Speakers | International Conference on Mindfulness 2024

ICM:2024 Mindfulness in a changing world

Speakers

ICM:2024 Mindfulness in a changing world

Speakers

Previous slide

Next slide

An exciting conference programme is taking shape, bringing together a rich range of speakers, including Jon Kabat-Zinn (joining us virtually) and a one-day retreat led by Professor Rhonda Magee and Catherine McGee, who will bring us together in practice on the theme of Mindfulness in a Changing World.

We’re currently putting the finishing touches to our conference speaker lineup. Keep an eye on this page for the latest announcements and as we continue to add more speakers over time. We aim to showcase diverse perspectives and include the voices of those who historically have not been at the table.

About Jon

Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. did his doctoral work in molecular biology at MIT in the laboratory of the Nobel Laureate, Salvador Luria. Jon is a Professor of Medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he founded the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society in 1995, and in 1979, its world-renowned Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Clinic. He is the author of 15 books, the most recent of which are Mindfulness Meditation for Pain Relief (2023) and a Thirtieth Anniversary Edition of Wherever You Go, There You Are (2024). His books are published in over 45 languages. His work has contributed to a growing movement of mindfulness in mainstream institutions such as medicine, psychology, health care, neuroscience, schools, higher education, business, social justice, criminal justice, prisons, the law, technology, government, and professional sports.

Over 700 hospitals and medical centers around the world now offer MBSR. Jon lectures and leads mindfulness workshops and retreats around the world and online. In the Spring of 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, he offered 66 consecutive weekdays of 90-minute online guided meditations, talks, and dialogue, the so-called mitigation retreat: see www.youtube.com. His website is www.jonkabat-zinn.com.

Jon will be providing the Closing Keynote (virtually) at ICM:2024.

Jon Kabat-Zinn

About Catherine

Catherine McGee has been teaching Insight meditation since 1999. She is a member of the Gaia House teacher council, teaches yearly at the Insight Meditation Society (www.dharma.org) and the Barre Centre for Buddhist Studies ( www.buddhistinquiry.org/about-us/), and is a guiding teacher for OneEarth Sangha- (oneearthsangha.org) a virtual EcoDharma centre supporting a global community in the Path of Engaged Practice.

Between 2014 and 2020 she collaborated closely with Rob Burbea in forming and shaping A Soulmaking Dharma (www.buddhistinquiry.org/online-programs/soulmaking-dharma/).

Catherine is giving the Strand 2 Keynote and leading the Conference Retreat Day with Rhonda Magee.

Catherine McGee

About Sona

Sona Dimidjian, Ph.D. is Director of the Renée Crown Wellness Institute and Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her current research projects focus on preventing depression and supporting wellness among new and expectant mothers, promoting healthy body image and leadership among young women, and enhancing mindfulness and compassion among youth, families, and educators. She also has a longstanding interest in expanding access, scaling, and sustaining effective programs, using both digital technology and community-based partnerships. Dr. Dimidjian received her BA in psychology from the University of Chicago and her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Washington.

Sona is presenting the Strand 1 Keynote and is also part of the panel for Strand 1.

Sona Dimidjian

About Rhonda

Rhonda V. Magee is a Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco and a leading mindfulness teacher and practice innovator with a focus on applying mindfulness to the hardest challenges of our times. She is an internationally-recognized teacher, guide, and mentor, focused on integrating mindfulness into higher education, law, and social change work. A prolific author, Professor Magee draws on law and legal history to weave storytelling, poetry, analysis, and practices into inspiration for changing how we think, act, and live better together in a rapidly changing world.

Rhonda will give the Strand 3 Keynote address and lead the Conference Retreat Day with Catherine McGee.

Rhonda Magee

About Amit

Amit Bernstein is a Professor of Psychology and Director of the Observing Minds Lab and the Moments of Refuge Project, in the School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Haifa. He is currently a Visiting Professor at the Center for Healthy Minds and the Department of Psychology, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Amit was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a doctoral student at the University of Vermont, and a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford and the Palo Alto VA. Amit’s research has focused on internally directed cognition in mental health and the (mal)adaptive ways that people process, relate to, and respond to their internal states. His group’s translational work has focused on mental training therapeutics targeting internally directed cognition to promote mental health and buffer the toxicity of adversity and trauma, particularly among marginalized communities. With his students and colleagues, he has published over 160 papers, he is an alumnus of the Israel Young Academy of the Israel National Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and his group’s work has been featured in popular media around the world.

