I wear many hats, including those of a psychotherapist, a historian, and a teacher, but also of a writer, and a promoter of the arts. Growing up in communist Poland in a family impacted by World War II, experiencing in my adolescence the political upheaval and the economic collapse, and in my youth—the systemic political, social, and economic transformation, I have always been receptive to the impact of politics on the lives of individual people and families, and that receptiveness informed my professional choices and personal values. It taught me that though history matters, life is happening in the present.

In the 1990s, I graduated with an MA in history from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. At that time, I also worked various jobs, including in advertising companies and construction businesses. My experience as a young woman trying to find her way through the jungle of early capitalism led me to discover feminism and inspired me to pursue women’s history and gender studies, eventually leading me to a graduate program in history at Adam Mickiewicz University. As a student, I particularly appreciated studying abroad at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, where I expanded my knowledge of women’s history and made lifetime friends with the international students. As a Master’s and doctoral student, I participated in national and international conferences, my work received awards by the Polish Association of History Students, and I published scholarly and popular articles on the subject of women’s and queer history. I take particular pride in the fact that some of my early articles have been included in academic curricula on women’s and gender history. More so, I cherish my academic teaching experiences.

The close encounter with the U.S. academic community, which was made possible thanks to the Polish-American Research Fellowship at the University of Notre Dame, inspired me to leave my comfort zone to pursue doctoral studies in the U.S. I was happy to be accepted to the graduate program at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where I continued studying history with emphasis on gender, masculinity, and cultural studies, and where I also taught undergraduate courses as a Graduate Student Instructor. After obtaining my Ph.D., I taught modern East European history at the University of Notre Dame, continuing my research, publishing, presenting, serving as a mentor to students, and investing time in plans to develop Polish Studies at UND. I published in Polish, English, German, and Russian, mainly on history, contemporary arts, and philosophy. Since then, I have served as a member of the editorial board of scholarly periodicals, and as a board member of the TRES Foundation in Poland. At that time, I also became a mom, and this is by far my greatest accomplishment.

All those experiences made me appreciate the systematic studies and research, the direct engagement in education, as well as made me realize the importance of staying grounded and connected with a community in which one lives. These findings led me to shift my course of life to explore new ways of growth. This shift was sustained thanks to the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at the University of Chicago, where I completed an AM (MSW) in clinical social work. I am grateful to many of my teachers, mentors, and friends throughout my time in Chicago and beyond who guided me on the journey to social services. Through volunteering at Emmanuel House in Detroit, I got to know the experiences of homeless veterans living with substance-use disorders. As a resource counselor at the Chicago Center for HIV Elimination, I learned about challenges faced by Black trans women, bisexual, MSM, and gay men from the South Side of Chicago. Together with a Chicago-based performing and visual artist, Marvin Tate, I co-facilitated an art therapy group for teenagers from the Chicago Public School system who were exposed to gun violence, through the Wellness Recovery Art Program organized by the University of Chicago Medicine and Logan Center for the Arts. I received excellent clinical training, working with military veterans at Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital in Chicago from my supervisor and other mental health professionals. Working with Black youths as a community-based therapist at Lawrence Hall in Chicago gave me precious clinical experience, humility through appreciation of my clients’ life struggles, as well as an insight into the works of a social service agency. Now, I serve as a psychotherapist to the residents of rural and post-industrial parts of Indiana through LPA Counseling in Valparaiso and Michigan City. Since December 2023, I have been working as a clinical social worker in a psychiatric ward at Epworth Memorial Hospital, Beacon Health System in South Bend, IN, providing patients with psycho-social assessments, group therapy, family sessions, individual therapeutic interventions, resource counseling, and advocacy, and participating in treatment team meetings.

In 2021, together with James W. Williams, we had a chance to teach a course on traumatizing and healing aspects of public history at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences (“Shaninka”), with no idea how relevant this topic would soon become. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, I have offered many talks and consultations on trauma-informed care to various institutions and organizations in Poland. Since March 2022, together with James, we have been leading a weekly virtual introvision / supervision group for Ukrainian psychotherapists living and working both in war-torn Ukraine and abroad as refugees. James and I are humbled and honored to be able to support our heroic Ukrainian colleagues, and this experience prompted us, together with Jessica Maria Montalvo, to found Numa, Inc. as a non-for-profit organization assisting people in a humanitarian crisis. Since 2025, in response to mental health needs in our communities, Numa, Inc. has ventured to provide psychoeducation to the public through collaborations with local partners, as we continue our involvement in providing support abroad.