Gina de la Chesnaye is a​ core faculty member of Second Response which tends to the emotional & Psychological needs of people exposed to trauma, providing body-centered methods to relieve the harmful effects of stress, distress, & trauma. Most recently Second Response served survivors of sex-trafficking, refugees, street-children and the women in Uganda and Kenya. Gina also leads trauma informed trainings and Care for the Caregiver workshops for clinicians and street counselors. She serves as key faculty for The Lineage Project, bringing mindfulness based exercises, yoga and meditation to at-risk and/or incarcerated youth and their support staff in New York City.

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Gina is also the Founder and Director of The Nachan Project which serves the women and children of the Katwe slums in Kampala, Uganda and offers Mindfulness and Trauma Management Trainings to social workers, street counselors, trauma therapists and caregivers throughout Uganda. 

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Gina is the Trauma Resource Director of the International Center for Mental Health and Human Rights where she facilitates mindful movement, yoga and meditation, a component of the Contemplative Based Trauma and Resilience Training.

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She is an alumna of the 2017 Harvard Global Mental Health Trauma & Recovery Certificate Program. She also offers Contemplative Care classes to the Columbia School of Social Work, NYU and Baruch College as a visiting lecturer. Gina recently lectured on and led Care for the Caregiver at the 3rd Annual Joint UCPA (Uganda Clinical Psychology) and UBHA (Uganda Behavioral Health Alliance) conference at the University of Kisubi, Entebbe, Uganda. 

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Gina recently co-taught a 300 Hour Yoga, Meditation and Dharma Teacher Training at The Three Jewels Outreach Center in NYC with Michael Hewett.

 

She is a contributing writer and photographer to The Huffington Post, NY Yoga + Life and YogaCityNYC and has written numerous articles on yoga, meditation, martial arts and Buddhism. Dedicated to humanitarian relief, she has spent several years focusing on trauma and resiliency work with children in orphanages, schools, IDP camps and monasteries throughout Nepal with the
volunteer organization 108 Lives. In March of 2018, Gina led a team of 13 volunteers.

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She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her two daughters and has a private practice working with trauma survivors at the Iris-Kaplan Center in Manhattan.

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