Lena Swinnen

Lena is a researcher working on the concept of experiencing mattering in old age. She focusses on qualitative and participatory research in residential settings, such as assisted living facilities for older people. Using photo elicitation techniques she explores sources of mattering together with residents in service flats.

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Lena is a clinical psychologist (Ma.Sc. in Clinical and Health Psychology, KU Leuven, 2016) and is specialised in the treatment of trauma (Arq Academy) and transcultural psychiatry (McGill University). During a traineeship with the European Commission she worked and published on research policy. As a researcher with Stanford University working in rural China, she explored multiple mental health factors in primary caregivers and the impact on infants in Shaanxi Province. After multiple years as a Mental Health and PsychoSocial Support Specialist and clinical practitioner in the humanitarian sector working with refugees, she now combines her research with clinical work in a centre for care after sexual violence in Brussels.

 

Lena is interested in how to foster and support people's resilience, post-traumatic growth, and how to find (again) a sense of meaning in their lives.