Course directors

Steven D. Hickman, PsyD
Director, UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness
Associate Clinical Professor
UC San Diego Department of Psychiatry
UC San Diego Department of Preventive and Family Medicine
La Jolla, CA

Steven Hickman, Psy.D., established the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness in 2002 and has taught Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for six years, "graduating" over 30 classes since that time. He is a clinical psychologist specializing in health psychology and works within the UC San Diego Medical Center and the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center providing treatment to patients with chronic pain, cancer and a variety of other primary medical problems. He teaches a graduate course in Mindfulness in Psychotherapy and has spoken at national conferences on the application of mindfulness in a variety of contexts and situations. He is also engaged in research on the application of mindfulness in a medical setting and has been a teacher for this 5-day Professional Training in MBCT since its inception in Southern California. Dr. Hickman is also currently co-authoring a book for Wiley-Blackwell Publishers on Mindfulness in Integrative Medicine.

Gina M. Biegel, MA, LMFT
Founder, Stressed Teens Program
Psychotherapist and Author
San Jose, CA

Gina M. Biegel, MA, LMFT, is a California-based psychotherapist currently in private practice in the Bay Area. She adapted the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program typically for adults for an adolescent population, and created the Stressed Teens, a program using the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Teens (MBSR-T) program. She conducts trainings, workshops and conferences on MBSR/MBSR-T with a variety of populations including professionals, teachers, parents, and teens in the U.S. and internationally. A more recent area of work is in bringing mindfulness into the California Elementary School system through her role as a member of the Research Advisory Board for Mindful Schools and assessed the effectiveness of such a program. Her first book, a workbook, entitled, The Stress Reduction Workbook for Teens: Mindfulness Skills to Help You Deal With Stress, is currently available as well as her audio CD, Mindfulness for Teens: Meditation Practices to Reduce Stress and Promote Well-Being.