ABOUT
Mindful Medicine has been offering mindfulness and community connections to Portland area healthcare providers since 2013. Our mission is to build a healthier, more effective medical community by teaching mindfulness and compassionate communication skills. Founded and run by providers, and for providers, Mindful Medicine is a secular, evidence-based, not-for-profit organization.* We are volunteer-driven, independent, and donor-supported. Become a member or make a donation Here!
*501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Tax ID: 46-3513976
Our Goals
- Increase coping skills and resiliency for health professionals
- Enhance and foster empathy and compassion in our medical providers
- Reduce and prevent provider burnout
- Address feelings of isolation within the healthcare community
- Provide opportunities for collaboration and cooperation
To achieve these goals, our retreats and classes are led by two licensed social workers, Laura Martin, LCSW and Denise Gour, LCSW. Together, they introduce evidence-based mindfulness skills relevant to health professionals and draw from Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and related models.
Our Retreats
Studies have shown (here and here) that stress and burnout among healthcare professionals is a growing issue. This reality led to Mindful Medicine’s creation in 2013. Since that time, Mindful Medicine’s two-day retreats, community practice groups, and online practice groups have helped hundreds of healthcare workers become more resilient in the workplace.
“There is no better time than the present to stop, take a deep mindful breath, touch your heart, and turn inward for a moment with your fellow front-liners in healthcare. This Mindful Medicine retreat will offer realistic tools to survive the most intense of shifts, burnout and trauma. I have deep gratitude for this experience and recommend it for anyone in the healthcare field.” Stacey Crowley, RN, retreat participant
What You’ll Learn:
- Self-care skills
- Reduce stress and compassion fatigue, while enhancing self-compassion and positive emotions
- Clinical communication skills
- Focus on improving empathy, attention, and emotional regulation
- Effective cooperation
- Problem solving with patients and co-workers
Through this approach, we believe Mindful Medicine participants will be able to provide a higher standard of care in the communities they serve.
Our Community Partners
Statement of Solidarity
Wherever we fall on the race spectrum—we are all reacting to conditions of emotional overwhelm amidst the recent terrible racial injustices, with the murder of George Floyd as a tipping point. Many Americans are now recognizing the horrible racism suffered by so many for so long. Together we stand with Black, indigenous people and other people of color to promote health equality, access, and equity in relationships with health providers.
More than at any other time in our lives, discernment and wisdom is needed to move forward towards a world where health, justice and freedom is equally available to all people. For too long in our communities, there has existed racism, inequality and violence towards our brothers and sisters of color. The silence of not seeing or addressing these injustices is no longer an option. In all relationships there will be ruptures, yet the strength of a relationship is measured in the ability to, and quality of, repair. It’s time to stand up and start the long needed repair for our society. Mindful Medicine wants to make sure we are a part of the process of repairing the damage done by centuries of racism, inequality, silence and exclusion.
We want to build stronger relationships based upon listening and learning from those who have suffered far too long. From this listening and learning we hope to grow in a fashion that is more inclusive for our entire community. We want to apply our skills of mindfulness, compassion and self-compassion to repair our communities so that we are all safe, connected, nourished and experience a shared humanity.
We strive to strengthen interactions that include everyone, drawing strength from us all, honoring our diversity, and practicing anti-racism in medicine together.