Amit will give the Strand 4 Keynote address.

Amit Bernstein

About Jamie

Jamie Bristow is a prominent expert on the application of inner development and contemplative practices in public life. For eight years, from 2015 to 2023, Jamie played an instrumental role in the UK's All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mindfulness, acting as its clerk and serving as Director of the associated policy institute, The Mindfulness Initiative. His work during that time included influential policy reports such as Mindful Nation UK and Reconnection: Meeting the Climate Crisis Inside Out. Jamie now retains a part-time position with The Mindfulness Initiative as a sustainability policy expert whilst leading public narrative and policy development for the Inner Development Goals and conducting action research on the relationship between climate anxiety and engagement for the Climate Majority Project. Jamie's earlier roles included being the Business Development Director at Headspace, and his rich background encompasses psychology, climate change campaigning, and advertising.

Jamie will be delivering the Strand 5 Keynote.

Jamie Bristow

About Vidyamala

Vidyamala Burch OBE is the founder of The Breathworks Foundation - an international mindfulness and compassion charity. Vidyamala began teaching her mindfulness approach to managing pain and illness following her personal experience of living with health challenges following spinal injuries and surgeries in her teens. She began to explore mindfulness, compassion, and meditation as a way to manage her pain and found the results to be life-changing and transformative.

In 2001, she developed the Mindfulness-based Pain Management (MBPM) programme, and there are now over 700 teachers based in over 40 countries who have trained in this approach to managing pain and long-term health conditions. Vidyamala was awarded an OBE in 2022 for services to Wellbeing and Pain Management. She is also an honorary member of The British Pain Society for her outstanding work for the alleviation of pain, was named on the Shaw Trust Power 100 List of the UK’s most influential disabled people for four years running, and is on the Advisory Council for the Global Compassion Coalition.

She is the author of Living Well with Pain and Illness (2008), Mindfulness for Health (2013), and Mindfulness for Women (2016).

Vidyamala will lead the Stand 4 Workshop.

Vidyamala Burch

About William

William Fley is a bereavement and trauma holistic therapist working with people with have undergone adversity, change and challenges around identity and belonging. Born in Central America and raised in New York and of multi-racial inheritance, his ancestry carries a rich history of migration, displacement, resistance, creativity, self-determination, and freedom fighting. Inspired and energised by Buddhism in Sussex as the foundation for somatic abolitionism as a means for inner transformation and evolution. Founder of the Mindfulness Network for People of Colour, a CIC which helps address inequality and oppression through mindfulness . William wants to bring awareness of the disparities in the mindfulness industry and to eliminate cultural and other barriers to accessing mindfulness by encouraging cultural awareness and responsiveness.

www.honouringrief.com

www.mnpc.co.uk

William will provide one of the Pre-Conference Workshops at ICM:2024

William Fley

About Willem

Willem Kuyken is a professor of mindfulness and psychological science and director of the University of Oxford Mindfulness Centre. His work has focused on depression and evidence-based psychological approaches to depression. In particular, his research examines how mindfulness and mindfulness-based programs can prevent depression and enhance human potential across the lifespan.

Willem will lead the Strand 5 Workshop and is part of the Strand 1 Panel discussion.

Willem Kuyken

About Martine

Martine Batchelor lived in Korea as a Seon nun under the guidance of Master Kusan for ten years. She is the author of Meditation for Life, The Path of Compassion, Women in Korean Zen, and Let Go: A Buddhist Guide to Breaking Free of Habits. She teaches meditation retreats worldwide and lives in France. Her latest works are The Spirit of the Buddha, What is this? and The Definition, Practice, and Psychology of Vedana. Recently she has been involved with the Silver Sante Study, teaching meditation, mindfulness, and compassion to seniors in France to see if this could prevent aging decline.

