N. Lynn Hiestand, President

Lynn is a corporate lawyer and former partner of the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP resident in Chicago and London. Lynn previously served as Iraqi Country Director for Heartland Alliance International, a human rights organization providing legal, social and mental health services to vulnerable populations, including survivors of GBC and SGBV, and continues to consult on human rights issues. She serves on the Board of Visitors of Georgetown University Law Center and on the Executive Board of Justice, a law reform and human rights organization working to strengthen the justice system in the United Kingdom. She is also a trustee for Wellbeing of Women, a UK charitable organization investing in pioneering medical research to keep women well at each stage of life, and for Literature for All of Us, which helps disadvantaged individuals realize the transformative strength of their voices by growing communities of readers and writers. 

Ann Blume, Treasurer

Ann Blume is a community leader living in Seattle, Washington. She currently serves on Seattle University’s Board of Trustees and the College of Arts and Sciences Leadership Council. Ann also was on the SightLife Board, the University of Washington’s Center for Infant Mental Health and Development Council and Teens in Public Service Board. After graduating from Cornell University with a Biology and Nutrition degree in 1978, Ann moved to Washington D.C. where she helped implement the first generation of personal computers as a staff assistant to Senator Bob Packwood of Oregon. Ann met her husband, Bruce, while working in the U.S. Senate. In 1982, Bruce and Ann founded the Blume Company, a Seattle real estate development business which has helped transform Seattle’s South Lake Union, University, Eastlake and Fremont neighborhoods. The parents of five children, they share a passion for family, public policy, and philanthropy.

Mary Briese Matheron, Secretary

Mary Briese Matheron is a senior Advancement professional currently living in Berkeley, California, where she serves as the Senior Assistant Dean for Development and Alumni Relations at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. Prior to joining Berkeley Law, Mary served as the Associate Dean of Development at Yale Law School from 2013 until 2017. She also worked in a variety of Development positions at Georgetown University Law Center, including as Executive Director of Development, from 1996 until 2011. In between stints at Georgetown and Yale law schools, Mary was a consultant on leadership giving at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Her career in Development began at her high school alma mater, the Academy of Holy Names in Silver Spring, Maryland, where she was the Director of Development from 1985-1987. Mary also worked in Georgetown University’s Athletics Department from 1978-1983, serving as Head Women’s Basketball Coach from 1981 to 1983. Mary holds a B.S. in Kinesiological Sciences from the University of Maryland.

Patricia Bresky, Ph.D

Patty is a clinical psychologist who has been in practice for over 20 years. In San Rafael, CA, she had a private practice, supervised interns in clinical psychology and marriage and family therapy (Community Institute for Psychotherapy), then went on to serve as a clinical director. Patty returned to the East Coast in 2008, established a private practice, and became a clinical supervisor in the Psychiatry Department at Brown Medical School. In 2012, she was appointed Clinical Assistant Professor. Patty received her own clinical training at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston) where she specialized in individual and group treatment of trauma. She has advanced certification in psychoanalytic psychotherapy (Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute) and hypnotherapy. Patty’s clinical and theoretical focus on the silencing of abuse in recent years fits hand-in-glove with the mission of the Common Threads Project.

Maureen Brotherton

Maureen Brotherton currently sits on Seattle University’s Board of Trustees and Achon Uganda Children’s Board. Service includes past President of Seattle Rotary Service Foundation Board and continued membership in Seattle Rotary/Rotary International. Maureen was past chairman of Seattle University’s Board of Regents an Seattle University’s College of Arts and Sciences’ Leadership Council. When her children were young she served for several years on Seattle Children’s Hospital’s Uncompensated Care Board as well as The Villa Academy Board of Trustees. She has a BA in Society and Justice, University of Washington and a master’s degree in Not-for-Profit Leadership from Seattle University.  Maureen co-founded, with her daughter Tia, Teens In Public Service (TIPS) in 1997. Maureen and her husband, Joe, are the proprietors of Doe Bay Resort & Retreat located on Orcas Island.

Sone-Seeré Burrell, MA, MS

Sone-Seeré Burrell is an artist and art therapist living in Richmond, VA. She completed her undergraduate degree in Graphic Design and Technology at North Carolina A&T, where she was also a member of the E. Gwynn Dance Company. Sone-Seeré relocated to Washington DC for several years where she worked as a high school art teacher. Desiring more specialized training to address the needs of students, Sone-Seeré went on to earn her MS in Mental Health Counseling and MA in Art Therapy from The George Washington University. It was at GW where she was introduced to story-cloth making, a modality which she still finds powerful in both her personal and professional life. She served as the student liaison for the multicultural committee for AATA (The American Art Therapy Association) circa 2015. Sone-Seeré has worked as an artist, instructor and art therapist, providing services and experiences in residential facilities, hospital settings, school systems, and in the community. Her personal art journey has been an integral part of her world, engaging in creative expression as a community muralist, commissioned portrait artist, live painter for special events, and quilter.

Patricia Friedman, MD

Patty Friedman is a retired pediatric geneticist who has been active in her retirement with a variety of volunteer activities. In addition to her work as a geneticist, Patty is a trained forester and naturalist and a certified yoga instructor. She fulfills her interest in patient care with hospice work and her love of the outdoors with work for the Audubon Naturalist Society. She as been a great supporter of Common Threads since its beginning and she looks forward to being more active now that she is a board member.

