As part of our work in the EU Social Innovation+ Initiative project ISRICM, the Nordic Wellbeing Academy and its European partners are happy to release recording of the fourth webinar in our series from April 8 on social inclusion.

The webinar features the key experts Cristina Carnovale – Kogui Hub, Dr. Yvonne Prinzellner – USTP, and Nina Sønderberg – Nordic Wellbeing Academy.

– Afaf Kabbani on why she is joining the EU-PROMENS Training Programme in Denmark

With 17 years of experience as a midwife and an upcoming master’s degree in social psychology, Afaf Kabbani is no stranger to standing at the intersection of professions, sectors, and human lives. Yet – perhaps precisely because of this – she knows that experience with interdisciplinary work is not the same as truly understanding it.

“You can work in interdisciplinary settings for years without having an actual interdisciplinary perspective, or the tools needed to create real synergy,” she says. That insight is what has drawn her towards the EU-PROMENS training courses in Denmark –  an initiative that places interdisciplinarity within mental health at its very core.

Afaf is deeply engaged with people in transitions: the chosen, the forced, the natural, and those arriving from the outside — such as the digital transformations that shape everyday life at increasing speed. Many people find these challenging. Some face a double challenge, carrying multiple vulnerabilities at once. And it is here, she believes, that interdisciplinarity is not merely an advantage – it is a necessity.

“When we talk about children’s mental health in schools, five or six different professional groups are quickly in play. We are all looking at our part of the elephant – with an equal share of truth, and an equal need for each other’s knowledge to complete the picture.”

But interdisciplinarity demands more than shared meeting rooms. It requires awareness, intention, and structure. “It is not just about putting people in the same room – it is about meaning and direction,” Afaf emphasises. Without these, interdisciplinarity can become resistance rather than synergy.

The international dimension of EU-PROMENS holds particular appeal for her. The project brings together expertise and experience across countries, cultures, and professional tradition – and that, Afaf believes, is precisely what the field needs. “Diversity of the many people contributing with a great deal –that creates a critical mass.”

Nordic Wellbeing Academy looks forward to welcoming Afaf as a participant, and is glad that EU-PROMENS can offer a space where curiosity about other perspectives is not merely welcomed – it is the very point.

Press release – March 20th, 2026
New webinar announced – In our series of webinars as part of the ISRICM project, we are happy to announce the closing edition on social inclusion taking place April 8th, 15 CET.

Connecting social inclusion activist Cristina Carnovale, Diversity Researcher Dr Yvonne Prinzellner, and NWA’s National Director Nina Sønderberg – a practitioner, a researcher, and a bridge-builder – our own International Director Lars Münter will facilitate the conversation as we explore how social inclusion takes shape in real organisations: what it demands of structures, cultures, and the people within them, and what emerging trends are reshaping the landscape for young professionals and media role models.

“Social inclusion is not a policy checkbox – it is a living practice,” says Lars Münter on behalf of NWA. “What we are seeing in our ISRICM work across Europe is that organisations are genuinely willing to commit to inclusion, but they struggle to make it concrete at speed. This session is about exactly that: translating values into action, and understanding what the next generation of professionals and role models actually needs from the systems around them.”

The webinar will also share insights from our recent training sessions in Copenhagen, where participants worked hands-on with the practical architecture of inclusion – and what it takes to embed it in an organisation not as a programme, but as a way of working.

You can sign up via Eventbrite here.

NWA are happy to announce that we will be supporting the European mental health programme EU-PROMENS in Denmark.

Across Denmark, we will conduct a total series of 6 training sessions (3 Core, 3 Advanced) and two webinars – read more about these and sign up here. Join to expand your knowledge, your network, and and your professional profile.

EU-PROMENS is a capacity-building programme on mental health financed by the EU4Health programme and will be implemented by the project consortium (GFA Consulting Group GmbH, Trimbos Institute, and Mental Health Europe) between January 2024 and December 2026. It enhances and improves the capacity of health professionals across Europe in the field of mental health. Read more about the programme (and maybe join elsewhere in Europe) via their website here.

NWA Nina Sønderberg and Lars Münter in February participated in the EU-PROMENS Exchange Programme in Barcelona and got a thorough introduction to local practices for collaboration and knowledge sharing. These insights and experiences is part of the EU-PROMENS ambition and goal – to inspire people to build stronger mental health services, interventions, and practices across sectors and borders.

