Vira Salzburn

Vira Salzburn is a Ukrainian-American living in her beloved city of Savannah, Georgia. She is a Program Director for Safety and Resilience programs at Chatham County Safety Net Planning Council. She earned a Master of Science degree in Management, Organizational Behavior & Leadership from Troy University and a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in Humanities from Auburn University at Montgomery. Vira is currently studying human behavior at Harvard University.

Vira is a Mindful Self-Compassion Teacher, Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training Master Trainer, and Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness and Yoga Instructor. She is a Community Resiliency Model Teacher, Mental Health First Aid Trainer, Crisis Intervention Training – Youth Instructor and is also trained in the Search Inside Yourself program of Google Leadership Institute, Trauma Informed Coaching, and Compassionate Leadership, the program of the Task Force for Global Health. Vira is a certified Group Fitness Trainer with Athletics and Fitness Association of America.

Vira is the developer of the community-based upstream suicide prevention approach that uses evidence-based Mindful-Self Compassion programming. She is a public speaker and the 2022 TEDx Savannah presenter.

As an immigrant, Vira recognizes the importance of overcoming cultural barriers and connecting with others for making a meaningful difference on personal, organizational, and community levels. Since moving to the U.S. in 2007, Vira has had the privilege of volunteering as an interpreter and a liaison between Ukrainian orphaned children and American adoptive families, which has greatly impacted her perception of compassion and servanthood and helped her better understand the true meaning behind the idea of “changing the world one life at a time”.