About Us
Colloquy Communities seeks to nurture communities and cultivate relationships through respectful conversations.
Our Why?
Growing Individual & Collective Resilience Among Expats, Locals, & Youth
Our What?
* Mental Health Counseling
* Life & Leadership Coaching
* Small Group Workshops
* Leadership School for Youth
* Mental Health Resources for Members
* Leadership Certificate Programs
* Retreats & In-person Gatherings
Our How?
We provide individual or group sessions of online mental health counseling and leadership coaching for expats, locals, and youth.
Our Core Values
Colloquy seeks to create an ethos of being and learning together, reminding us that together we can accomplish anything. Toward this end, the following is a list of our core values:. Toward this end, the following is a list of our core values:
- Community Belonging: Helping people find a place of belonging in communities
- Respect:Cultivating non-discriminatory respect and unity in diversity for our communities and offering counseling that values and supports each individual in their personal journey toward wholeness
- Trust: Being trustworthy and responsible communicators while also providing safe, confidential spaces for personal counseling
- Lifelong Learning: Striving to be a network for others to grow personally and professionally in holistic ways
- Safe Space Exploration: Providing a place to share and learn together, without judgment
- Service-mindness: Building community to serve communities in our local and global contexts
Thato Belang
Leadership & Authenticity Coach; Vice President, Colloquy Communities; Co-Director, Colloquy Leadership School for Youth
Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thato is a passionate keynote and TEDx Speaker and has created a platform called “Authentic Dialogues with Thato,” where deep, compelling, engaging, and inspiring conversations take place. These conversations shift perspectives and propel people to serve, to positively influence, and to make an impact in the world.
She is an Authenticity Coach and Facilitator. Her academic research on Business Executive Coaching and Female Leaders’ Authenticity has made her more curious to continuously contribute to the thought leadership about authenticity and authentic leadership. She is a co-Author of a best-selling book on Amazon: My Voice: A Collective Memoir by Women of Substance.
Thato has a Master’s Degree in Business and Executive Coaching from Wits Business School in Johannesburg, and she is a seasoned Management Consultant who has a wealth of experience in the Financial Services sector. Thato is serving as Vice President of Colloquy Communities.
Sean Cook
President, Colloquy Communities
Sean Cook is Senior Vice President at a large outsourcing company managing partners across several verticals for over 15 years that have included Insurance, Integrated Shipping, Automotive, Consumer Electronics, Banking, Financial Services, and HealthCare. Prior to this, Sean spent 13 years at his previous company where he held various leadership roles in Customer Service, Retail Support, and Employee Accounts managing Operations, WFM, and other support groups during his tenure there.
Sean has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from King University located in Bristol, Tennessee. Sean and his family are still in the NorthEast Tennessee area where he enjoys playing sports with his adult kids and date nights with his wife.
Sean’s experience in both sports and working with / managing large teams truly believes in the power of community and in today’s world that goes above and beyond just those within your physical proximity. Sean is serving as President of Colloquy Communities.
Danail Nedkov
Professional Educator; Author; Treasurer, Colloquy Communities
Danail earned his Bachelor’s degree in 2016 at the University of Greenwich in Sports Science and Professional Football Coaching. He obtained a Post-Graduate Diploma of Education from the University of Nottingham in 2020. His professional experience includes working in over 50 schools across the UK and Bulgaria. Whether coaching, teaching, or mentoring in community, private, or international schools, Danail is highly experienced in working for the success of children’s diverse learning needs.
Firmly believing that the first priority for children is to socialize and have fun, Danail loves using sports as an avenue to meet this and other priorities for the holistic development of children. Danail is currently working as an elementary school teacher. In addition to high academic standards, he believes that teaching the values of empathy, respect, honesty, collaboration, and the ability to understand other people’s perspectives are qualities that give a great foundation for lifelong learning.
Being a huge fan of Football and Tennis, Danail’s favourite hobby is playing and watching sports. Danail is serving as Treasurer of Colloquy Communities.
Courtney Sharrett
Psychologist; Administrative Assistant, Colloquy Communities
Graduating from The American College of Greece and earning a B.A. in Psychology with honors, Courtney is a candidate for professional license as a psychologist in Greece. Courtney believes it is essential to find the right support for the various mental health challenges we all can face in life. She believes that attention to mental health is not a passing trend, but it is a core need that deserves attention in everyday life because counseling benefits every person in different ways for the different seasons of life.
She continually seeks to further develop her knowledge of best practices and scientific research in the field of counseling psychology, particularly in the areas of trauma, anxiety, attachment theory, understanding somatic symptoms in the body and practices for recovery, cross-cultural adjustments and transitions, and the correlation between nutrition and mental health. Appreciating the connection between scientific evidence and everyday life, Courtney’s research thesis explored the role of how sleep quality can reduce the effects of daily anxiety levels.
