Christine Lathren, MD, MSPH, is an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill within the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Program on Integrative Medicine. Her research explores the well-being benefits of mindfulness and self-compassion at both the individual and interpersonal levels, as well as how to adapt self-compassion interventions to meet the needs of various families and communities who are experiencing high stress. She is particularly interested in how self-compassion can be ‘passed down’ intergenerationally between family members.
Gabi Garcia is a mama, licensed professional counselor and picture book author. She spent over 20 years in the public schools serving K-12 students. She is the author of Listening With My Heart: A Story of Self-Compassion and The Friend I Need: Being Kind & Caring to Myself.
Jamie Lynn Tatera is an educator and author with a passion for helping children and their caregivers become more self-compassionate. She has taught mindfulness and self-compassion to children ages 3-18 in diverse schools as well as aspiring teachers in UW-Milwaukee’s School of Education. Jamie Lynn is the developer and teacher trainer of the Self-Compassion for Children and Caregivers program, a researched parent-child adaptation of the Mindful Self-Compassion training.
Lisa Baylis has been sharing well-being strategies for the last 20 years. A natural-born connector with an innate ability to make people feel valued and heard, she is a teacher, a counsellor, a speaker, and a mother. Lisa is a published author of Self-Compassion for Educators as well as, the creator of the AWE Method — Awakening the Wellbeing for Educators — which merges self-care, mindfulness, and self-compassion. Lisa has a master’s degree in Counselling Psychology and a bachelor’s degree in Physical Education. Currently, she is the Education Director for the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion, the non-profit organization created by Drs. Kristin Neff and Chris Germer to spread self-compassion around the world.
Dr. Karen Bluth is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, where she conducts research on self-compassion and its influences on the emotional wellbeing of teens. Dr. Bluth is co-creator of the curriculum Mindful Self-Compassion for Teens and the author of the four books for teens on self-compassion including “The Self-Compassion Workbook for Teens: Mindfulness and Compassion Skills to Overcome Self-Criticism and Embrace Who You Are”. Her forthcoming book, “Mindful Self-Compassion for Teens in Schools: A 16-session Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum” (PESI Publishers) will be released in early 2024. In addition, she is the recipient of the inaugural Mind and Life Foundation award for Public Communication of Contemplative Research.