Mindful Community, Compassionate Care
The BC Children’s Hospital Centre for Mindfulness aspires to support mindfulness practice, including clinical and educational programs, health professional development, and research. The Centre serves as a hub to connect, support, and grow mindfulness activities for children, youth, families and caregivers, and health professionals. The Centre also aspires to nurture a “mindful culture” throughout the hospital community, the province of British Columbia, and beyond.
Events & Webinars
Kelty Blog
Mindfulness Resources
Present Matters: Mindfulness and Mental Well-being
Parents and caregivers are often curious about mindfulness – how do we fit this into our busy lives, does this actually help my child or youth's mental wellness? In this episode from the Kelty Centre's Where You Are podcast, listen to Paul Irving (mindfulness champion) and Dr. Dzung Vo, founding Director of BC Children's Hospital Centre for Mindfulness) to learn more.
Mindfulness: Youth Voices
Features young people discussing their experiences practicing mindfulness, how it has benefited their lives and includes insights from a health professional and mindfulness teacher.
Breathr
Breathr provides easy and fun ways to practice mindfulness along with interesting facts about the benefits of mindfulness.
Dr. Dzung Vo
Dzung X. Vo, MD, is a pediatrician specializing in Adolescent Medicine, founding Director of the BC Children’s Hospital Centre for Mindfulness, and a Clinical Associate Professor and Division Head for the Division of Adolescent Health and Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, at BC Children’s Hospital and the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In partnership with Dr. Jake Locke, Dr. Vo co-developed MARS-A (Mindful Awareness and Resilience Skills for Adolescents), an eight-week mindfulness training program for adolescents with depressive symptoms, with or without other co-occurring chronic illness or chronic pain. Dr. Vo also developed a Mindful Healing course for health care providers, adapted from Mindful Practice (Ron Epstein and Michael Krasner) and other sources.
Dr. Joanna McDermid
Joanna McDermid, MD, is a psychiatrist, with a subspecialty in child and adolescent psychiatry and is a clinical instructor with Department of Psychiatry, at BC Children’s Hospital and the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine in Vancouver, British Columbia. In addition to her psychiatry training, Dr McDermid has trained in Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindful Self Compassion (MSC). She has done an extended mentorship with Dr. Ron Epstein and his team in the Mindful Practice® program for physicians and health providers through the University of Rochester. Dr McDermid has developed a mindfulness program to supplement standard care for individuals with eating disorders in residential treatment and she is currently developing a global parent mindfulness informed resource.
Kate McKenna
Kate joined BC Children’s and Women’s Hospital in 2017 as part of the Redevelopment teams responsible for the opening of the Teck Acute Care Centre, the Sunny Hill Health Centre and the redevelopment of the Cedar and Balsam birthing suites. Kate has a BSc degree in Psychology, PMP and is currently pursuing her Masters of Counselling Psychology at City University. Kate is a Project Manager on the Health Promotion & Health Literacy team with the Child & Youth and Reproductive Mental Health Programs at BC Children’s Hospital. She currently supports the Centre for Mindfulness and the Kelty Mental Health Resource Centre.
Kate is originally from Ireland and now lives in Vancouver, BC with her husband and daughter. She enjoys being outdoors – taking advantage of all the surrounding natural beauty through hiking, snow adventures and camping.
Dr. Katarina Tabi
Katarina Tabi, PhD, is a researcher and mindfulness practitioner. Dr. Tabi has worked in the research of brain and mind most of her professional career. She was involved in projects and has published in the fields of mindfulness, perinatal mental health, neuropsychopharmacology, and e-mental health. Some of her other research interests include interpersonal mindfulness, mindfulness for parents and children, and early child development.
Dr. Tabi is a qualified MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) teacher, trained by the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts, Medical School. As a mindfulness teacher, she has experience teaching internationally different communities including students, health-care providers, and working professionals. Dr. Tabi is interested in a variety of interventions that lead to the cultivation of awareness. She seeks to understand these techniques through the perspective of both eastern traditions and neuroscience.
Council
Lori Brotto, Executive Director, Women's Health Research Institute; Danielle Burch, Project Manager, Health Promotion; Philip Crowell, Spiritual Care Leader at BC Children's Hospital; Royce Dueck, Clinical Counsellor, Reproductive Mental Health Program; Halima Elmi, Program Coordinator, PHSA Health Promotion; Sabrina Gill, Nurse Clinician; Helen Kennett-Bacon, Nurse Clinician; Gilbert Lam, Pediatrician, Jake Locke, Psychiatrist; Michelle Man, Communications, Pediatrics; Ashley Miller, Psychiatrist; Theresa Newlove, Director of C&W Workplace Wellness, Culture & Experience; Carina Perel-Panar, Psychiatrist, BC Mental Health and Addiction Services; Susan Poitras, Project Manager, ChildKind; Diane Louie, Consultant Pediatrician; Barbara Shulman, Psychiatrist, Reproductive Mental Health Program; Fulroop Sidhu, Psychiatrist; Tatiana Sotindjo, Adolescent Medicine Clinician; Caron Strahlendorf, Deputy Head, Department of Pediatrics; Joan Sutherland, Nurse Clinician; Sandy Tatla, Director, New Knowledge & Innovation; Ciara Toddington, Youth in Residence, Family Smart
Executive Committee
Sharlynne Burke, Interim Provincial Executive Director, Child and Youth Mental Helath, BC Children's Hospital and Women's Health Centre
Dr. Evelyn Stewart, Research Director, Child, Youth and Reproductive Mental Health, BC Children's Hospital
Andrew Tugwell, Director, Health Promotion and Prevention
Research Assistants and Students
Manreet Bhullar, Undergraduate student pursuing BSc in Behavioural Neuroscience
Lenssa Fantu, Undergraduate student pursuing BSc in Integrated Science (Neuroscience & Physiology)