Martine will provide one of the Pre-Conference Workshops at ICM:2024

Martine Batchelor

About Choden

A monk within the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, Choden (aka Sean Mc Govern) completed a three-year, three-month retreat in 1997 and has been a practicing Buddhist since 1985. Originally from South Africa where he qualified as a lawyer, he learned meditation under the Tibetan master, Lama Yeshe Rinpoche. He is now involved in developing secular mindfulness, compassion, and insight programmes drawing upon the wisdom and methods of the Buddhist tradition, as well as contemporary insights from psychology and neuroscience. He is an honorary fellow of the University of Aberdeen and teaches in their Postgraduate Study Programme in Mindfulness (MSc) which is the first of its kind to include compassion in its curriculum. He co-wrote a book with Paul Gilbert in 2013, entitled Mindful Compassion that explores the interface between Buddhist and Evolutionary approaches to compassion training. He is also the co-author of two other books: Mindfulness Based Living Course (2018) and From Mindfulness to Insight (2019).

Choden will lead the Strand 2 Workshop.

Choden

About Aesha

Aesha Francis is a co-founder of The Urban Mindfulness Foundation. She co-created the Mindfulness-Based Inclusion Training (MBIT) while completing her postgraduate studies in mindfulness with the University of Aberdeen. Aesha has been an important contributor to the field of mindfulness, introducing innovation in context-specific delivery and continually developing the program to meet the needs of a changing and diverse world. In addition, Aesha is a co-author of the recently published paper Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Our Time: A curriculum that is up to the task. She enjoys teaching and supervising mindfulness courses, sessions, and retreats, with a prosocial focus across various demographic groups and sectors. Aesha has a Black and Asian heritage and explores her practice through a social justice, culturally informed, critical, sensitive, and compassionate lens. She is also a trained artist, designer, and consultant, committed to creatively and meaningfully broadening access. Aesha describes her practice as a radical art of love for life, embracing all of its diverse forms.

Visit www.urbanmindfulnessfoundation.co.uk for more information

Aesha Francis

About Dean

Dean Francis is an accomplished environmental consultant, mindfulness teacher, supervisor, and co-founder of the Urban Mindfulness Foundation. After completing his master's in mindfulness studies, he co-created the award-winning Mindfulness-Based Inclusion Training program, specifically designed to build solidarity through practice and dismantle racism and social inequalities collectively.

Dean co-authored the collaborative paper "Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Our Time: A Curriculum That Is Up to the Task" and he is a trustee for the British Association of Mindfulness-Based Approaches (BAMBA), the UK’s primary professional body of registered practitioners, teachers, teacher training organisations, and innovators.

Starting his mindfulness training in 2009, Dean is at the forefront of socially engaged mindfulness training for UK underrepresented groups and is instrumental in the development and leadership of the new BAMBA EDI task force. His advocacy for innovation and equitable access via co-created and collaborative training that values lived experience, continues to have a significant UK influence. He currently supports his local council's Race Equality Alliance and Sussex Mindfulness Centre's, EDI developments and IAPT training. By facilitating grassroots engagement, his work has aided access and relatability in our current times of collective global challenge.

Dean Francis

About Anne

Anne Speckens is professor of psychiatry and founder and director of the mindfulness expertise center of the Radboud University Medical Centre Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Her research focuses on the effectiveness and possible working mechanisms of MBIs in people with psychiatric and somatic conditions, and health care professionals.

Anne will be chairing the Strand 1 Panel discussion at ICM:2024.

Anne Speckens

About Oleg

Oleg N. Medvedev, Ph.D., currently holds the position of A. Professor at the University of Waikato’s School of Psychology in New Zealand.

He is at the forefront of shaping mindfulness research as the Editor-in-Chief of the Springer Nature Journal Mindfulness and steering the academic discourse through his leadership of two comprehensive reference works: the Handbook of Assessment in Mindfulness Research and the International Handbook of Behavioural Health Assessment. He is actively involved in mindfulness and health-related research covering mindfulness-based interventions, well-being, health-related quality of life, affective disorders, and healthy mental aging. His distinctive contribution lies in his innovative use of advanced statistical and psychometric methods, including Generalisability Theory, Rasch analysis, Network analyses, and novel Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning techniques.

A. Prof. Medvedev is the author of over 150 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and co-author of the book Mindfulness-Based Intervention Research: Characteristics, Approaches, and Developments.

Oleg will lead the Strand 1 Workshop.

