Stories as a bridge to understanding and emotions as a path to insight

Who is Janette Motlová?

Janette Motlová (Maziniová) has been a methodologist, trainer, and innovator in inclusive education and social inclusion of youth at the national and international levels for nearly two decades. Her passion lies in building bridges between those who can and know, and those who need and don’t know. In her work, she primarily uses emotional learning, which is a powerful learning tool for every individual. Besides training companies and teachers, she specifically focuses on educating and developing foster, professional parents and caregivers raising Roma children in non-Roma environments. She helps them understand not only the child’s experience but also the feelings of separation and the failures of biological parents. She was the first implementer of Living Libraries in Slovakia, having trained over 2,900 people who now use their experience to educate children in Slovakia’s impoverished areas. She publishes for Denník N (commentaries), is a guest and speaker at events where she presents the need to build a sensitive community attentive to vulnerable groups in society, especially children and youth. She is the recent recipient of the Trainer of the Year 2017 award. Janette is Roma, both an adoptive and biological mother, and the author of the autobiographical novel Cigánka.

Janette worked at the Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for Roma Communities, later leading the national campaign Everyone Different – All Equal at Iuventa – Slovak Youth Institute, and then the team preparing and implementing the first national youth-focused project KomPrax. In 2015, she decided to found her own nonprofit organization Eduma. Today, she is the director of the Research Institute of Child Psychology and Pathopsychology.