Dr Maura Kenny - Founding Director
MBChB, MRCPsych, FRANZCP
Maura is a Consultant Psychiatrist and a long-term meditator within the Insight Meditation tradition. She is the Coordinator of the Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) Programs at the Centre for the Treatment of Anxiety & Depression in SA Health, and specialises in the areas of Stress, Mood and Anxiety disorders. She has conducted research in these areas, and has used mindfulness approaches in clinical, organisational and workplace settings. Maura is interested in the well being of the medical profession in particular, and developed the 6 week mindful self care course for healthcare professionals.
Maura was central in the establishment of MTI and we wish to honour her contribution - especially her rigour, humour and deep care for students, participants and the world more generally.
Timothea Goddard
BA, Dip Psych (ANZAP) Workplace Trainer, Cert V, Yoga Teacher (YA500H)
Timothea Goddard (Tim) has been practicing yoga and meditation (in the Vipassana tradition) since her early twenties, having also spent some years practicing Zen and Aikido. She sees meditation as a pragmatic way of inviting people into recognizing their own basic goodness - in terms of clarity, courage and wisdom – and how to bring this goodness into the world. She is acknowledged as a pioneer in bringing Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and associated programs to Australia over the past 16 years. She has worked in private practice for 35 years as a developmental psychotherapist having trained in humanistic, psychodynamic, body-based and systemic ways of exploring challenges in life and relationships. Her latest forays into learning has been in Internal Family Systems, trauma sensitive yoga teacher training and Clean Language.
She is founding director of Openground – an Australia-wide network of clinicians and teachers offering MBSR and related mindfulness programs, workshops and retreats, and of the Mindfulness Training Institute – Australia and New Zealand – a not-for-profit which offers teacher training and Vipassana retreats.
Eva Papadopoulo
Cert.Couns., Grad Dip. Psychotherapy, Mem., A.A.S.P. Member PACFA Register
Eva is a psychotherapist and is in private practice in Sydney. She has been an MBSR teacher with Openground since 2004 and is a founding director of MTIA. She has also designed and teaches the Living with Compassion workshop. Eva trained in body-oriented, contemporary psychodynamic, developmental and relational orientations with the Somatic Institute of Australia in 2000 and trained with Openground and attended the Teacher Development Intensive offered by the CFM with Bob Stahl and Florence Meleo-Meyer in 2012. Eva has also had much experience in teaching mindfulness meditation as pain-management with cancer, HIV and AIDS and has worked in many organizations offering stress and anger management. Her interest in an integrated body-mind approach both personally and professionally has been deepened through many years of practice in insight meditation, yoga, Ortho-Bionomy, Body Mind Centering (BMC) and dance and theatre improvisation.
Nadav Avny
New Zealand Psychologists Board #90-04410
UK Council for Psychotherapy Registered Psychotherapist (UKCP reg.) #07159199
Nadav is a certified teacher and approved supervisor of MBSR and MBCT. He is Co-Director of the Mindfulness Training Institute: Australia & New Zealand.
Nadav’s clinical psychology training was psychodynamic. He later completed training in Integrative Psychotherapy (focusing on Gestalt and Existential Psychotherapy), and he has been a UK Council for Psychotherapy Registered Psychotherapist (UKCP reg.) since 2007. Over the years, Nadav developed knowledge also in other therapeutic modalities, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Family Therapy.
In Nadav’s most recent role of nine years in the public health system, as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the Adult Acute Mental Health Inpatient Unit, Auckland City Hospital, he founded and led a mindfulness project that involves a sustainable implementation of Mindfulness at the Mental Health Services, including MBSR.
Nadav is the Director of Mindfulness Auckland, where he facilitates MBSR, MBCT and Residential Meditation Retreats.
Educational Advisory Committee
Dr Bob Stahl
Bob Stahl, PhD., founded and directs mindfulness-based stress reduction programs at Dominican Hospital, O’Connor Hospital, and El Camino Hospital. Bob serves as a Senior Teacher for Oasis – the institute for mindfulness-based professional education and innovation of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Bob is a co-author of “A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook”, “Living With Your Heart Wide Open”, “Calming the Rush of Panic”, and “A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook for Anxiety”. Bob is the Guiding teacher at Insight Santa Cruz and visiting teacher at Spirit Rock and Insight Meditation Society.