Oleg Medvedev

About Michael

Michael Waupoose (Maec mahwaew) is an enrolled member of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. He is an 8-year veteran of the United States Air Force. Michael began his meditation practice in 2009 after being introduced to MBSR through the UW Health Mindfulness Program. He has been teaching in the UW Mindfulness Program since 2011, offering adult MBSR classes, MBSR classes for the BIPOC community, and an MBSR Teacher Training Intensive, which he developed. He also teaches mindfulness classes on the Menominee Indian Tribe reservation.

Michael has completed teacher training with the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness. He is a certified MBSR teacher through the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness. He holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. His interests include offering classes for the BIPOC community, exploring the benefits of mindfulness for overall wellness and quality of life, and how mindfulness can support skillful responses to the harm and impact of racial and social injustice. Michael resides in Madison, WI USA with his husband, whom he has enjoyed life with for over 29 years.

Michael will be leading one of the Post-Conference Workshops.

Michael Waupoose

About Cathy-Mae

Cathy-Mae Karelse, PhD is an independent specialist with years of experience in deep systems change and decolonisation, interweaving inner and outer landscapes to shift dominant narratives. As a thought leader in belonging and thriving, she designs and delivers customised change strategies and programmes to shepherd meaningful transformation. She has worked with corporates, policy institutes, communities, and global programmes around policies and strategies that generate embodied leadership, justice, and freedom. Cathy-Mae is currently the Climate Youth Resilience Lead for the Mindfulness Initiative and works on Salzburg Global’s Public Policy New Voices Europe programme. As the author of Disrupting White Mindfulness: Race and Racism in the Wellbeing Industry, she foregrounds global South, Indigenous, queer leadership in emergent worldmaking. In addition to public speaking, she is an educator, coach, and change-maker.

For more information see www.cathymae.com

Cathy-Mae will be co-leading a Guided Practice in Strand 1 and is part of the Strand 5 Panel discussion.

Cathy-Mae Karelse

About Lone

Lone Fjorback is associate professor at the Department of Clinical Medicine of Aarhus University and director of the Danish Center for Mindfulness. Her areas of expertise are mindfulness, compassion, mental health, depression and stress.

Lone is part of the Strand 1 Panel discussion.

Lone Fjorback

About Marleen

Dr Marleen Ter Avest is a mindfulness and compassion teacher, who obtained her PhD at the Radboud University Medical Centre (Netherlands) on the working mechanisms of MBCL (mindfulness-based compassionate living) and MBCT (mindfulness-based cognitive therapy) in recurrent depression. She is the owner of Note to Mind and Kind to Mind, through which she teaches mindfulness and compassion, gives coaching and guides silent days for general audiences as well as for research and education. Marleen is connected to the MBCL teacher-trainer education led by Frits Koster and Erik van den Brink as an educator and supervisor and is additionally active as chair of the scientific committee of the Dutch Mindfulness Association.

Marleen is leading the Strand 2 Guided Practice.

Marleen Ter Avest

About Margaret

Margaret Fletcher teaches MBSR and trains MBSR teachers through East Coast Mindfulness. The current focus of her work is exploring the intersection of mindfulness teaching and eco-awareness; she aims to support MBSR teachers to find their own relationship with Earth and to incorporate Earth as a living participant into their teaching.

Margaret was trained by senior teachers at the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School to facilitate various educational pathways of the Center including the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic and the complete set of MBSR teacher training through to teacher certification. She brings over two decades of experience in corporate, small business and non-profit settings to her teaching and training.

Prior to her work in MBSR, Margaret was a guiding teacher for White Mountain Sangha, a non-dual meditation community in NH.

Margaret will lead the Strand 5 Guided Practice.

Margaret Fletcher

About Rosalie

Rosalie Dores M.A is a mindfulness teacher, supervisor and trainer. She is an Insight Dialogue Retreat Teacher (Relational Meditation). Rosalie is dedicated to offering teachings that engage at the interface between ancient wisdom and the challenges of our modern world. She recognises the urgent need for a meditative practice that incorporates the social and interpersonal domains of human experience as intrinsic to awakening. She is a Work That Reconnects facilitator and co-teaches courses and workshops dedicated to raising awareness about climate and social justice

Rosalie Dores

About Richard

Richard is the director of the Mindfulness Initiative, which is set to place mindfulness at the heart of policy and decision-making. Current work includes being the Secretariat to the Mindfulness All-Party Parliamentary Group in Westminster, Climate Youth Resilience work, and supporting Innovations in Mindfulness - including the Mindfulness Innovations Awards in October 2024. Richard has a social justice background, having worked in the Third Sector for over 30 years. Immediately prior to joining the MI, Richard ran a homelessness organisation for 15 years. Richard is a trained mindfulness teacher and a registered change management practitioner and has provided consultancy, training, and coaching to individuals and organisations on mindful leadership, and mindfully managing change.

