I am Gergana Manolova and GloballyMinded.org is my website dedicated to research, popularization and therapeutic knowledge about mental health. I am Bulgarian and have qualifications in clinical and counselling psychology. I completed my MSc in Global Mental Health from King’s College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2017. My passion about global mental health started several years before that, and this degree was very important to me. I hope to use it as a stepping stone in my work and advocacy for improving mental health treatment, self-care and services around the world. With this in mind, I started this website and also run the newsletter Global Mental Health Unboxed, which supplies 500+ subscribers with events, news, publications, job ads and resources in the global mental health field.
I have previous training as a clinical psychologist and experience in working as a counsellor, carrying out clinical psychodiagnostics and organizing educational events for students in psychology. For a few years I was also a civil servant in the prison and probation administration of Bulgaria, where I worked with the Council of Europe and several European national prison administrations as partners. I also specialized in extremism and radicalisation.
Where I am now: (January 2022) I am currently a consultant for the World Health Organization. I am also wrapping up our data analysis and publications for the the COMGAP-S (integrating mental health into primary care in Northern Sri Lanka) project, carried out by Dr Shannon Doherty at Anglia Ruskin University, which I worked on between 2018 and 2021. Last year, I was a consultant for UNICEF Bulgaria on mapping of MHPSS services, policies and strategies for children and youth in the country and giving recommendations. In 2018 I had a contract working for the INTREPID II (research on psychoses in India, Nigeria and Trinidad) project at King’s College London. Aside from that, I’ve done many research projects including systematic reviews, literature reviews and research support.
What I do: I run the newsletter Global Mental Health Unboxed for events, resources, jobs, publications in the field. I mainly work to support mental health projects through project management, strategic planning, building and optimizing data collection systems, managing data, carrying out quantitative and qualitative analyses. I also construct and maintain websites and social media presence. I like to have multiple side projects in the field as well – anything from data extraction through desk reviews and systematic reviews to educational videos and this website.
If you want to get in touch with me, the quickest way is through the form below. You can also find me on Twitter and LinkedIn.