Sarah is one of the authors of The Present Courses, Paws b and .b Foundations. She developed Living in The Present (the adult version). She has been a mindfulness teacher/trainer since 1998 trained by Mark Williams and Jon Kabat-Zinn’s team and was a teacher/trainer for the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University for ten years. The Present Courses CIC has been growing since 2017 to meet and support people’s well-being in relevant and accessible ways.
Tabitha is co-creator The Present Course for Primary Schools and previously co-created the Paws .b primary school curriculum (key stage 2). She has completed a Masters dissertation on Mindfulness at Bangor University, researching the impact mindfulness has on children’s academic results and attitudes to learning. Tabitha is the head teacher at Ysgol Pen Y Bryn in North Wales and has a passion to promote well-being in children’s lives and providing them the opportunity to experience mindfulness from an early age to take them through the rest of their lives. Tabitha was inspired to become a teacher when she taught her own children whilst sailing around the world. In her second year of teaching, Tabitha was awarded a national teaching award and has since been a Teaching Award judge.
Dusana is a cognitive neuroscientist heading the Laboratory for Neuroscience of Well-being and Developmental Contemplative Neuroscience. She received her PhD in Psychology and Cognitive Science (Cognitive Neural Systems Program) from the University of Arizona and holds two master’s degrees, one in clinical psychology (Comenius University) and the other in cognitive psychology and cognitive science (University of Arizona). Dusana also studied philosophy of science and philosophy of mind at doctorate level. Dusana’s research program over the last seven years expanded from neuroscience research on mindfulness towards current broader focus on neuroscience of well-being and developmental contemplative neuroscience. Dusana has authored and co-authored over 20 peer-reviewed articles and peer-reviewed book chapters. She received several research grants in support of her research, including a Mind and Life Contemplative Studies Fellowship. Dusana also authored two peer-reviewed monographs – ‘Mind, Brain, and the Path to Happiness’ (2013) and ‘Neuroscience and Psychology of Meditation in Everyday Life’ (2017), both published by Routledge. She has co-authored (with focus on neuroscience content) the Present Course for Primary Schools.
Our Training Team
Faiy Rushton joined The Present team in 2017. She is a qualified secondary school teacher, BAMBA listed adult mindfulness teacher and Specialist Leader of Education for Wellbeing and Inclusion. She has a particular interest in supporting staff, senior leaders and schools in developing organisational approaches to mindfulness and wellbeing.
Helen Marsh joined The Present team in 2017. She is a qualified teacher and an advanced practitioner in further education. She has worked for over twenty-five years teaching students with additional needs, disabilities, and engagement with hard-to-reach groups.
She is a competency assessed BAMBA registered adult mindfulness teacher and mindfulness supervisor. She enjoys using creative ways of making mindfulness accessible to everyone and to make a difference to local communities. Her current project is based around connecting young people in schools with local charities and encouraging employability skills through mindfulness-based community projects.
Elinor Brown joined The Present in 2022. She is Wellbeing Lead in a primary school developing a whole school approach to mindful wellbeing. Elinor is also a BAMBA listed adult mindfulness teacher. She specialises in sharing mindfulness with educators and is part of the training team at MiSP including for The Present for Schools. She has also worked with students and staff at the University of Cambridge. Elinor has a particular interest in supporting parents, carers and school staff to explore mindfulness as a way to wellbeing that can benefit whole communities.
Liz Williams is Chair of Mindfulness Wales and leads on education. She teaches mindfulness to children from 3-18 and to school staff. She is proud to be part of the training teams for all the MiSP programmes, now including The Present. Liz started her full time career as a primary teacher and has been a head, advisor, assistant director of a local authority and finishing as Head of Children and Yong People’s Strategy with the Welsh Government.
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Jayne Mercer-Smith has been teaching in Primary Education for over 30 years. She holds and MSc with Bangor University’s Centre for Mindfulness and Research and has trained with The Oxford Mindfulness Foundation. Jayne has taught mindfulness to children using The Present for Schools and Paws b curricula across primary schools since 2017 and isa Mindfulness Lead for her school. Jayne also offers mindfulness courses to parents, school staff and the wider community. As part of her thsis, Jayne conducted research into teacher wellbeing, and the benefits of a whole school approach by training teacher and teaching assistants at one school to deliver The Present for Schools curriculum to their classes. Jayne has trained to adapt mindfulness programmes to make them accessible and supportive to those with ADHD and other forms of neurodiversity. She is particularly enthusiastic about participants adapting and finding inovative ways of bringing mindfulness into their everyday lives. Jayne has found that practising mindful awareness has enabled her to move from survival mode towards flourishing and is passionate about sharing the knowledge and skills that can inspire others to do the same.