Lindsay Bridges, MDLindsay 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: [email protected], 704-299-0768 |
Ireisha "IV" Vaughn, MSEd
Ireisha “IV” Vaughn has been involved with Charlotte Center for Mindfulness since 2023 when she assumed the role of Administrative Coordinator.
Originally from Brooklyn, NY, IV’s upbringing was marked by chaos which prompted her to leave home at 17, believing physical distance and success would ease the emotional strife she had endured. Despite graduating at the top of her master's program and holding many esteemed positions, she continued facing physical ailments and mental constraints. Seeking inner peace, IV delved into self-healing practices like meditation, sound healing, and mindfulness. This exploration ignited her personal healing journey and inspired a mission to assist others. She realized that avoiding inner reflection only perpetuated her struggles, leading her to understand that her challenges were manifestations of suppressed emotions. These realizations fueled her desire to get involved with Charlotte Center for Mindfulness and to create a wellness organization tailored for at-risk and high-stress communities, mirroring her own upbringing. Beyond her work with Charlotte Center for Mindfulness, IV finds joy in expressing creativity through sound, indulging in plant-based meals, and experimenting with homemade chemical-free alternatives for everyday use. IV can be reached at [email protected] |
Shakeyla Mitchell, MSEd
Shakeyla Mitchell joined the Charlotte Center for Mindfulness team in 2024 as a youth auxiliary program coordinator.
Originally from San Diego, California, she received her Master’s in Education from California State University, Fullerton where she specialized in educational development for underrepresented college students. As an educator, Shakeyla experienced the depth and severity of mental health issues among young people and saw that therapy alone was not sufficient to help students heal. In her work with first-generation and limited-income college students, she recognized the depth of trauma from her own childhood she had not yet processed. Struggling with weight and being obese from a young age, she battled with low self-confidence and self-limiting beliefs that kept her from achieving her full potential. Through mindfulness, she discovered a powerful tool to respond to her negative self-talk and hypercriticism with love and compassion. Mindfulness allowed her to break free from the cycle of self-judgment, fostering a nurturing relationship with herself and opening the door for deeper healing. This journey has empowered her to support youth in finding their own paths to self-acceptance and healing. Shakeyla is passionate about sharing somatic practices with students to help them process heavy emotions, and teaching the power of visualization to heal the emotional and physical body. Her mission is to give young people the tools necessary to transform their relationship with their emotions and thoughts. In her free time, Shakeyla enjoys sitting out in the sun, karaoke, deep conversations, and being a plant-based chef at home. |
J. Renaurd West, M.Ed, LPCRenaurd 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 [email protected] |
Clara Irwin, LCSWClara 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 [email protected] |
Carolyn GrahamAlthough 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 [email protected] |