Mental Health

Decades of research has shown that practicing compassion for others and yourself can help relieve depression, heal trauma, and reduce anxiety and stress. It helps people to connect more with others, build resilience, and increases happiness and life satisfaction.

Essential Reading

Books on Compassion in Mental Health

Our Founding Supporters

People Working on Compassion in Mental Health from our Founding Supporters

Abigail Marsh

Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Cognitive Science

Georgetown University

Aditi Ganguly

Senior Psychologist

Anjali Mental Health Rights Organization

Albert Garcia-Romeu

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research

Alex Howard

Founder

Alex Howard Group Ltd

Alex Nunn

Head of Movement Building

Action for Happiness

Amber Tout

Postdoctoral Researcher and Founder of Sleep Positive

University of Sussex

Andrés Gutiérrez-Carmona

Universidad de Antofagasta

Ari Cowan

Director-General

The International Center for Compassionate Organizations

Arlene MacDougall

Psychiatrist, Researcher, Educator and Innovator

The Global Minds Collective

Barbara Fredrickson

Kenan Distinguished Professor

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Bliss Beata Lewis

Psychiatrist

Mind Body Seven Psychiatry PC

Bruce Ecker

Co-director

Coherence Psychology Institute

Carole Pertofsky

Director Emerita; Health Promotion Services

Stanford University

Cassandra Vieten

Clinical Professor, Family Medicine and Public Health

Center for Mindfulness, University of California, San Diego

Catherine Andreu

Certified CCT Instructor

Charlene Sunkel

Founder/CEO

Global Mental Health Peer Network

Christian Waugh

Professor of Psychology

Wake Forest University

Christine Russel

Youth Mentor & Facilitator (Pou-whiri)

The Kindness Institute

Christopher Germer

Co-founder, Center for MSC

Center for Mindful Self-Compassion

Christopher Willard

Lecturer at Harvard Medical School

Founder Enlightened Livelihoods

Clifford Saron

Research Scientist

Center for Mind and Brain UC Davis

Dan Siegel

President

Mindsight Institute

David Steindl-Rast

Benedictine Monk

www.grateful.org

Diana Fosha

AEDP Founder & Director of AEDP Institute

AEDP Institute

Doris Chang

Clinical Psychologist and Associate Professor

New York University Silver School of Social Work

Douglas Otieno

Executive Director

TINADA Youth Organization (TiYO)

Elaine Fox

Head of School of Psychology

University of Adelaide

Elisha Goldstein

Author, Psychologist, Educator

The Center for Mindful Living

Elissa Epel

Health Psychologist

The University of California, San Francisco

Eric Zimmer

Podcast Creator and Host, Behavior Coach

The One You Feed, LLC

Erika Malm

Founder/Psychotherapist

Erika Malm Collective

Farid Numa

Neurociencia + Mindfulness + Emociones

Fleet Maull

Master Trainer, Author, Consultant, Executive Coach

Heart Mind Institute and Prison Dharma Network

Foteini Lekka

MBCT Teacher, Trainer and Supervisor, CBT Trainer and Supervisor

Association of Cognitive Behavioural Studies

Fredric Rabinowitz

Professor, Chair Psychology

University of Redlands

George Taylor

Marriage & Family Therapist

A Path for Couples

James Kirby

Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology

The University of Queensland

Jason Marsh

Founding Editor in Chief and Executive Director

The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley

Jed Diamond

Founder, VHS (Visionary, Healer, Scholar in residence) MenAlive.com

MenAlive

Jeff Jacobs

Senior Director, Organizational Effectiveness

Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, Inner MBA, Compassion 2.0, Institute for Organizational Science Mindfulness

Jess Miller

Postdoctoral Research Associate and Principal Investigator

University of Cambridge and Police Care UK

Joe Loizzo

Founder and Academic Director

Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science

John Forsyth

Professor of Psychology

Association for Contextual Behavioral Science

Julia Mossbridge

Co-Founder and Board Member, TILT: The Institute for Love and TIme

TILT: The Institute for Love and Time

Kate Cavanagh

Professor of Clinical Psychology

University of Sussex

Katie Shillington

PhD Candidate

Western University

Koshin Paley Ellison

President & Co-Guiding Teacher

New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care

Kristin Neff

Researcher and author

Center for Mindful Self-compassion

Kyle Thiermann

Journalist, Podcast Host and Filmmaker

Laura van Dernoot Lipsky

Founder and Director

The Trauma Stewardship Institute

Liliana Lengua

Professor, Child Clinical Psychology

University of Washington Center for Child and Family Well-being

Lobsang Tenzin Negi

Co-founder and Executive Director

The Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics at Emory University

Lori Gottlieb

Writer and Psychotherapist

Lori Schwanbeck

Founder

Lori Schwanbeck

Lynne Reeder

Adjunct Research Fellow

Federation University, Australian Compassion Council, Charter for Compassion

Marcela Matos

Clinical Psychologist and Postdoctoral Research Fellow

University of Coimbra

Margaret Cullen

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and MBSR Teacher

Maria Fernanda Porcelli

Certified CCT Instructor

Marian Stuart

Emeritus Professor of Family and Community Medicine

Rutgers University

Mark Williams

Professor of Clinical Psychology

University of Oxford

Mary-Frances O’Connor

Associate Professor

University of Arizona

Nan Herron

Psychiatrist

Sage Integrative Health

Nicola Petrocchi

Psychology Professsor & CFT Therapist

John Cabot University

Norman Farb

Psychology Professor

University of Toronto Mississauga

Paul Fulton

Board member

Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy

Paul Gilbert

Founder & Professor

Compassionate Mind Foundation UK, University of Derby

Richard Layard

Professor

LSE and Action for Happiness

Richard Schwartz

Founder

Internal Family Systems Institute

Robin Ticic

Psychologist, Therapist, Author and Director of Development and Training Coherence Psychology Institute

Coherence Pyschology Institute

Roger Walsh

Professor of psychiatry, philosophy, and anthropology

University of California

Ron DeStefano

Psychologist

The Human Species

Rona Hart

Course leader, The Psychology of Kindness and Wellbeing at Work

School of Psychology, University of Sussex

Ronald Siegel

Assistant Professor of Psychology, part time, Harvard Medical School

Center for Mindfulness and Compassion, Cambridge Health Alliance, Harvard Medical School

Shauna Shapiro

Professor

Santa Clara University

Shawn Achor

Happiness researcher and author

Sonja Lyubomirsky

Distinguished Professor

University of California, Riverside

Stan Steindl

Clinical Psychologist & Professor

Stan Tatkin

Clinician, Researcher & Teacher

PACT Institute

Stephen Porges

Adjunct Professor for Intelligent Systems Engineering

Indiana University

Steven Hayes

Foundation Professor of Psychology

University of Nevada, Reno

Tania Singer

Scientific Head of the Social Neuroscience Lab of the Max Planck Society

Max Planck Society, Germany

Terry Real

Author and Family Therapist

Relational Life Institute

Timothy Harrison

Associate Director

Emory University Compassion Center

Tina Bryson

Author/Speaker/Founder & CEO, LCSW

The Center for Connection

Tobias Esch

Professor of Medicine, Neuroscientist, Happiness Researcher

Mind-Body Medicine Research Council (MBMRC), Witten/Herdecke University

Tony Fernando

Psychiatrist, Sleep Specialist

Practice 92

Tracy Dennis-Tiwary

Founder

Arcade Therapeutics

Tricia Wolanin

Community Wellness Consultant/Clinical Psychologist

Zindel Segal

Distinguished Professor of Psychology in Mood Disorders

University of Toronto Scarborough