Gea Ashilevi

Gea Ashilevi has been a psychologist, trainer, and a collaborator at Peaasi.ee for the past eleven years. In addition, she works as a family therapist in her private practice and has been a visiting lecturer on mental health at the Estonian Academy of Arts since autumn 2023. As of February 2026, Gea is doing her PhD studies in Social Work at Tallinn University School of Governance, Law and Society and she works as a knowledge transfer doctoral researcher at Peaasi.ee under the Estonian Research Council´s Intersectoral Mobility programme. In this role, she is developing a strategy to advance the organization´s research direction, while her doctoral thesis investigates the adaptation, effectiveness, and feasibility processes of the Peahea youth counselling service.

„Evidence based practice or practice based evidence?“

 A short case study of Peahea youth councelling service model in Peaasi.ee. Since 2023, Peaasi.ee has provided the Peahea counseling service to young people aged 12–26. The service is based on the “Brief Interventions in Youth Mental Health Toolkit” (BIYMH) manual, compiled in 2012 by Orygen´s Brief Interventions Clinic, an Australian youth mental health organization. The presentation briefly discusses whether Peahea demonstrates that evidence is indispensable, or if science alone falls short and real-world practice needs to lead service development.