About Us
The Centre for Mindfulness and Wellbeing was founded in 2021 by Michael Atkinson, former Director of School of Mindfulness and Dr Lucy Harrison, former Director of MBCT North-East. In May 2024 Anna Broad, a former GP and now a MBSR practitioner, joined the team as an Associate. In August 2024, Lucy Harrison sadly passed away. See our message here.
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The mission of the Centre for Mindfulness and Wellbeing is to provide authentic, high quality mindfulness training for individuals, groups and organisations. Our aim is to play a key role in advancing human wellbeing through mindfulness-based activity.
Meet The Team
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I started my journey in mindfulness in the late 1990's after going through a difficult period of my life, and within a few months, my life was dramatically transformed. I did not need to be convinced that mindfulness meditation and the ancient wisdom that underpins it was indeed very powerful. I have practiced it ever since and it continues to surprise and motivate me in ways that I couldn't have initially imagined.
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Teaching mindfulness is the most rewarding of all the professional roles I have done and is surely my vocation in life. Helping others to find mindfulness and watching it transform their lives is a privilege that I am profoundly grateful for, and one that I continue to find thoroughly enjoyable and inspiring.
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Experience and Expertise
I have been a mindfulness practitioner for almost 25 years. For 15 years or so (until 2015), I practiced within a Buddhist context (the Triratna Sangha, formerly FWBO), during which I attended many retreats including solitary and ordination retreats. However, in 2015, after completion of the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course in Newcastle with Gwennie Fraser, I wholly embraced the secular approach to meditation. I found it to be inclusive and open to interpretation for a modern audience.
I have since taught mindfulness meditation in a range of public and private contexts, including Tarmac, the NHS Business Services Authority, and the Higher Education sector. I have facilitated many workshops and retreats, including events for healthcare professionals with Dr Zoe Williams (ITV's Good Morning Britain's GP, and have featured regularly on RadioTyneside's 'Morning Mindfulness'.
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I am currently Co-Chair of the Mindfulness in Medical Education (MiME) Special Interest Group for The Association for the Study of Medical Education (ASME). In this role I help lead on a number of events and articles, helping to raise the profile, and advance the scholarship of, mindfulness in medical education.
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I am also currently a full-time Senior Lecturer in Medical Education at the University of Sunderland's School of Medicine where I help lead a Master in Medical Education. As part of my role I lecture on mindfulness to year 1 medical students and to postgraduate students on the Masters in Medical Education. Prior to this role, I was a Lecturer in Medical Education, Associate Lecturer in Psychology (leading a module on mindfulness and transpersonal psychology for 3rd year psychology undergraduates), and a mindfulness teacher at Newcastle University.
My research interests are mainly mindfulness based, but I have also published articles on learning and teaching within medical education and teacher education contexts.
I review mindfulness, wellbeing and education related articles for journals such as Mindfulness, Healthcare, Societies, Advances in Health Sciences Education, Trends in Higher Education, and International Medical Education.
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​​I completed my Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher training with MindfulnessUK and have attended teacher training with Suryacitta, at Mindfulness Unleashed. I am a registered mindfulness teacher with the British Association of Mindfulness-Based Approaches (BAMBA).​
I have a f​irst degree in Philosophy; PGCE in Post Compulsory Education and Training; Masters in Education and trained as a facilitator of philosophical enquiry with Oxford `Brookes University. I am also a Senior Fellow with Advance-HE, and am about to embark on a mindfulness themed PhD.
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I have worked in the NHS as a GP for over 30 years. Recently retired from that role, I continue to work as a GP lecturer teaching medical students across the medical curriculum with a particular interest in wellbeing, mentoring and mindfulness.
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I attended a mindfulness course that was promoted to NHS staff, led by Lucy and Michael in 2017. This was transformative, improving my focus and confidence at work, and enhancing my personal and professional relationships by being more present. Since integrating mindfulness into daily living, I have felt less stressed by life’s challenges, and able to view them with a calmer, clearer perspective.
Experience and Expertise
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Since qualifying as a doctor, I have always had a special interest in mental health and wellbeing. After completing my GP training, I spent a year working in Psychiatry, and I gained a Newcastle University Certificate in Counselling. I have used those skills throughout my career, developing them further by training in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This enabled me to work therapeutically with suitable patients with anxiety and/or mild depression using CBT techniques adapted for General Practice, alongside guided self-help. This background ultimately led me to become interested in mindfulness not only as a therapeutic tool, but also as a powerful way to boost contentment, well-being and resilience.
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I trained as a mindfulness teacher with Mindfulness Now, qualifying in September 2022. The training focused on how to teach the key elements of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), either over an 8 week course, or adapted for shorter targeted sessions. I have since run taster courses in mindfulness for medical students, workshops for GP teachers, and assisted Michael in leading a retreat.
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I also have a Diploma in Occupational Medicine and worked for several years providing services to a wide variety of clients in healthcare and corporations. I supported employees through illness and communicated with managers and HR to adapt conditions and workplaces. Enabling clients to return to work in a way that was positive and productive was extremely satisfying. I am pleased to see well-being in the workplace becoming increasingly valued, and I believe mindfulness practice can contribute greatly to this by enhancing performance, improving relationships, and reducing sickness.
I am registered with the Mindfulness Teachers Register, Mindfulness Now, UK College of Mindfulness Meditation.
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My other qualifications include MBBS (Medical degree, Newcastle University) MRCGP (GP qualification); Dip Occ Med (Diploma Occupational medicine); PG Cert. Medical Education; Certificate in Counseling, Newcastle University.