About Us
We founded “Spajalica” in 2013, but we have been developing the integrative-process approach for years with a group of scientists and experts from all around the world.
How did we get here? All around us, in our neighborhood, our family, even on our trips abroad, in other countries, we started noticing an increasing number of unsatisfied, tense, and unhappy people. It seemed as if the culture we live in has alienated us from each other and placed between us a wall of emptiness, coldness, and helplessness.
We realized we lived in an I-culture, which steadily promotes two great “truths”: 1) we are all independent and free to make our own independent decisions (in fact, the more independent we are, the more developed and successful we are!), and 2) happiness, satisfaction, success and meaning are a “thing” to be consumed (so, the more of this “thing” I obtain, the more I am “bettering myself,” and the happier, more content, more successful, and more purposeful I will become).
Something was wrong with that picture: How is it possible, if we all indeed strive for happiness, satisfaction, success, and meaning, that we are becoming less happy, less satisfied, less successful, and less fulfilled? Here we began our journey, in which we gradually started to shape a sustainable approach to life in today’s global society. And the journey continues…
In fact, after years of experience in applying the integrative-process approach in working with various individuals and groups (but also in our home, with family and friends), we keep rediscovering that the steady source of happiness, satisfaction, success, and meaning lies in mutual responsibility and support we build between one another through persistent joint effort.
This is not merely a matter of knowledge – it is an approach, an attitude toward life, which is constantly being built and reinforced, and which we simply cannot keep only to ourselves. We feel it is our responsibility to share it with you wherever and whenever you reach out to us…
SPAJALICA’S LEADERS:
Damir Marinić earned a PhD in psychology in 2014 on a model of self-concept development. He is a practitioner of neurolinguistic programming, trained in cognitive-behavioral therapy of psychoses and the therapy of the early mother-child relationship. He has led numerous workshops for a number of firms, NGOs, universities, and institutions. He is one of the creators of the integrative-process approach to education and co-founder of Center for Integrative Studies “Spajalica,” an organization dedicated to building optimal communities. He currently works as a post-doctoral fellow at the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Osijek. He is a trained classical and jazz musician and multiinstrumentalist. He is in a happy family with his wife Ida, son Luka, and daughter Lucija.
Ida Marinić has an Msc in psychology and researches the interaction between the individual and the environment. She is trained in bottom-up educational models and educational management, and has led many professional workshops and growth and development processes with teachers, students of art programs, NGOs, and the elderly. As an amateur artist, she has had several exhibitions of conceptual paintings, graphic art, and photography, and collaborated in the making of several short and feature-length films. She is the founder and president of the Center for Integrative Studies “Spajalica,” where she is currently in charge of two international projects. She is in a happy family with her husband Damir, son Luka, and daughter Lucija.