She desires to offer a safe space for processing the many difficulties of life through a client-centered, existential approach (this means you set the pace and focus). As an expat herself, she is particularly interested in supporting expat women as they navigate unique cross-cultural challenges. Originally from the United States, she is currently based in Eastern Europe while working with international clients. She is available to serve adult clients.
Lawrence Sharrett
Mental Health Counselor & Leadership Coach; Director, Colloquy Communities Counseling Center
Originally from the United States, Lawrence is currently based in Athens, Greece. As a mental health professional, he works with mental health initiatives for individuals and for groups. With degrees in counseling psychology and psychotherapy, educational leadership, and theological studies, education has been an important part of his personal and professional journey. With over 10 years of counseling experience in contexts ranging from hospitals to classrooms to online sessions, he provides counseling and coaching for adults, adolescents, or children, especially expats and expat families.
Lawrence has lived and worked in four European cities, including Sofia, Athens, Thessaloniki, and Tirana. His vocational background includes work as a professional educator in international schools, a professional athlete, a cross-cultural educational program coordinator, a mental health counselor in private practice, and a director for creative international mental health initiatives.
Additionally, he is a lifelong learner whose approaches as a counselor are person-centered, existential, and integrative, specifically seeking to empower clients toward innovation and creativity as they discover their way forward in life. He finds joy in the privilege and responsibility of walking alongside others as they grow personally or professionally.
Ivana Udovalieva
Professional Basketball Coach
Ivana Udovalieva is originally from North Macedonia but has lived in Denmark for the past 12 years. She has also lived in Georgia (U.S.A.) for six years where she finished High School and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Georgia Southwestern State University. For the past 10 years, Ivana has been working with and coaching youth teams, visiting local schools, and organizing tournaments and camps, especially with the sport of basketball. In addition to playing professional basketball, Ivana has also worked as a head coach and an assistant coach for Danish club and national teams.
Ivana especially enjoys working with people in teams. She loves being surrounded by people with positive energy and a strong work ethic. In fact, she contributes such influences as helping her develop the character that wants to pass such qualities on to others. She enjoys spending time with her friends, traveling, seeing new places, learning about new cultures, playing and watching all kinds of sports, being in nature, practicing yoga, and just being active.
Heidi Whitfield
Professional Educator; Secretary, Colloquy Communities
Heidi Whitfield is originally from California, but she has lived in Bulgaria for the past 15 years. She is a graduate of Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California. Her professional career has taken her into the classroom as an educator for 15 years, working the past 8 years with first graders. She loves, loves, loves nurturing the little ones. Heidi is the mother of two teenagers, Grace and Trey. She is a lifelong learner who loves to travel, cook, sing, camp, read, and enjoy yoga. She loves Indian food, sushi, red wine, and chocolate- preferably dark. Her international experience has included living experiences in Japan, Costa Rica, Romania, and the Czech Republic. Heidi is serving as Secretary of Colloquy Communities.
Colloquy’s Team of Professionals
Zuzanna Panek
Psychologist
Zuzanna Panek is a Counseling Psychology PhD student at Arizona State University. She is an MS graduate of Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy from the American College of Greece and holds a BS in Psychology from the University of Roehampton in London. She is passionate about mental health, having experience working with individuals from diverse backgrounds and with various psychological difficulties. She is particularly interested in issues related to interpersonal relationships, anxiety, depression, and personality disorders, being an enthusiast of psychodynamic, relational and systemic approaches to therapy. In her work, she applies multicultural perspectives, acknowledging each individual’s unique identities and experiences.
Zina Abu-Haydar
Educational Psychologist; Professional Educator
Based in Saudi Arabia, Zina Abu-Haydar is an educator by passion and profession. After several years of working with marginalized populations, Zina observed that in the educational space, many children need differentiated support, yet educators are often lacking the resources necessary to provide such support; herself included. Her experience inspired her to pursue a master’s degree in Applied Educational Psychology.
With deeper knowledge and a stronger tool kit, Zina’s goal is to play a role in supporting children, their parents and their teachers better understand and accept the specific learning needs of each child through intervention planning, training, and implementation. Her passion for working with children in need of learning support has grown significantly through her work at international schools as a Learning Support Specialist in Guatemala and Saudi Arabia.
Michael Kornas
Musician; Professional Educator
At 29, Michael Kornas is one of the most promising pianists of his generation. Numerous musical greats accompanied and taught him on his musical path, most recently ECM Artist, Dominik Wania, under whose pedagogical direction he completed his master’s degree at the Krakow Music Academy in 2021.
In 2020 he won the internationally renowned “Transatlantyk Instant Composition” competition in Katowice and in March 2021 his debut album “After Darkness Comes Life” was released.
