Instructor

Andrea Grabovac, MD, FRCPC is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia. Her psychiatric practice focuses on inpatient psychiatry at Vancouver Hospital and outpatient psycho-oncology at the BC Cancer Agency. Beginning in 2006, she has been facilitating both group and individual mindfulness-based interventions for various clinical populations, including mood disorders, sexual medicine and oncology. In collaboration with Dr. Mark Lau, she developed and continues to facilitate a monthly Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy consultation course for MBCT clinicians since 2009. In addition, she supervises psychiatry residents and other mental health clinicians in the provision of MBCT and is an Associate Teacher at 5-day MBCT teacher trainings. Her academic publications explore the clinical relevance of re-contextualizing mindfulness based interventions within Buddhist psychological frameworks. She has a particular interest in the clinical relevance of the progressive development of meditative skills as described in the Theravadan stages of insight. Andrea is a co-investigator on two funded trials investigating MBCT adapted for women, and has co-authored MBCT treatment manuals for treatment of provoked vestibulodynia and low sexual desire in women. She is also an Associate Editor for the journal Mindfulness. She has practiced and studied in the Burmese Theravada Vipassana tradition since 2002. Andrea lives in Vancouver, Canada with her husband and their three children.

Allan Goldstein, Certified MBSR Teacher, providing MBSR Teacher Training, and MBSR Mentorship is a Senior Advisor on the Leadership Team of the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness. Allan’s passion for supporting Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Teachers through MBSR Training and MBSR Mentorship began in 1993 when he first participated in an MBSR program. Continuing to explore the foundations of MBSR and mindfulness led Allan to training programs offered by the UMass Center for Mindfulness. He established MBSR Programs of Hawaii where he joyfully lived and taught for 14 years. He Joined Dr. Steven Hickman, UC San Diego CFM Founding Director, in 2011 and was a leader in the development of the UCSD CFM Mindfulness-Based Professional Training Institute and MBSR Certification programs. Allan has taught MBSR extensively to groups and individuals in health care, university, Veterans Health Administration, and community settings. Allan’s strong passion, for the valuable teachings found within MBSR, continues through his teaching, professional MBSR Teacher Training programs and practicum intensives which along with mentoring current and future MBSR teachers is now Allan’s dedicated focus of work in the health-care field of mindfulness programs.

Richard Goerling has served in civilian law enforcement for over twenty years. He also served as a member of the U.S. Coast Guard, both active and reserve for 27 years, retiring at the rank of Commander in 2015. He’s had a front row seat to operational stress in both arenas and has spent the last decade as a student, and now trainer, of resiliency. Over the last decade, he has spearheaded the introduction of mindfulness training into policing in the United States and internationally as part of a larger cultural transformation toward a compassionate, skillful and resilient warrior ethos. He serves as an affiliate faculty at Pacific University’s Graduate School of Professional Psychology and participates in mindfulness research at this institution. Richard regularly trains and presents on resiliency for first responders, bringing practical mindfulness skill building to enhance personal, organizational and community.

Neha Chawla, PhD is one of the co-creators of MBRP and co-author of the Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention for Addictive Behaviors: A Clinician’s Guide. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Addictive Behaviors Research Center at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her research interests include the development and evaluation of mindfulness-based treatments for substance use disorders, understanding mechanisms of change, issues related to therapist training and dissemination, and the assessment of therapist competence. Neha has facilitated several MBRP groups in private and community treatment settings in Seattle and on the East-coast.

Sarah Bowen, PhD. is a clinical psychologist, is Associate Professor at Pacific University in Portland, Oregon, where she specializes in mindfulness-based approaches for treatment of addictive and impulsive behaviors. Her research and more than 50 publications have focused on mechanisms of change and on treatment adaptations to best serve diverse populations and settings, with particular interests in dual diagnosis and underserved communities. Dr. Bowen facilitates and supervises mindfulness-based relapse prevention groups in numerous settings, including private and county treatment agencies, medical centers, and prisons. She presents, consults, and provides instruction internationally.

Betsy Atwell, MA, LPC, CSAC, ICS is a practicing therapist in Madison, Wisconsin, specializing in populations that struggle with addiction and trauma. She completed the Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP) training in 2016 and has run the group at a community mental health agency since then. In 2019, she participated in a research study on MBRP with the University of Wisconsin, Madison which allowed her the opportunity to work with Sarah Bowen to ensure fidelity to the model. Betsy actively practices meditation in her personal life and finds that it enhances her skills with other treatment modalities including EMDR and IFS, as well as clinical supervision.

