Date: Tuesday, March 22
Time: 7–8 pm
Location: Asian Centre Auditorium | UBC
Following Dr. Vo’s lecture, “The Mindful Teen: Secular and Buddhist Mindfulness for Adolescents,” Dr. Carole Christensen, Professor Emerita of UBC’s School of Social Work, will moderate an informal discussion with Dr. Vo and Dr. Unno on the theme of Buddhism and mental health.
Throughout Dr. Christensen’s academic tenure at McGill University and at the University of British Columbia, her teaching, model-building, research, and publications focused on cross-cultural issues as they affect clients’ well-being and therapeutic encounters. The need to attend to these issues in formal accreditation processes in institutions educating psychologists and other helping professionals was emphasized in her administrative positions and extensive community work. With a grant from Canadian Heritage, Dr. Christensen established, and was Director of, the Multicultural Family Centre (1991-2007) designed to assist immigrants and refugees to access health and social services. The MFC remains in operation at the Research, Education, and Action for Community Health Centre (REACH) located in east Vancouver. Dr. Christensen is a Clinical Fellow of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. She is a long time practitioner of the Tibetan Buddhist path.
Professor Unno’s interests lie in Medieval Japanese Buddhism, specifically in the relation between intellectual history and social practices. He also researches and has published in the areas of modern Japanese religious thought, comparative religion, and Buddhism and psychotherpay. He is the author of Shingon Refractions: Myoe and the Mantra of Light, a study and translation of the medieval Japanese ritual practice of the Mantra of Light, and the editor of Buddhism and Psychotherapy Across Cultures: Essays on Theories and Practices. Click here for information on Dr. Unno’s talk on Monday, March 21.
Dzung X. Vo, MD, FAAP, is a pediatrician specializing in adolescent medicine at British Columbia Children’s Hospital, and clinical assistant professor at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine, Vancouver, Canada. His medical practice, teaching, and research emphasize promoting resilience in young people to help them thrive in the face of stress and adversity. Dr. Vo is the author of The Mindful Teen: Powerful Skills to Help You Handle Stress One Moment at a Time (New Harbinger, 2015).
Dr. Vo has been practicing mindfulness regularly since 1999, and has experienced the transformational power of mindfulness practice firsthand. All trees have roots, and Dr. Vo’s root mindfulness teacher is the Vietnamese Zen Master, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and author, Thich Nhat Hanh. Dr. Vo has also been deeply inspired by the pioneers of the mindfulness movement in the West, including Jon Kabat-Zinn, Jack Kornfield, Zindel Segal, Daniel Siegel, and many others. Dr. Vo hopes to share the benefits of mindfulness to diverse youth in a universal, secular way that is appropriate for anyone, of any religion, or no religion at all
Click here for more information on Dr. Vo’s talk, which will precede the informal discussion with Dr. Unno and Dr. Christensen.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.