OPEN CIRCLES - Key Persons
Jana believes in the humanising capacity of deep listening and storytelling. She is passionate about creating and facilitating spaces where people can have the important, but often hard conversations we need to have to bring about deep transformation in our organisations and society as a whole. These are the elements that have drawn her to understand what it means to practice dialogue not only in her profession, but also as a posture to the whole of life and being. In doing so she has become increasingly curious about how we as human beings become more courageous, imaginative and compassionate and how we as communities become more just, inclusive and resilient.
Jana is the co-founder of Open Circles, an experienced facilitator and a registered clinical psychologist. Over the past 15 years she has worked in diverse settings, including the public and private health sectors, non-profit and religious environments as well as corporate spaces. She has the capacity to work with diverse groups of people and navigate contextual considerations and complexities with sensitivity. Jana has an MA (Clinical Psychology) (cum laude) and an MA (Vocational Practice).
Insightful and experienced, Liesel brings both professional ability and personal authenticity to her work. Liesel has partnered with a wide range of clients for over 15 years, in South Africa and across Africa, the UK and Europe. She is a strategic Leadership and Inclusive Culture consultant and an internationally accredited facilitator and coach.
In 2015 Liesel trained with Dr. Brené Brown in London, and she is part of a small cohort of certified Dare to Lead™ facilitators globally. As a co-founder of Open Circles, Liesel is especially passionate about the way in which courage-building, vulnerability, empathy and shame resilience (key skillsets of this work), can provide the leadership "muscle" for building more inclusive cultures.
Liesel holds an MPhil in Applied Ethics (Cum Laude) from the University of Stellenbosch. She also has a Diploma in Personal Transformational Coaching from the Animas Centre for Coaching in London and is certified as an Associate Coach with the International Coach Federation.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Member of the Durban Sister Cities
Vicky is passionate about exploring ways in which justice and peace can be built through storytelling, the creative arts and dialogue. She worked as a teacher before moving to Cambodia to work in anti-human trafficking. She then moved to Durban in 2014, where she has participated in a number of initiatives, such as Durban Dialogue, Red Light Anti-Human Trafficking Initiative and Story Sessions.
Vicky is the co-founder of Open Circles and is an experienced dialogue facilitator and peace builder. She is also a senior social cohesion advisor for Zoe-Life, a capacity building and development NGO.
Vicky is a member of the Durban Sister Cities program and participated in their exchange with Chicago in 2019. She is also an alumni of the Unyoke Foundation, an independent, African based, global resource organization that specializes in the inter-generational accompaniment of peacebuilders.