Henrietta Johnson

Henrietta Johnson is a Senior Vice President in the Client Fraud Protection Technology group within Consumer, Small Business and Wealth Technology at Bank of America. She has been at Bank of America for 13 years. Henrietta is passionate about serving others and seeks opportunities to give back both within the bank community and outside. She is an active member of the bank’s Women in Technology & Operations group, and is serving as the North Texas market lead for the Girls Who Code Summer Immersion program for the second year in a row, as well as market lead for Black Girls Code. Henrietta holds a B.A. in French, German and Information Systems from the University of the West of England and an M.S. in Management Information Systems from the London School of Economics. She is married with two sons and is a recent transplant from New Jersey to Addison, TX. She enjoys travel, word games, DIY projects, experimental cooking, and chilling with bad tv.

Rachel A. Cohen, Ph.D

Founder, Executive Director

Rachel is a clinical psychologist who has been in practice for over 30 years. She founded Common Threads in Geneva Switzerland in 2012. Now based in New York, she is a consultant specializing in psychosocial support for survivors of trauma. She has designed recovery projects in the developing world, training local staff and implementing interventions in post conflict areas including Bosnia, South Sudan, Uganda, Ecuador and Nepal. She earned her doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1986, and a certificate in global mental health from the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma in 2010.

Catherine Butterly, BA, DIP PSYCH, HDIP, CFT, MSC

Senior Adviser for Trauma Theory and Training

Catherine is a Psychotherapist, Family and Play Therapist and has trained in a number of Body-based approaches to working with Trauma. She has been a practitioner, lecturer, clinical supervisor and trainer for many years and is the Programme Coordinator of the M.A in Counselling at Webster, University, Geneva. Catherine has been a part of  Common Threads for the past 8 years, training in Bosnia, Eastern Congo and New York . She has been involved in project planning, training, supervising, grant writing and theory building. Catherine has spoken about the work of Common threads at a number of International Conferences - in Geneva, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Novi Sad in Serbia and Dublin.  Prior to working in Geneva, Catherine worked in Zimbabwe for 8 years. She collaborates with a number of organizations working in challenging environments including in refugee communities in Greece and has run Mind/Body stress management programs for U.N organizations and others. She passionately believes in community oriented approaches to healing and the intrinsic power of Common Threads work to be a witness to silenced atrocities. She loves to quilt.

Jamuna Maharjan Shrestha

Senior Consultant for CTP Programs in Nepal

Jamuna is a senior Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) practitioner. She currently works as a freelancing expert with several organizations in Nepal and abroad. She worked for several years at TPO Nepal as a clinical manager where she supervised colleagues and led the Sajha Dhago (Common Threads) program since 2014. She has been working in the mental health and psychosocial service field for over 25 years with various populations including refugees, torture survivors, conflict-affected people, and trauma survivors. She has worked with women and children, SGBV survivors, LGBTQ, trafficked survivors, and families alike. She is a globally certified Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE) service provider and Common Threads facilitator. She has run the 21 circles of the Sajha Dhago program with women across Nepal.

Lisa Raye Garlock, ATCS, LCPAT

Art Therapy Consultant

Lisa is a full-time faculty member in the graduate Art Therapy program at George Washington University. She has presented workshops and given lectures on art therapy topics in the U.S. and abroad. She is a credentialed art therapy supervisor (ATCS) and is a Licensed Clinical Professional Art Therapist (LCPAT). She has worked with adults, adolescents and children in hospitals, schools, community-based organizations and shelters. In addition Lisa is an accomplished artist, exhibiting work in a variety of media, with a current focus on arpilleras. She studied printmaking and textiles at Rochester Institute of Technology and earned a Masters degree in Art Therapy from Nazareth College of Rochester.

Tally Tripp, MA, MSW, LCSW, LICSW, ATR-BC

Director of Training

Tally is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Registered Board-Certified Art Therapist who brings over 40 years clinical experience to her work with traumatized populations. Widely recognized as an expert in somatic, expressive, and experiential approaches for the treatment of trauma, Tally is certified in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and Intensive Trauma Therapy (ITT). For 30 years, Tally was a professor at the George Washington University Art Therapy Program where she developed an innovative trauma and art therapy curriculum and was the founding Director of the George Washington University Art Therapy Clinic. Her international work includes providing training and consultation in Sub Saharan Africa: South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as in eastern Croatia, Italy, and Ukraine. In her free time, Tally loves to travel, create mixed media art, and work in her garden.

Cynthia Uccello, MA

Consulting Psychologist, Bosnia Project Manager

Cynthia is a Counselor and Clinical Supervisor with a private practice in Switzerland and the U.K. working with adolescents and adults. She also works as a volunteer Counselor and Clinical Supervisor at Cotswold Counselling (S. Cotswolds, U.K.), a registered charity which offers counseling service to the community at an affordable cost. She was previously the Co-Chair of Project HOPE Geneva, a Geneva-based organization dedicated to supporting survivors of sexual violence.

Nissim Ram

IT Consultant

Nissim Ram is an IT and development consultant who specializes in Web and JavaScript development. He is passionate about streamlining processes for non-for-profits on the organizational end so that the experts can provide assistance to the communities who need it most. As a graduate from Brandeis University in history and anthropology he has a wide range of interests and is always excited for moments when the humanities and digital world intersect. He travels between the New York and Boston area. In his free time he enjoys music production and following world soccer.