INTERVIEW WITH DR. THEANO KALAVANA

Dr. Theano Kalavana is the President of OPEK, an association for social reform that aims to facilitate dialogue on issues such as foreign policy, Cyprus’ participation in the EU, Türkiye’s European path, and various aspects of European integration. Dr. Theano Kalavana holds a PhD in Psychology, an MSc in Health Psychology, and a BSc in Psychology. Her career focuses on the Psychology of Motivation, Communication Skills, and Self-Management. Until 2019, she was in academia as an Assistant Professor in Health Psychology and Clinical Communication at the St. George’s Medical Program of the University in London through the Medical School, University of Nicosia. Before that, she was a visiting lecturer at the Nursing Department of Cyprus University of Technology and the Department of Psychology of the University of Cyprus. In 2014, she received a big European Research Grant and researched self-regulation skills and patient satisfaction with health professionals. Since then, she has been delivering training programs (based on the research results) to hospital organizations on resilience, effective communication skills, self-regulation for goal accomplishment, and patient satisfaction. Due to this experience and exposure, her journey into the HR and the Business world started. Apart from academia, she has worked as a project manager and facilitator for leadership programs in large organizations. Since 2019, she has worked mostly as an Executive Coach in Leadership and Well Being. She is a Professional Certified Coach in Leadership accredited by the International Coach Federation, with more than 4,000 hours of one-to-one and team coaching. She is certified in Multipliers and ExPI.