Rebecca Crane
Rebecca directs the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University and has played a leading role in the development of both the training and research sides of the centre since it was founded in 2001. Prior to this she worked for 15 years in the mental health field as an Occupational Therapist and an integrative counsellor. Rebecca has been practising and studying mindfulness since her early 20’s. She has received training in the use of mindfulness-based approaches through working with Prof Mark Williams and colleagues during the early development of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), and in recent work on the Oxford/Bangor University investigation of MBCT for people with recurrent depression and suicidality; and through a 15 year and on-going engagement with the teachers at the Centre for Mindfulness in Massachusetts. Rebecca is a certified MBSR teacher with the Center for Mindfulness in Massachusetts and has written Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy: The CBT Distinctive Features Series; Routledge, 2009
Professor Willem Kuyken
Willem Kuyken is a research clinical psychologist whose work aims to better understand depression and translate this understanding into cost-effective approaches to preventing and treating depression. This work has been supported by the Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health Research and Wellcome Trust. Since 1999 he has worked in Exeter, England. He has held a number of roles including heading up the doctoral clinical psychology training programme (2001-2004),leading the clinical research group (2001 – 2010) and co-founding the Masters in Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapies which was broadened in 2011 to include a Masters in Mindfulness-based Approaches. In 2004 he co-founded the Mood Disorders Centre, a research, clinical and training centre that aims to better understand depression, translate that understanding into accessible evidence-based therapies and improve access to these therapies for people who suffer depression. He directed the Centre through its formative years from 2004 to 2012. In 2012 he co-founded the Mindfulness Network CIC that has the intention to reduce human suffering, promote well-being and create the conditions in which people can flourish. The network brings together researchers, mindfulness teachers, dharma teachers and health, education and social care professionals. His work is underpinned by a longstanding mindfulness practice. Personal web page: http://psychology.exeter.ac.uk/staff/index.php?web_id=willem_kuyken
Director of Training
Timothea Goddard
Program Advisor
Mary McIntyre
B.A (Bus) Dip. Counselling MACA II , Internal Family Systems 1, Somatic Experiencing (SEP), Cert. Expressive Therapies, Circle of Security Educator
Mary is delighted to bring her care and attention to assisting MTI students as they make their way through pre and post Level 1 training. Her personal meditation practice comes from the Insight tradition. She spent much of her adult life in France and then lived seven years in Sri Lanka before settling in Australia in 2004. Mary is passionate about human change, post-traumatic growth and healing through development of our inner resources. She is based in Brisbane working in private practice as a counsellor/psychotherapist and has a particular interest in somatic psychotherapy.
Administration
Caroline Friend
Caroline Friend looks forward to assisting you in all matters relating to administration, registration, communications and finance. Prior to working with MTIA, Caroline was managing director of Rainbow Serpent Pty Ltd which specialised in the sale of Aboriginal art, craft and design. The business was located at Sydney and Brisbane International Airport's and online. Caroline has a regular yoga and meditation practice and is very grateful for being introduced to MBSR and the wonderful community around it.
Teaching Faculty
As the Institute develops and we establish processes of certification, and in response to demand for training, we anticipate that our teaching staff will grow. At the moment, current faculty for the Intensive training will be drawn from the following:
Dianne May
Eva Papadopoulo
Nadav Avny
Timothea Goddard
Study Module Assessor
Nique Murch
B.A. Dip.,Adult Education, Feldenkrais Practitioner, Dip. Mime Mask and Movement, IFS level 1 and 2
Nique has a rich background in adult education teaching movement, improvisation and critical literacies. She has practiced meditation in both Eastern and Western traditions over many years, experiencing first hand how effective ontological approaches can be in the management of stress and pain. She has trained in Mindfulness-based interventions with Openground, the Centre for Mindfulness (University of Massachusetts) and Breathworks in the UK. Nique has been facilitating MBSR since 2006, and tutors with the Mindfulness Training Institute of Australasia. She also works with the Humour Foundation - gleefully practicing radical simplicity as an elder clown with people in group residences.
Certifications Co-ordinator
Regina Gerlach
Regina is a passionate and committed Clinical Psychologist, a certified Mindfulness-Based practitioner, Qualified MSC Teacher and formally trained Mediator.
Regina has been trained by Mark Williams and Zindel Segal (MBCT), Jon Kabat-Zinn (aspects of MBSR and residential retreat), Saki Santorelli (ethics in Mindfulness), James Baraz, Rick Hanson (certified PNT practitioner), Russ Harris (certified ACT therapist), Elisha Goldstein (online Mindfulness training), and Bob Stahl (MBSR/MBCT practicum and retreat), and also trained in Mindful Schools Curriculum.
Regina has instigated and established a University-based mindfulness community at Curtin University in Western Australia. She teaches MBCT and MBSR and has developed several mindfulness-informed programs, i.e., the Mindfulness modules for the ‘My Happiness Project’, a Mindfulness-Based Conflict Response (MBCR) course, and a Mindfulness-Based Stress Management (MBSM) course (also available online), and a Self-Care with Mindfulness Program. She is the developer of the app Mindfulness2Go that is designed to enhance participant’s experience of mindfulness during MBSR, MBCT and similar courses.
Regina is providing peer supervision and training to her colleagues who are trained in Mindfulness; she is a member of the Steering Committee for Mindful Meditation Australia and is member of the mentor team of Eliasha Goldstein's Mindful Living online program.