He always finds profound emotions in his compositional process and brings them to life, which he now also shows in his latest project “No Beauty Without Strangeness”, which can be assigned to the category “Modern Jazz”.
In improvised music such as jazz, every musician must be connected to their feelings, their “inner sound” in order to be able to bring their emotions to the audience. Therefore, “Mindfulness” has become an important part of his practice and teaching methods, especially in recent years.
Not only when making music, but also when listening, we can connect with our soul and our spirit and thus achieve an inner balance. Music is emotion and music is in each of us!
Filippos Marselos
Licensed Psychologist – Psychotherapist (MSc)
Filippos Marselos (MSc) is a psychologist and psychotherapist with six years of clinical experience and a private practice in Athens, Greece. An honors graduate of the American College of Greece and the Open University (UK), he holds an MSc in Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy.
Filippos practices an integrative, evidence-based approach. drawing from Process Based Therapy (PBT), Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), systemic, and psychodynamic psychotherapy, to provide personalized, collaborative care. He is an international affiliate member of the APA and has led numerous mental health workshops and seminars with Colloquy. He has also contributed extensive volunteer work in different mental health settings, such as a counseling center, a municipal health center, a mental health helpline and two major psychiatric clinics in Greece. His goal is to provide immediate relief and enable long-term and sustainable personal growth.
Jen Lacroux
Facilitator of Grief Retreats and End-of-Life Grief Companion; Pastoral & Grief Counselor
Born in England, raised in Canada, and now living in France, Jen has developed a deep understanding of the dynamics of change, letting go, and renewal. Her inspiration to support individuals at the end of life or in bereavement came from accompanying a dear friend through her challenging illness and passing. The profound grief of that experience taught her the importance of not facing the end of life or grief alone.
Professionally, she has worked in community development, leadership training, integration services for refugees, and supporting individuals with rare diseases. Her background also includes studies in the arts and world religions, and she is trained in end-of-life and grief support through the Couleur Plume association.
Jen works in areas of community development initiatives. She has a Master’s Degree in Theology from the University of McGill in Montreal, Canada.
Along with her work, Jen is really interested in learning about what it takes to build strong neighborhoods and to increase awareness of environmental issues. For fun, she likes to paint, go out for dinner and read comedy novels. She recently moved from Toronto and now lives with her husband and three children in France.
Melika AzizHaghighi
Licensed Psychologist & Counselor
Melika AzizHaghighi is an Iranian psychologist – psychotherapist located in Athens, Greece. She has been awarded a BA in Psychology and MSc in Counseling Psychology& Psychotherapy from The American College of Greece – Deree in Athens. Currently, she is collaborating with various NGOs in Athens, specializing in networks for migrants and refugees living in Greece. She also has worked with various research projects on gender-based violence, and trauma within vulnerable populations (refugee women). Her main approach in treatment is psychodynamic and existential and her specialties are diversity and culture, stigma, gender-based violence, trauma, psychiatric disorders, depression, and anxiety.
Dima Wadjih
Breathwork Coach & Yoga Instructor
Based in Dubai, Dima is a certified yoga and breathwork teacher that comes with 10 years of experience in the well-being space. She started her personal yoga practice at the age of 19 and dove deeper into the discipline when she completed her first teacher training in India.
The foundation of Dima’s teaching is based on Hatha Yoga & Ayurveda. She has a MA in Cognition where she focused her studies in neuroscience and philosophy. She continued her training in breathwork and Anusara Yoga, with the curiosity of learning more and experiencing the Universal Principles of Alignment and non-duality. She is currently doing a breathwork mentorship to delve into the wisdom and healing benefits of conscious breathing.
Dima’s heritage is from Syria, she has taught in London, in studios in Copenhagen & Spain and is now based in Dubai, UAE. She has a deep passion for holistic well-being practices, understanding the human experience and sharing what she learns, and the tools she uses, with her communities so that they can integrate them into their daily lives.
Anastasia Katsouli
Licensed Psychologist
Anastasia Katsouli is a Greek American psychologist and Integrative psychotherapist. She graduated from Deree College and the Open University with a scholarship, earning a BA in Psychology with honors. She continued her graduate studies in Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy with a scholarship and graduated with distinction.
She completed her training through internships at the 1st Public Clinic of Athens, Greece, and at the Counseling Center of Deree College. She has published studies at International and Greek conferences and has given lectures and seminars to international boards and communities. She is a member of the American Psychological Association and of the Greek Association of Psychologists and currently maintains her private practice in Athens, Greece. She specializes in adults and treats clients with various diagnoses ranging from anxiety and mood disorders to clients facing self-esteem/ confidence issues, behavioral issues or facing grief, and many others.
More information at: akatsouli.com
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