Areas of responsibility:
Helse og omsorg, rus- og psykiatrifeltet, barnevern, beredskap og nødetater, samt kriminalomsorgen
Deborah Borgen
Ever since I was a young girl, I have felt like an outsider – never felt like part of a pack. Perhaps there had been a mistake at the hospital, and that I had come home to the wrong family?
In my childhood I was exposed to violence and abuse, which led to an insecurity, but also more outsiderness. I didn't feel I was seen and heard in love at home, and life was often a struggle.
Fortunately, I had a grandmother who taught me about forgiveness and love, and that deep down people were good, "even if sometimes there is a long way in".
When I hit the wall and became seriously ill, I also had a near-death experience, that made me understand everything my grandmother had talked about.
A power deep within humans
There lies an innate power deep within humans, which we can consciously use in our daily lives. I gained insight into a new way of functioning and that everyone have the resources to create a good life for themselves and others.
With a new understanding of how we function as humans, and the interaction between brain, body and mind, we can communicate well with ourselves and others across religion, culture, ethnicity and geographical affiliation.
Regardless of who we are, we can utilize the brain's capacity in order to have a better life, better relationships and be an individual who creates better solutions in cooperation with others.
And we have to learn it from an early age.
In the Deborah Borgen’s Foundation, we can contribute at all levels and in all areas of society.
Today we treat symptoms. I believe that behind every symptom there is a cause, and by using the inherent resources that humans have, we can resolve trauma, lack of love, the feeling of never being good enough and outsiderness.
A center for rehabilitation and aftercare
One of my big goals is to start a center where people can get help with mental health and substance abuse.
Those who are at the center will receive help with rehabilitation and aftercare. Everyone who works at the center must use the philosophy and techniques of DB-System® and those who receive help must learn how to use it.
I want to create a center resulting in a different form of treatment and aftercare for those who struggle with substance abuse and addiction. From my own experience, and with more than 30 years of experience helping people, I know that addiction has other causes than the symptoms we can see on the surface.
I want to give people hope – support and uplift them to see their own potential and use their resources. Resources that enable us to create a better daily life for ourselves and others – without being stuck in what we have learned and old experiences.
Cecilie Stenhaug
What is the meaning of life? What are we doing here? These are things I wondered about as a child, and I also wondered why no adults talked to me about this.
I met Deborah in 2007 and got to know her philosophy and methodology for "life mastery". At this time, I studied pedagogy at NTNU, and thought that this is the key. The key to bring about the changes we need in the education system.
Right then and there I decided that I would spend my life working to make what is now called DB-System®known to children, youth and to those who work with them.
The first step was to write a master's thesis about the method. Since then, two books has been written in collaboration with Deborah, and finally in 2022 Deborah Borgen’s Foundation was realized.
My matters of heart
I am passionate about two things: one is to give children and youth good start in life. The second is the opportunities it provides to work on creating new and better solutions in society, through changing the education system.
Kindergarten and school development are therefore my matters of heart. How to create a human-oriented education? Where the most important thing children learn is learning about how we function as human beings, and as humans in the world? How to manage your own life, huge and minor, and how can we work together to create good solutions for the community?
The method promotes creativity, intuition, empathy and more collaboration. And if there is anything we need more of in todays society, it’s exactly that.
My vision is to create peace in the world, through changing the education system. My hope is that a good and improved education system can create a society that makes room for everyone.
I look forward to inspiring kindergartens and schools to future change and growth.
Dorothee Tettweiler
Helping others to help themselves has always been a matter of my heart. In retrospect, I find this as a common thread through all my choices.
I am passionate about seeing people grow and tap into more of their inherent resources. For a large part of my life I have worked as a therapist and have studied many different forms of therapy, always in search of answers. I wanted to understand what the driving force within us is and how we can bring forth our full potential – not least for myself.
I’ve always known there was something more we could do, and when I got to know Deborah and her philosophy, and not least her powerful energy, I knew I had found something valuable.
This was completely unique, and something that I felt I wanted to share with others.
New hope – new methods
I first met Deborah in connection with a project in Trondheim municipality. At the time I worked at the crisis centre involved in the project. I learned the system and it produced quick results for myself and those I helped at the shelter.
It further developed into a course for women exposed to violence in close relationships, which gave me hope that we could adopt new methods that really had a great effect.
Since then, I have been working with DB-System®, using the tools and techniques to understand, change old autopitots and bring forth new goals.
When Deborah was to set up a foundation, there was no doubt in my mind that I should be involved. Finally, I could contribute my knowledge and my enthusiasm to help people help themselves.
Being able to give people with trauma new hope, and not least tools and a new understanding of how we function mentally, is fantastic.
Jeanette Bredsten
Without DB-System® ’s tool of change, I am sure I would have been part of the statistics of depression, stress, burnout... and so forth. I am so grateful that I met Deborah before I hit rock bottom. Because that's where I was heading.
Not wanting to attend family gatherings, having to "pull myself together" to go shopping, afraid to talk to people and do new things were all, in retrospect, symptoms that my mental health was not good.
After being trained in DB-System® and using the techniques, I was able to build myself up, and am now able to handle the most incredible stressful situations in daily life.
I am passionate about getting this system into society – it prevents, while treating causes – not just symptoms.
Getting out of the roundabouts!
We must change the way we communicate with ourselves (in our minds), with others, and create new solutions. We can do that when we learn about how we function and how we adjust, change, and create what we want to see. Not just talk about it and "repair" a little on the surface and continue in the same roundabouts. As Deborah says: "We need to move from symptom treatment to root cause treatment." – And that's what you and I can do.
Deborah Borgens Stiftelse fremmer en god mental helse i ethvert individ, og vil endre den måte vi behandler og kommuniserer med oss selv og andre på.
That’s why I am a very active board member, and use all my knowledge and resources to promote the foundation in society and around the world.