Dr. Mary Brewer Schacht, PhD, LICSW
Founder
Dr. Schacht is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, International Psychologist, and disaster responder. She served as a Contributing Editor and Adjunct Instructor of International Psychology at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
Dr. Schacht is the Co-Founder of Utu International. She earned her Ph.D. in International Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and Master in Social Work from Smith College School for Social Work. She is trained in the Hakomi method of psychotherapy and engaged at The Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University.
Dr. Schacht has long advocated for listening to and learning from other persons’ perspectives, worldviews, and orientations. She is an ardent supporter of skillful, compassion-based social action. As a teenager, Dr. Schacht first arrived in Kenya with the National Outdoor Leadership School. She remained committed to East Africa. She conducted her doctoral research in northern Uganda among men and women who experienced war and forced displacement. The aim of her work was to explore the meaning and experience of sociocultural identity, belonging, and rights from the perspective of Ugandan men and women.
Since then, Dr. Schacht’s research has focused on social issues in East Africa, including drivers of food insecurity and climate action. Other research interests include the social construction of rights, trauma, and resilience among displaced populations, stress response among persons with histories of war exposure, and stress response among providers. Recently, Dr. Schacht, Utu and partner agencies worked together with Kenyan youth via participatory video research, monitoring, and evaluation in the North Rift Valley with an aim toward peace. Dr. Schacht and Utu engage generally with youth led organizations in the North Rift.
Dr. Schacht served as a member of the Editorial Team for the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies’ newsletter StressPoints. As Contributing Editor of the Global Perspectives column, Dr. Schacht received members’ work for review and collaborative exchange to ready submissions for publication. Also, she works with non-profits in East Africa to edit their work.
Dr. Schacht is a disaster responder, whereby she deploys to areas impacted by humanitarian crises and natural disasters. She is a consultant to refugee-led organizations and providers who work with people who’ve experienced extreme violence.
Dr. Schacht served as an Adjunct Instructor in the International Psychology Ph.D. Program at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She was a Subject Matter Expert in Mental Health Care in Humanitarian Settings and in Global Mental Health. Her role was to develop elective courses to meet Quality Standards. Her focus at the Carter School is Conflict Analysis and Resolution in Prevention and Stabilization Contexts.