Ilya Yacevich
Founding Director, Global Trauma Project (GTP); Ashoka Fellow
Categories: Alumni, Social Entrepreneurs
***Alumna of the Ashoka Visionary Program (CEE) 2022/2023***
Ilya Yacevich is a visionary for mental health and healing. Yacevich is Founding Director at Global Trauma Project (GTP), a Kenya-based, capacity-strengthening organization working to break cycles of intergenerational violence and abuse.
GTP works to prevent and reduce sexual and gender-based violence, child abuse, and community conflict by establishing safe spaces and strengthening community-based healing initiatives. Since 2013, GTP has trained and supported a network of 600+ community mental health providers, offering trauma healing supports to 6500+ people across Eastern Africa.
For over two decades, Yacevich has specialized in working with children and families with histories of complex and inter-generational trauma, and provided organizational consultation/ program development in a variety of settings, including clinics, residential treatment centers, shelters, schools, NGOs, UN agencies, and community-based programs.
She is an Ashoka Fellow, and Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (New York, USA), holds a master’s degree from St. Mary’s University, USA and post-graduate certifications in International Trauma Studies and Traumatic Stress Studies. She has special interest in international/ cultural issues pertaining to mental health, and in strengthening trauma-informed supports with communities where infrastructure for mental health is lacking.
