Martha Givaudan

Career

Givaudan began her career at the National Institute of Perinatology, researching neonatal behavior (1980). In 1989, she began working at the Mexican Institute for Family and Population Research (Yo quiero Yo Puedo). The programs she has participated in creating, implementing, and evaluating throughout the years focus on building life skills while providing key thematic knowledge and reducing barriers to change, across a variety of topics pertaining to the daily challenges of life in low-income settings. Such topics include: health care topics (including alcohol and substance abuse prevention, healthy eating and hygiene practices, diabetes prevention, reproductive rights, breast and cervical cancer prevention, coping with depression, overcoming partner violence, and new mother and infant health), productivity topics (such as developing a culture of savings, commercialization of products, creating a small business), citizenship topics (such as human rights and gender equality, NGO professionalization, civic engagement in the community, violence, and parental responsibility), and education topics (such as sexuality, alcohol and substance abuse prevention, hygiene and health, violence and bullying as well as education in finances, civics and ethics, and talent development). Givaudan has written and published over 50 educational materials as part of the Yo Quiero, Yo Puedo programming. The text book "Civics and ethics training" has been distributed at the national level.

As a certified therapist for individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder, she has contributed to many research projects in this field. Her most recent publication for the Journal of EMDR Practice and Research reported the findings from a randomized control trial that tested the effects of different psychological and pharmacological treatments on adult PTSD patients.