As part of our work in the EU Social Innovation+ Initiative project ISRICM, the Nordic Wellbeing Academy and its European partners are happy to release recording of the third webinar in our series from March 4 on leadership.

The webinar features the key experts Julia Persson – Scita Health and Nordic Charter for Women’s Health 2040 , Roit Feldenkreis – Conductor Director of Leadership Excellence Program Lotem, and Lars Münter – Nordic Wellbeing Academy.

In late January, NWA joined partners from Denmark, Greece, and Italy on the island of Syros for the Forgotten Fish project’s second implementation meeting – two days that brought together chefs, fishermen, cultural organisations, local authorities, and educators around a shared question: what would it take for the fish we have stopped cooking to return to our tables?

The meeting was hosted by the Lazareta Cultural Association in Hermoupolis, the beautifully preserved neoclassical port capital of Syros. It was a fitting location. The Cyclades, with their rich Mediterranean marine biodiversity and their tradition of simple, resourceful coastal cooking, offer exactly the kind of living laboratory that the Forgotten Fish project needs.

The programme moved fluidly between the strategic and the sensory. Partners coordinated project progress across the three countries, watched video presentations from each partner community, and sat down to lunch with local fishermen over dishes prepared from species that rarely see a restaurant plate. Chef Dimitris Plitas led a demonstration with the Syros Gastronomy Association in the afternoon, showing how forgotten species can be transformed into dishes that meet the highest contemporary standards without losing their connection to place and tradition. The second day brought a visit to the fish market in Hermoupolis, a meeting with the Municipality of Syros, traditional sweet-making demonstrations, and an evening cooking session at Peritinos Restaurant.

For NWA, Syros was a vivid reminder of why the transnational dimension of this project matters. The knowledge flows in all directions: Greek culinary heritage informing Danish kitchen practice, Danish policy analysis supporting Greek and Italian advocacy, Italian survey depth grounding shared recommendations. The best arguments for sustainable food, it turns out, are still made through flavour.

The Forgotten Fish project is an Erasmus+ KA210-VET Small-Scale Partnership (2024-1-DK01-KA210-VET-000253675), co-funded by the European Union.

As part of our work in the EU Social Innovation+ Initiative project ISRICM, the Nordic Wellbeing Academy and its European partners are happy to release recording of the second webinar in our series from February 24 on social inclusion.

The webinar features the key experts Carina Dantas – SHINE 2 Europe and SHAFE Foundation, Eva Turk – UAS St. Pölten, and Lars Münter – Nordic Wellbeing Academy.

Press release – February 4th, 2026:
New webinar announced – In our series of webinars as part of the ISRICM project, we are happy to announce a new edition on leadership taking place March 4th, 10 CET.

Connecting CEO of Danish Life Science Cluster Diana Arsovic – leader, innovator, and architect – with Director of Leadership Excellence Program at Lotem, Roit Feldenkreis – leader, innovator, and conductor – our own International Director Lars Münter will be the three speakers in our webinar facilitated by National Director Nina Sønderberg to explore how leadership plays a role for the ability of future organisations to adapt to diversity, equity, and inclusion in an era of transformation.

“The role of leaders as connectors, value creators, and front runners is an obvious one,” says Lars Münter on behalf of NWA. “The current challenge however is that future leaders have to leave the domain of certainty and security and move towards holding the space for uncertainty and challenge. This means being willing to say “I don’t know – but let’s explore” and being able to truly lead this journey. And obviously this includes a different focus when hiring new staff where curious empathy becomes more important than cocky confidence.”

You can sign up via Eventbrite here.

For more than thirty years, Steve Worrall’s professional identity was forged in the intensity of the fire service. His career progressed from trainee engineer at Rolls-Royce to Assistant Chief Fire Officer for Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service. Leadership in that environment was shaped by rigid hierarchy and a directive “Incident Commander” mindset, where the objective was always clear: rescue the casualty and bring them to safety.

When Steve later transitioned into a third career in psychotherapy, he discovered that the greatest challenge was not learning new techniques, but undergoing a profound psychological, moral and relational reorganisation. The shift required him to fundamentally rethink what it meant to lead, to help and to serve.