Richard will be part of the Strand 5 Panel.

Richard Edwards

About Kareen

Kareen Griffiths is a Mindful Change Consultant, Speaker, and Mental Health Advocate with over 15 years of experience in change management and communications. Specialising in integrating mindfulness practices for leadership and wellbeing in the workplace, Kareen has been recognized as a finalist for the Lloyds Bank Launchpad, Women Who Inspire, and the Multicultural Business Community Champion Award. Her insights have been featured in notable publications including Stylist Magazine, Women's Health, and Huffington Post. As a Charity Trustee for the Mindfulness Initiative, she is dedicated to increasing accessibility to mindfulness in communities and in the workplace. Kareen also serves as a Mindful DJ, using music and wellbeing events to promote mindfulness and increase access in under-represented communities.

Kareen is co-leading the Strand 1 Guided Practice.

Kareen Griffiths

About Trish

Trish Bartley has developed and published MBCT for Cancer and taught clinical groups of people with cancer since 2001. She trains for CMRP/Mindfulness Network and Oxford Mindfulness Foundation – and offers training workshops and retreats in Europe and sometimes further afield. She has recently launched an International Mindfulness and Cancer Online Project at www.mindfulnessandcancer.com and has published two books on MBCT for Cancer (Bartley, 2012,2017). Trish has a background in development and is keenly interested in the role of the group in Mindfulness-Based Programs. She co-authored Teaching Mindfulness-Based Groups. (Bartley & Griffith, 2022).

Trish will be leading the Strand 2 online workshop.

Trish Bartley

About Jessica

Jessica Andexer, psychotherapist mbacp (accred), Dip, PgCert, PgDip, MTT has worked as a psychotherapist since 2006, and as an educator, consultant and meditation teacher.

She has worked in lots of different places from trauma services, university, tiny charities, to the NHS. Much of her current work offers out mindful, somatic and therapeutic based interventions to neurodivergent people.

She loves finding new ways of doing things and gets excited about making connections between things like science and our day to day experiences. She is really interested in neuroscience, Buddhist psychology, somatics and creativity. She identifies as queer, multiply neurodivergent and physically disabled, and making spaces inclusive and accessible is really important to her.

Jessica will lead the Strand 3 online workshop.

Jessica Andexer

About Carter

Professor Carter Lebares’ research focuses on understanding the effects of stress on surgeons mental health and performance and identifying targetable factors for intervention. Since 2015, she has focused on the development of a tailored mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) called Enhanced Stress Resilience Training (ESRT). ESRT has shown promising benefits to burnout, cognition, and physiologic markers of stress in single-site randomized clinical trials with surgical trainees. Longitudinal cohort studies have shown ESRT to benefit stress, burnout, global well-being scores, and measures of career trajectory such as highest-tier fellowship placement for advanced surgical training. As Principal Investigator, she has used implementation science to identify key factors to ESRT sustainability, and as a member of the American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators, she works with surgeon educators at other institutions to help execute and study wellbeing interventions. List of published work:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1BCmldoY6um51/bibliography/public

Carter is part of the Strand 4 Panel Discussion.

Carter Lebares

About Diana

Diana Reynolds has worked as a civil servant for over 20 years. Before that he worked in a variety of sectors, including school and college teaching and university administration, change management and information technology. Diana happened upon mindfulness by accident when he was a small child grappling with the large deamons of an unfair world. At that point, he had no idea what it was or what it might be called. Like Pegs, Diana’s practice informs his work.

Finally, in 2013., Diana was lucky enough to work with people who could name these counter-cultural practices and explain what it was all about. A new world opened up! Diana has a master’s degree in mathematics and strategic management. His children are grown up and he is a part-time carer for his husband. Diana enjoys relaxing with family and friends, walking, reading, sea swimming, painting and drawing, and is working softly on slowing down.

