Norwegian Clinical Psychologist, Researcher and Program Developer
PhD Solfrid Raknes is a Norwegian Clinical Psychologist, Researcher and Innovator. She is the driving force behind The Helping Hand app, and other prize winning cognitive behavioral based material which is used by at least 800 000 children in Norway, as well as by more than 6000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Since 2004 she has lectured extensively both in universities and a variety of health- and school-systems in Norway and internationally. Raknes is involved in a wide spectrum of humanitarian and research projects focused on improving mental health, and reducing poverty. After having spent the last 4 years mainly in Lebanon with Syrian refugees, she is now splits her time between Bergen in Norway, Beqaa in Lebanon, and Washington DC in USA.
Special interests:
- Health promotion and prevention of mental health disorders.
- Large scale implementation.
- Tech in mental health: e-health, e-learning, serious games, edutainment.
- Children and adolescents.
- CBT and Low intensity CBT.
- Social and emotional learning.
Dr. Raknes represents Norway on the European Federation of Psychologists Association (EFPA) where she is a member of the Board of Prevention and Promotion, and sits on the board for Reaching Across Borders. She was a central figure as a Board member for the Norwegian Association for Cognitive Therapy from 2004 to 2017, and in the European Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies´ (EABCT) group for low intensity cognitive therapy from its inception. She was central in creating the fundamentals for the Norwegian version of Improved Access to Psychological Therapis programme (IAPT); Rask Psykisk Helsehjelp, that now is established in 59 counties in Norway.
Dr Raknes received Health West´s and Bergen University Hospital´s prize for Innovation in 2012, and “Aasa Gruda Skards pris” in 2013. She was the recipient of a personal grants from Kavlifondet in 2014, from Extrastiftelsen in 2014, and from The Norwegian Research Council. She was nominated to The Romsdaling of the Year and The Bergenser of the Year in 2018 and 2019, and has recently won two grant proposals from Innovation Norway through NORAD´s vision 2030 program.