Kristy Arbon is the founder of HeartWorks and the Administrative Director the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion (www.CenterForMSC.org). She has practiced meditation and mindfulness for 25 years and has made a conscious decision to focus her work toward easing suffering, both for herself and for those she comes into contact with.
2016 Teachers
Kathleen Cator
A former nurse and registered psychologist, Kathleen Cator has over 20 years of experience caring for people from many walks of life. Kathleen completed the training as Mindful Self-compassion teacher with the founders Kristen Neff and Chris Germer.
James Bennett-Levy
James Bennett-Levy is Associate Professor at Sydney University’s Centre for Rural Health (North Coast) in Australia. Prior to this appointment, he was CBT trainer and consultant clinical psychologist at Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre. James is a leading CBT trainer and writer/researcher with a passion, founded in his research, for self-experiential therapist training.
Anna Friis
Anna is a health psychologist who does one-on-one psychological assessment as well as corporate education. Anna is a graduate of Mindful Self-Compassion Training (Esalen, Big Sur, California), and MSC Teacher Training (EarthRise, Petaluma, California). She is working on a PhD at the University of Auckland’s School of Psychological Medicine, her topic being the mental and physical health benefits of self-compassion.
Tara Hickey
Clinical psychologist and mindfulness teacher Tara Hickey has adapted the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program for youth with mental health difficulties, taught mindfulness classes to incarcerated young women and has taught Mindfulness and Self-Compassion programs to the general public.
Megan Leuchars
Megan is an instructor of MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction), MSC (Mindful Self Compassion), Mindful Eating and Yoga. She has developed and delivered unique customized Mindfulness programs for varied populations, from Fortune 500 companies to addiction recovery programs.
Kate Mathers
Kate Mathers is the Principal Mindfulness Trainer at the Institute of Executive Coaching and Leadership (IECL) based on Sydney, Australia. Kate discovered the transformative power of mindfulness to promote resilience and restore physical and emotional health and wellbeing during a period of illness, a decade and a half ago. Since 2002, Kate has been passionate about […]
Patricia Nitkin
Patricia Nitkin is an experienced and deeply compassionate psychotherapist who works with individuals, couples, families and groups facing difficulties in their lives and relationships.
Rianne Schoenmakers
Rianne has her roots in Tibetan Buddhism that she got to know and study since 1999, in the Netherlands, her native country and the country where she lives now, Because of the amazing positive effects on herself she decided to dedicate her life to spreading the healing power of mindfulness and of self-compassion. She is […]
Victoria Pawlowski
Victoria is a Registered Clinical Counsellor, Registered Dietitian and a Trained Teacher of Mindful Self-Compassion Her holistic approach integrates over 30 years of experience with thousands of clients, graduate studies in Counselling Psychology (University of Toronto), undergraduate studies in Nutrition (University of Alberta) and on-going personal exploration and professional training in the following modalities: Mindful […]
David Spound
A meditation practitioner since the mid-1970s, David earned his MBSR teacher certification at UMass Medical School. In addition to teaching MBSR, David is an MSC teacher. He also develops and delivers mindfulness-based education and training programs.