Diana will be co-leading the Strand 5 Online Workshop.

Diana Reynolds

About Pegs

Pegs Bailey has worked in the field of employability for over 20 years, from service delivery through to national policy. During a period of significant illness she was introduced to mindfulness in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh and ‘engaged buddhism’. Pegs’ personal practice informed her work, and in particular a growing focus on collaborative approaches to strategy and service-design in employability and mental health services.

Pegs is completing a MSc in Mindfulness with the University of Aberdeen. She is interested in how mindfulness can support policy development and delivery. Her research explores what lessons can be drawn from the Welsh experience of implementing mindfulness training and tools as part of the Well-being of Future Generations Act Culture Change Programme.

Pegs is also a keen gardener, dog owner, mother of two, wife, daughter, sister, friend and still working on her habit of ‘trying to do too much all at once’.

Pegs will be co-leading the Strand 5 Online Workshop.

Pegs Bailey

About MIck

Dr Michael Krasner, MD, FACP, a Professor Emeritus of Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, brings over 23 years of experience in facilitating Mindfulness-Based programs. Notably, as project director of "Mindful Communication," his work was featured in JAMA in September 2009. He co-led the establishment of the Mindful Practice in Medicine Programs at the University which has offered continuing education for healthcare professionals for the past 14 years, including a teacher training program with trained facilitators placed worldwide. Dr. Krasner is the executive producer of the documentary "The Healer’s Journey" (to be released in 2025) and hosts the podcast "Flourishing in Medicine." His mission is to support health professionals' well-being, advocating for personalized care experiences, bidirectional healing, and mutual high regard in clinical encounters.

Mick will be part of the Strand 4 Discussion Panel.

Mick Krasner

About Clara

Professor Clara Strauss is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and mindfulness teacher, supervisor and researcher working across Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Sussex. She co-leads Sussex Mindfulness Centre with her colleague Dr Robert Marx which bridges mindfulness interventions, teacher training and research to ensure that interventions are guided by research evidence and that research findings are implemented in practice. She has a particular research and teaching focus in adapting mindfulness and compassion approaches so that they are accessible and helpful across a broad range of contexts, including to support healthcare staff wellbeing. Profile

Mindfulness Centre website

Clara will chair the Strand 4 Panel Discussion.

Clara Strauss

About Maura

Dr Maura Kenny is a consultant psychiatrist and the inaugural Director of Staff Wellbeing for the Central Adelaide health network, with over 20 years of experience teaching mindfulness courses in both clinical and organisational settings. She held a teaching partner position with the Oxford Mindfulness Centre for several years, co-founded a Mindfulness Teacher Training Institute, and more recently completed the Stanford Medicine Chief Wellness Officer course. Maura’s special interest is the wellbeing of healthcare staff and to that end developed a 6-week mindfulness course that has been delivered for several years in SA’s public health setting and in other healthcare and university settings around Australia, the UK, Singapore and Taiwan.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-maura-kenny-b5bb1b53 Website: https://www.mindfulscp.com

Maura will be part of the Strand 4 Discussion Panel.

Maura Kenny

About River

River attended her first Insight Meditation retreat in 2000, and subsequently helped to establish Sheffield Insight Meditation. She trained as a Dharma Teacher with Bodhi College. A former Derbyshire Poet Laureate, she leads writing and arts projects, and is an LGBTQI+ activist. Her non-fiction book ‘The Subtle Art of Caring: A Guide to Sustaining Compassion’ (Windhorse, 2023) explores how the capacities of friendliness, joy, compassion, and equanimity, can build resilience in challenging times.

River will be part of the Meet the Authors Event

River Wolton

About Fiona

Fiona Mckechnie is the author of the book Mindfulness-Based Therapy for Managing Fatigue. She is an Occupational Therapist and one of the senior clinicians in the Bristol ME service, with over 25 years of working within fatigue services.

She has a long-standing personal meditation practice, training at Bangor University with a certificate in Mindfulness teaching and an MSc in Mindfulness-based approaches, she also has an interest in employment and fatigue syndromes. She is a trustee of BACME (British Association of Clinicians in ME/CFS) and has been involved in therapist training for many years.

Fiona will be taking part in the Meet the Author event

Fiona Mckechnie