About us
Sofia Osburn Sarstedt
FORTITUDE
Founder and Project Manager
Sofia has been working with people since 1999, including in Malmö, Copenhagen, New York and Cape Town.
In her youth, Sofia trained and competed in team gymnastics and in this reached the USM level.
In Sweden, Sofia has worked both as a specialist in socio-economically vulnerable areas, crime prevention as well as preventing recidivism, the labor market, in mental health, and as an integration coordinator and project manager in Simrishamn municipality. Here she leveraged her experiences and achievements in Cape Town, South Africa, where she worked for eight years dealing with gang crime, crisis management, trauma processing, poverty, domestic violence and addiction.
This work involved intercultural and interreligious work and cooperation with informal leaders as well as with authorities, police and non-profit organizations.
Here she also devoted herself to fundraising, outreach activities, and supervision of interns and volunteers. Sofia was active on the streets and behind a desk in all walks of life in Cape Town.
Photo: Felicia / Fri Kommunikation AB
Sofia Osburn Sarstedt
FORTITUDE
Founder and Project Manager
In 2003, Sofia completed her sociology training in Copenhagen. Young people, preferably those people
with mental illness, became Sofia’s area of work from here onwards.
In New York, she worked with the homeless and those facing existential crisis.
Sofia’s unique experiences and knowledge led to her starting her own company in 2022 in Årsjö village school outside Ystad, in Sweden.
Initially, she worked with personal development, individually and in groups. This is what Sofia says: ”People and human relationships are something that has interested me all my life. I keep up to date with current studies and research in the field. I draw inspiration and knowledge from both Western and Eastern methods and ways of thinking. Some examples of this are Mindfulness, Reiki and Evidence-based methods.”
I strive to meet my clients wherever they are – emotionally, mentally or organizationally – in order to be able to assist them in the best way according to their circumstances at the time. I work dynamically and holistically. The only thing that is constant is change!
One of my fundamental strengths is bringing about cooperation between countries, religions, authorities, non-profit and commercial sectors, schools -in short between people.”
FORTITUDE National and International Team of Specialists and Experts
Through her professional practice, Sofia has built up a large network of plausible collaboration partners. Today, Sofia’s network includes many different companies, non-profit associations, various social actors, authorities as well as specialists with widely varying expertise in, among other things, social and psychological health. The network exists locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. Of course, we work under strict confidentiality and protect your privacy.
Testimonials
”For several years i co-worked with Sofia within the Woodstock district of SAPS in Cape Town. We worked with preventative work towards organised crime, drug abuse and violence - which is a community trauma every day.
Sofia is a humble, professional and dedicated person. We worked on an individual, group and community level within various change processes, community initiatives, projects, weekly meetings, events, fundraising and fieldwork in high risk areas. Our common goal was social crime prevention and community development – to have our children and youth in safety, and together with the community, create solutions for a better community as a whole. Sofia brought great change to the Woodstock community on and it was an honour to work with her. ”
”Har precis avslutat en heldag tillsammans med enheten som helt gått i återhämtningens tecken. Ett skräddarsytt upplägg som landande helt rätt innan julledigheten och ett intensivt år. Stort tack Sofia Osburn Sarstedt för att du tog väl hand om oss & guidade oss på ett förträffligt och behagligt sätt genom dagen! Och ett stort tack till de lokala aktörerna som försett oss med de goda måltiderna! Kan varmt rekommendera Sofia och Årsjö byskola”
”Sofia innehar en helikoptersyn, kan fort se människors styrkor & kompetenser vilket gör henne till en mycket kompetent person i projektledning & att leda samverkan.
Med hög kapacitet & social kompetens känns det tryggt till att ha Sofia leda projekten inom social hållbarhet.
Hon finner snabbt strukturer & förslag på tillvägagångssätt.
Som socionom med den arbetslivserfarenhet hon innehar får man också med sig metoder, teorier, processer & kunskap till projektet inom den specifika målgruppen.
Sofia har också en stark förmåga att samverka, se möjligheter & har hög kompetens i bemötandet av den enskilde individen så som gruppen i helhet.
Jag har endast mina varmaste rekommendationer!”