted by the war. He then worked in field hospitals in Aleppo and Idlib before joining Save The Children, where he led the health response in North West Syria until 2017. He is currently pursuing a PhD in health systems in war settings at King’s College London, in addition to his work as a research associate with the Conflict and Health Research Group at the same university. He is also an Associate fellow at Chatham House and serves on the board of two other organisations, Shafak, and Eyes to the Future.
Afsana Safa
Trustee
Afsana is a London-based General Practitioner (Family Physician) with first-hand experience of the European refugee crisis. Amna first met Afsana in 2016, when she travelled to Greece with the Syrian American Medical Society to set up and run medical clinics in refugee camps in the north of the country. She has also volunteered in Bangladesh with Rohingya refugees. Afsana’s other NHS roles include Clinical Cancer lead for North West London and Governing Body board member for Central London CCG.
Associate therapists
Our associate therapists work on a rotating basis to provide therapeutic assistance to the communities that we serve.
Romy Wakil
Associate Therapist
Nsimire Bisimwa
Associate Therapist
Avesta Panahi
Psychologist
Sarah Helander
Integrative Music Psychotherapist
Christina Gougouli
Dance Movement Therapist
Ali Raza
Associate Therapist
Shugofa
Psychosocial Facilitator
Romy Wakil
Associate Therapist
Romy is a qualified psychodynamic psychotherapist working within a trauma informed approach. She works as part of Amna’s therapeutic team in what she calls her ‘soul work’ – bridging the gap between mental health and human rights. Passionate about mental health being a human right, with Amna’s team of therapists Romy is developing Amna’s provision of therapeutic groups, collective healing spaces which provide refugees and asylum seekers with access to long term, identity-informed therapeutic support. Romy co-facilitates a weekly therapeutic group on Zoom for male asylum seekers and is developing trauma and identity-informed resources for psychotherapists and refugees. She has spent the last 8 years developing trauma-informed practices across multiple sectors. She was part of setting up free psychotherapy for asylum seekers in Cyprus. In London she works with clients recovering from developmental trauma, eating disorders and war survivors. Romy conducts psychotherapy in English, Arabic and French.
Nsimire Bisimwa
Associate Therapist
Nsimire is a Systemic & Family Psychotherapist and Amna’s Consultant, Supervisor and Trainer. Originally trained as a medical doctor, she has more than twenty years of experience working with refugees and involuntarily displaced people in different organisations and settings.
Originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, her experiences have shown her the devastating effects that oppression, migration, dislocation, losses and trauma can have on the physical, psychological and emotional wellbeing of individuals and refugee communities.
Nsimire is a social justice and human right activist, and is against any kind of injustice, oppression, discrimination and human right violation. In her practice and teaching, she promotes ethical and anti-oppressive practices because she believes that there is a direct correlation between wellbeing, social inequalities and oppression.
Avesta Panahi
Psychologist
Avesta is an Afghan counselling psychologist in training based in London, England. She has always had a strong interest in how humans communicate with each other emotionally and the impact of experiences and early relationships. This, coupled with her passion towards understanding the human mind, led her to pursue a professional doctorate in psychology. Alongside this interest is Avesta’s love for reading, listening to music and political discussions!
Sarah Helander
Integrative Music Psychotherapist
Sarah Helander is an integrative music psychotherapist from Finland with a specialisation in trauma-informed and multicultural practice. She has worked internationally with people in displacement, with children with special needs and on the autistic spectrum, and within the medical context, particularly with paediatric oncology patients. She has published and presented internationally.
Christina Gougouli
Dance Movement Therapist
Christina is a Dance Movement Therapist based in Larissa, Greece. She has been taking dance classes since a young age and this, along with her passion for psychology, led her to do an MA in Dance Movement Psychotherapy.
She is passionate about body-mind connection and always curious to explore all the (untold) stories that are embedded in our bodies, in a safe space with honesty and a non-judgmental approach. Christina also loves the creativity and endless opportunities of exploration movement therapy provides.
Besides her studies and continuous professional development in the psychotherapeutic field, she enjoys traveling, and developing her understanding of her own body through yoga and Argentinian tango classes!
Ali Raza
Associate Therapist
Ali Raza is a qualified Clinical Psychologist specialized in human behavior and mental processes. He works as a part of Amna’s Associate Therapist Team.
He has experience in psych diagnosis, psychotherapeutic approaches and cognitive behavior therapy. He is also trained in narrative exposure therapy, trauma sensitive practices and value based practices.
In the social sector he works with Afghan refugees and asylum seekers who experience trauma, helping them process their emotions and develop resilience.