Susan was in psychotherapy practice for many years where in addition to her clinical practice she offered the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and the Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) programs. Since 2005, Susan has been a leading consultant and professional trainer in MBSR and MBCT and teaches at venues worldwide.

She developed the MBSR and MBCT professional certificate programs at the Mindfulness-Based Professional Training Institute, University of California San Diego, USA, is a senior MBSR/MBCT mentor and supervisor, and a professional advisor on mindfulness-based clinical trials. In addition, Susan was asked to consult with the Center for Mindfulness Studies in Toronto, Canada to assist them in building their MBSR professional training pathway. More recently, she was part of a strategic team at the Center for Mindfulness at UMass Medical School in Worchester, MA, USA that was tasked to do a review of the center’s MBSR programs. She has presented on the clinical application of mindfulness at numerous conferences. Susan is a co-author of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy – Embodied Presence and Inquiry in Practice and author of chapters in edited books on the training of health professionals in mindfulness-based skills.

Sandy Dias Andrade is a psychologist and the founder-director at Just Being Center for Mindfulness and Presence. Through Just Being, she runs training programs for mental health professionals, offers individual psychotherapy, group process work through deep listening and programs for the community.

She is a certified MBCT Facilitator and completed her training from the Center of Mindfulness, University of California San Diego. She has trained in a number of psychotherapeutic approaches based on Mindfulness and Presence. She has designed and executed trainings for mental health professionals, educationists and social organizations. She has designed, developed and teaches two accredited long-term courses for mental health professionals – Mindfulness and Presence Oriented Psychotherapy in collaboration with Center for Lifelong Learning, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (CLL-TISS) and Mindfulness Based Counseling: Listening with Embodied Presence in collaboration with St.Mira’s College (Autonomous – Affiliated with Pune University). She is also invited as guest faculty to teach the applications of Mindfulness and Presence on many other college and university courses.

She has been actively involved in the field of suicide prevention and is associated as a trustee and mentor to Connecting NGO where she established a helpline based on Mindfulness Based Active Listening and has trained volunteers to provide support to people in distress. She contributes to many other social organizations and schools.