The Wall of “Big Boys Don’t Cry”

Steve describes the emergency services as operating within an unspoken but powerful cultural rule: “There’s still an underlying current and underlying culture within the emergency services… of big boys don’t cry and it’s a sign of weakness to put your hand up and say I’m suffering.” Whilst a structured ‘critical incident debrief’ process existed for fire crews as a form of collective group therapy post traumatic incidents, very few firefighters reached out for individual support. Emotional struggle, vulnerability or trauma were rarely acknowledged and were often viewed as weaknesses that could threaten operational credibility. Throughout his thirty-year career, Steve never cried once, even after attending hundreds of deeply distressing and horrific incidents.

The emotional wall finally cracked shortly before his retirement in 2013, while undertaking charity work in Romania. During a visit to a former prison that had become an old people’s home, he sat holding the hand of a dying woman living in appalling conditions. She asked him if he had rope on his fire engine, explaining that she wanted to hang herself. Steve says: “A tear rolled down her cheek and dropped on my hand and it was like molten metal… I came away and returned back to the United Kingdom and I cried non-stop for two weeks.”

On returning to the UK, when his senior officer witnessed him breaking down, the response was silence: the officer simply turned around and walked out. As Steve reflects, in their professional world, officers simply did not know how to respond to emotional exposure. Looking back on that period in his life, Steve is only now able to acknowledge that he unknowingly was suffering from ‘post-traumatic stress syndrome.’

From Rescuer to Empowerer

At the age of 60, Steve made the decision to “go back to school” and train as a psychotherapist. The most difficult adjustment was letting go of the rescuer role. In the fire service, Steve had been trained to take control, act decisively, and solve problems under pressure in a dynamic fast-moving environment. In therapy, his tutors repeatedly challenged him to step back, slow the pace and trust the client’s capacity for self-rescue. Empowerment, rather than intervention, became the goal.

“I wanted to be a rescuer… I wanted to dive in and rescue people and take them to a place of safety because I am an incident commander… but you have to empower people to rescue themselves.”

He also found himself wrestling with the fire service’s deeply ingrained value of perseverance. In operational settings, you never give up on a casualty. By contrast, the constraints of charitable counselling services (where clients may receive only six or eight sessions) felt ethically and emotionally uncomfortable. Accepting these boundaries required another fundamental shift in Steve’s mindset.

Redefining the Eight-Pointed Star

Currently, Steve researches how the values forged in high-risk environments are not abandoned during career transition, but transformed, which he titled Crossing the Threshold. Using the eight-pointed star – the traditional symbol of the fire service – he maps how core traits evolve within the therapeutic context.

• Observation shifts from hypervigilance to mindful presence.
• Sympathy matures into regulated empathy. 
• Tact moves from command-based authority to relational influence. 
• Gallantry is redefined as the courage to tolerate uncertainty, rather than the need for decisive action.

Steve says: “When consciously reworked, these values become resources for ethical awareness, relational depth, and sustainable therapeutic practice.” Through this lens, he reframes his professional history not as something to overcome, but as something to consciously adapt.

A New Chapter of Service

Entering the world of counselling, Steve explains, is often marked by disruption and disorientation, accompanied by a temporary loss of professional certainty. For former first responders, the transition can feel like standing on unfamiliar ground without the armour of rank or command.

Yet, through supervision, reflection, and supportive professional spaces, identity can be reconstructed rather than replaced. Instead of a loss of self, Steve sees this transition as a continuation of service in a different form.

His journey suggests that while “big boys” may once have been told not to cry, it is precisely the capacity to feel, reflect and stay present with uncertainty that enables deeper and more ethical therapeutic work.

If you would like to get in touch with Steve, please reach out to him via email.

Press Release – Copenhagen, January 12, 2026
As part of the EU Social Innovation+ Initiative project ISRICM, the Nordic Wellbeing Academy and its European partners are happy to announce the new and fascinating webinar taking place February 24, 14.00 CET on social inclusion.

The webinar features the key experts Carina Dantas – SHINE 2 Europe and SHAFE Foundation, Eva Turk – UAS St. Pölten, and Lars Münter – Nordic Wellbeing Academy. As an integral part of the ISRICM project, the webinar will enable participants to learn more about key principles, tools, and indicators that help social inclusion become a valuable mechanism for the future of European workplaces.

“The value of diversity is the secret recipe for future workplaces and competitiveness” says Lars Münter and adds “Being able to better wield these principles in practice in HR organisations and in recruitment is a vital tool to unlock innovation, wellbeing, and resilience across the European labour market.”

The webinar is free of charge and registration can be done via the link below. Contact Lars Münter for further information.