Laetitia Deweer is the founder and development director of CEPIA (Culture, Education and Psychology for Infants and Adolescents), an internationally recognized, award-winning nonprofit that serves over 1000 at-risk children, teenagers, their families and adults in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. CEPIA provides a wide array of education programs, psychological, legal and medical care as well as recreational activities, sports and arts and has been instrumental in feeding, clothing and providing mental health care to many who lost jobs and suffered hunger during the pandemic. In recognition of her decades of extraordinary work in rural Central America, The Aspen Institute invited Laetitia to be a fellow of its Central America Leadership Initiative. Each July, she joins hundreds of the world's leading thinkers to brainstorm ways to solve the world's most pressing crises. Born in Belgium, Laetitia speaks Spanish, English, French and Dutch and participated in social projects in Guatemala and Mexico as a university student. At 23, she moved to Costa Rica, deeply immersing herself as a volunteer with PANI (government child protection agency in Costa Rica). Ever since, she has dedicated her life to solving the problems of extreme poverty and human distress. With a Masters in Clinical Psychology and Educational Sciences with emphasis on Family Education, Laetitia also works with trauma patients as a private EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), transpersonal psychotherapist, and transformational breath work facilitator. To balance the intensity of her work life, she loves surfing, yoga and meditation.
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