Jon Aaron has been a teacher at New York Insight since 2006. His principal dharma teachers have been Matthew Flickstein of The Forest Way and Kittisaro and Thanissara of The Sacred Mountain Sangha. He is a Certified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Teacher and Teacher Trainer and has taught over 120 cycles of the seminal curriculum. He leads retreats in the US and in Europe. He is the co-guiding teacher of the Makom Meditation Havurah program at the Jewish Community Center. He is a certified Somatic Experience Practitioner® and an Accredited teacher of Mindfulness for Heath from Breathworks in the UK. Jon is a co-founder of the MBSR Teachers Collaborative of Greater New York, and a founding member of the Global Mindfulness Collaborative. Recently with his partner Upayadhi, he established Space2Meditate.com, an online community for meditators which started in the context of the pandemic and has been thriving ever since. JonAaron.net

Sara Schairer is the founder and executive director of Compassion It®, a nonprofit organization and global social movement whose mission is to inspire daily compassionate actions and attitudes. She created the one-of-a-kind reversible Compassion It® wristband that inspires compassion on six continents, 50+ countries and all 50 US states.

​Sara develops and leads experiential workshops on burnout prevention, implicit bias, mindfulness, and compassion. A senior facilitator of Compassion Cultivation Training® (CCT) course developed at Stanford, Sara has led courses at the UCSD Center for Mindfulness, Kaiser Permanente, the Naval Medical Center, Donovan Prison, and Las Colinas Women's Detention and Reentry Facility. She also facilitated trainings in Africa sponsored by the Botswana Ministries of Health and Education.

​Sara is contributing author to the book The Neuroscience of Learning and Development: Enhancing Creativity, Compassion, Critical Thinking and Peace in Education and guest blogs for the Chopra Center for Wellbeing. Her most rewarding and challenging role is being the mother of 12-year-old Hannah.

Dr. Deborah Rana is a board-certified Pediatrician and an HS Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Medicine. Dr. Rana received her MD from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine and completed her residency in Pediatrics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Prior to moving to UCSD, she was an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School where she completed her fellowship in Medical Education. Dr. Rana is also a certified Mindful Self Compassion and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher. She joined the Center for Mindfulness in 2010 where she currently teaches MBSR, Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) and Self-Compassion for Healthcare Communities (SCHC). Dr. Rana has presented many national workshops for faculty physicians on resilience and well-being applying the tools of mindfulness and self-compassion to clinical medicine. She also co-authored a national on-line curriculum developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics on resilience for residents, fellows, and faculty . Dr. Rana continues to see patients at San Ysidro Health, whose mission is to improve the health and well-being of the communities we serve with access for all.

Julie Potiker is a mindfulness expert who helps others bring more peace and wellness into their lives through her Mindful Methods for Life program offerings, where Julie combines various trainings into courses and workshops.

Julie is a Certified Mindful Self-Compassion teacher and founder of the Balanced Mind Meditation Center in La Jolla, California. She began her in-depth study of mindfulness after graduating from the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program at the University of California, San Diego. She was trained by Kristin Neff, Christopher Germer, and UCSD as a Mindful Self-Compassion Teacher in 2014. She studied with Rick Hanson, becoming a graduate of his Positive Neuroplasticity Training Professional Course.

Julie is a graduate of David Treleaven’s Advanced Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness Course, and a teacher of the Mindful Self-Compassion Adaptation for Healthcare Communities and the Mindful Self-Compassion short course. She is a Certified Grief Educator for peer-to-peer and group facilitation through David Kessler’s Grief Educator Certification.

Julie's first book, “Life Falls Apart, but You Don’t Have To: Mindful Methods for Staying Calm in the Midst of Chaos" is now available in paperback on Amazon and on audiobook. Her new Book, “SNAP! From Chaos to Calm” teaches a system for people to manage their nervous system – to calm down and then change the channel on their mood - easing their mind, body and spirit, and, by extension, helping those around them. “SNAP!” is available wherever books are sold. Her wish is for all beings to live with less suffering and more peace of mind.

Her work has been featured by The Oprah Magazine, Costco Connection, AARP, AP News, NBC, CBS, Fox, The CW, and many more. She holds a B.G.S. from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from George Washington University.