About
Mindfulness Wales / Meddylgarwch Cymru supports the development of mindfulness practice in Wales, liaising with the Welsh Government and public sector leaders, and creating a network of mindfulness teachers in Wales
Mindfulness has become an important movement. Rooted in longstanding practices in the faith traditions and supported by research, it offers an accessible way to develop the qualities of calm and perspective, which our society badly needs.
In March 2019 a group of leading Welsh mindfulness teachers and researchers met with First Minister Mark Drakeford to discuss how mindfulness can contribute to Wales. Chris Ruane, the Welsh MP who has championed mindfulness in Westminster, initiated the meeting, and the Mindfulness Initiative provided a framework that brought the mindfulness representatives together.
The First Minister’s engagement was a catalyst for officials, mindfulness teachers and representatives of the field to come together. Working groups have explored the role of mindfulness in Health, Education and the Public Sector Leadership.
In November 2019 we held a Conference attended by 140 leaders in mindfulness, the Welsh Government and the public sector.
We’ve now formed Mindfulness Wales/Meddylgarwch Cymru: a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), to continue this work.
Our initial focus has been on sectors where mindfulness is already becoming established, but we know that good work is happening in communities, workplaces, emergency services, social services and other areas and are keen to engage with these areas in the future.
Liz Williams
Chair / Education Lead
Rob Callen-Davies
Health Lead
Rob has worked in community organisation as a mental health support worker and advocate. He has been a trustee of the Mind charity in Caerphilly Borough and works currently for the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board. He is a qualified Cognitive Behavioural Therapist and Mindfulness Teacher, with a 25 year interest in meditation.
Vishvapani Blomfield
Treasurer
Vishvapani teaches through Mindfulness in Action, Breathworks and Roundglass. He represents The Mindfulness Initiative in Wales and speaks regularly on BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day
Heather Fish
Secretary
Heather works at the University of Wales in Lampeter and is a Work-based Learning Fellow at Trinity Saint David. She is working with Carmarthenshire Council on a project to bring mindfulness to every school in Carmarthen and teaches the MBSR/MBCT programme independently in Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire. Heather is also a writer and performance poet
Sofia Pereira
Sofia is a biologist by training,with a PhD in the field of congnitive neuroscience. She worked as a sleep and memory researcher at Cardiff University for three years and co-authored eleven publications.
She volunteered with Cardiff and Vale Health Board Education and delivered workshops to patients and educators. She recently started working at the Cardiff Buddhist Centres while training as a mindfulness teacher with Breathworks and studying for a diploma in psychotherapeutic counselling
Tommy Carr
Tommy is an occupational therapist, BAMBA registered mindfulness teacher and forest bathing guide.
He works primarily in the NHS in primary mental health where he runs mindfulness courses alongside other psychological therapies.
Tommy facilitates mindfulness courses, is a teacher on Insight Timer, a mindfulness supervisor, is the creator of Mindful Walks – a project promoting mindfulness in nature through guided walks, and is studying for a master’s degree in teaching mindfulness based approaches at the CMRP at Bangor University.
When he finds time Tommy is trying to do a little less however he is passionate about advocating for mindfulness in Wales.
Chris Ruane
Chris was MP for The Vale of Clwyd up to 2019, and pioneered mindfulness in Parliament. In 2013 he worked with Lord Layard and the Oxford Mindfulness Centre to establish mindfulness practice in the UK Parliament. Since then 260 UK parliamentarians and 460 members of their staff have received mindfulness training. In his period out of office, 2015–17, and since 2019 he has worked with the Mindfulness Initiative to develop links with politicians and mindfulness advocates in 39 legislatures around the world and establish mindfulness practice in 13 of those.
Advisors
Dr Rebecca Crane
Director, Centre for Mindfulness Research & Practice, Bangor University
Becca directs the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University and has played a leading role in developing its training and research programme since it was founded in 2001. She teaches and trains internationally in both Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). Her research and publications focus on how the evidence on mindfulness-based interventions can be implemented with integrity into practice settings. She has written Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Distinctive Features 2017, co-authored Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy with People at Risk of Suicide, 2017 and is a Principle Fellow with the Higher Education Academy.