​Lindsay Bridges, MD

​Lindsay became interested in mindfulness through her work as a Family Medicine physician where the link between healthy stress management and physical well-being was so clear. She trained extensively for teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) through the University of Massachusetts Medical School Center for Mindfulness, the original MBSR center founded by Jon Kabat-Zinn, and has completed their Teacher Certification for MBSR . She has been teaching MBSR in a variety of hospital and health professional training centers since 2002, and more recently, she has added work with youth and schools. She is a Mindful Schools Certified teacher.  Mindfulness and meditation practices are an integral part of her daily life.

Lindsay Bridges can be reached at: lbridges@ccmindful.org, 704-299-0768

Zachary Stirewalt

Zachary Stirewalt has been involved with Charlotte Center for Mindfulness since 2019, when he took the MBSR course with Lindsay. Since then, you have probably seen him at a drop-in group. He has now stepped into the role of Administrative Coordinator for us! 
 
Zachary’s life has included adverse events, including experiences with both serious mental illness and the criminal justice system. He has spent the past four years healing, while also attending the University of North Carolina at Charlotte for public health and psychology. Most of his time at UNC Charlotte was spent studying how mental illness prevention can help others avoid experiencing similar adversities. 
  
Along with assisting CCM, Zachary has begun supporting the families of individuals experiencing serious mental illness. He personally noticed the benefits of family support during his mental health journey and aims to fill a gap in other’s ability to know how to best engage with their loved ones.
Most recently, Zachary has been accepted into a year-long Meditation Teacher Training through the Engaged Mindfulness Institute, an organization dedicated to trauma-informed training. Zachary’s goal is to teach in jails and prisons, and also to those experiencing serious mental illness. 
 
Zachary’s long term goals include attending Harvard for his Masters in Public Health while participating in a research program dedicated to the intersection of mental health and spirituality. 
 
If you would like to know more about Zachary’s mental health journey, please feel free to reach out to him directly and set up a time to chat. He is open to meeting virtually or in person.

Zachary can be reached at zstirewalt@ccmindful.org

Aaron Less, PhD

Aaron’s interest in mindfulness began when he first participated in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction while in graduate school. Years later, he rediscovered the depth and transformational power of this practice, and since then it has become a core element of his life. The personal benefits he has experienced from practicing mindfulness inspired him become a mindfulness teacher.  He has received certification to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) from Brown University's Mindfulness Center.  He also has holds a certification in corporate mindfulness training from Potential Project.  Aaron is a Licensed Psychologist in North Carolina. He has facilitated mindfulness groups in corporate and community settings and has provided mindfulness-based psychotherapy to clients. Currently, in addition to teaching MBSR, Aaron works in the field of Leadership Development.

J. Renaurd West, ​M.Ed, LPC

Renaurd West is a retired licensed professional counselor and currently a certified mindfulness meditation teacher.  He has worked in the helping professions most of his working life.  He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a Masters degree in Clinical Counseling from the University of Cincinnati. Renaurd holds certifications in Positive Psychology and is a certified positive psychology coach. Renaurd is very serious about his personal meditation practice which spans many years. He has completed training in Transcendental Meditation and the 2-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training Certification Program.  He believes that his meditation practice gives meaning to his life.  It is his clear intention that through his teaching he endeavors to share the peace, joy and compassion with others that mindfulness meditation brings to his life.  

Renaurd can be reached at ​jrenaurdsr@gmail.com

​​Clara Irwin, LCSW

Clara became interested in mindfulness when she attended a retreat after graduating from the
School of Social Work at UNC Chapel Hill. She recalls the peace she felt being guided to rest her
awareness on the breath. The experience lead her to take the Mindfulness Based Stress
Reduction (MBSR) class where she began to see how mindfulness offered a way to relate to
stress that lead to health and healing. Wanting to bring the wisdom of the teachings into her
therapy practice with clients, she completed the MBSR training at the Center for Mindfulness at
UMass and is a Qualified MBSR teacher. Her interest continued to deepen as she studied with
Judson Brewer, MD, PHD, at the Mindfulness Center at Brown. Dr. Brewer’s work around how
habits are formed and how with mindfulness we can step out of these habits lead her to complete
the Behavior Change Facilitator Training. She brings Dr. Brewer’s teachings into her work with
clients helping them change their relationship to stress and anxiety. She shares if she could name
one thing that has been most helpful in her life and in helping others it would be mindfulness.

Clara can be reached at ​irwinclara@yahoo.com

Carolyn Graham

Although Carolyn is retired from a career in public education, she continues to be a teacher at heart, finding passion in passing on to others her own learnings and experiences with Buddhist contemplative practices and the science that speaks to their effects on human well-being. Carolyn is certified to teach compassion training, a process premised in Tibetan Buddhist mind-training practices, developed at Emory University’s Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion Based Ethics.

Carolyn can be reached at ​​majesty.journey@gmail.com