Leadership Team

In 2000, Helene moved to Germany where she began working with the research team at the University of Heidelberg – German Center for Aging.  Eventually Helene became a part of the clinical team at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University – Institute for Psychology – Verhaltenstherapie-Ambulanz in Frankfurt.  Shortly after returning to the US in 2005, Helene accepted a position at Northwestern Memorial Hospital – Osher Center for Integrative Health – where she maintains a clinical practice.  Helene is also on the medical staff at Northwestern’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and she is an assistant professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.  After completing a Master’s Degree in Applied Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania in 2011, positive psychology has been Helene’s primary focus.  Helene has been running positive psychotherapy groups, conducting positive psychotherapy workshops for psychology interns and medical students, and in 2016, she began teaching Northwestern University’s first graduate course in positive psychology.  Most recently, Helene was an Instructor for Dr. Seligman’s Science of Well-Being Course at the University of Pennsylvania.

She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Chicago. She has been the director of the Instituto de Ciencias de la Felicidad Tecmilenio in Mexico, created the  Diploma in Positive Psychology at the Universidad Iberoamericana and is on the faculty of the Certificate in Positive Psychology  (CIPP) program for Latin America. She co-founded and teaches in Grupo Campos Elíseos, a training institute for psychotherapists.

In her work as a clinician and coach, Margarita incorporates scientific findings on human flourishing from positive psychology, with collaborative and narrative ways of working with clients to generate dialogue, expand their life stories and discover new possibilities. Margarita is on the advisory  board of directors of IPPA, is the president of the Mexican Positive Psychology Society (SMPP) and is a global representative of IPEN, the International Positive Education Network. She publishes regularly, both in academic journals and books, and in popular media.

For more than 15 years, Dr. Rashid has worked with individuals experiencing complex mental health issues including severe depression, debilitating anxiety, borderline personality disorder and PTSD using a culturally contextualized strengths-based therapeutic approach.  Dr. Rashid has also worked with individuals experiencing severe trauma, including with 9/11 families, survivors of Asian Tsunami of 2004, with refugee families and journalists who have worked in high conflict zones and with survivors of mass shootings. Dr. Rashid has delivered more than fifty invited talks and keynotes and trained mental health professionals and educators internationally. His work has been published in academic journals, included in textbooks of psychiatry and psychotherapy and been featured media. His book Positive Psychotherapy (2018), co-written with Martin Seligman, is considered one of the most comprehensive clinical resources in the field and has been translated into ten languages so far. Dr. Rashid won the Outstanding Practitioner Award (2017) from the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) and Chancellor Award (2018) from the University of Toronto. Research initiatives: SBR: www.strengthsbasedresilience.com PPT: Positive Psychotherapy Flourish: www.utsc.utoronto.ca/flourish Campus Mental Health: Community of Practice

Jen runs a private practice, serving clients in Ontario, Massachusetts, and Florida. As the Membership Lead for the Clinical Division of the International Positive Psychology Association, she co-founded the first positive psychology peer consultation group. She has developed therapy programs at universities and hospitals in the Boston area, including creating a youth resiliency program at McLean Hospital as part of her dissertation. This program, focused on cultivating self-compassion in adolescents, was later adapted for adults at Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School. At Massachusetts General Hospital, she developed a functional restoration curriculum for chronic pain patients.

Currently, Jen offers self-compassion, resilience, and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) groups for adults. She is always looking to connect with division members about positive psychology, groups, or to hear what members want to see more of in their clinical community.

During her degree, she completed a few positive psychology related projects. She collaborated with local lead geriatric psychiatrists on the “Fountain of Health” initiative for seniors’ positive mental health. She conducted a study on the well-being of rural physicians and the findings were presented at the 4th World Congress on Positive Psychology. She carried out a project on workplace wellness for healthcare professionals, which was presented at the 5th World Congress. She’s passionate about promoting optimal health and currently works in natural health with essential oils (airanyuan.com). One of her biggest accomplishments in life is to have helped a close family member overcome Depression.

She holds a Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She also serves as a teaching assistant in the department of psychology at Penn, and was a TA for Dr. Seligman’s “The Science of Well-Being” undergraduate course. Nicole is passionate about furthering the research and practice of positive clinical psychology, and is excited to contribute meaningfully to IPPA’s Positive Clinical Division.