Mindfulness for College Prep | Reduce Stress & Anxiety

Janet N. Ahn, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at William Paterson University and the Director of the Motivation + Innovation Lab. She received her B.A. in Psychology from Barnard College, Columbia University and completed her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from New York University. Her research investigates human goal pursuit and motivation. She has examined how people’s goal pursuit is affected by what they infer about others’ goals (via projection) and what they believe about others based on their attributes (via transference and stereotyping). She also creates interventions to increase high school students’ motivation and persistence in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math) fields as well as developing innovative technological tools to increase student retention in college. She has published over a dozen papers in peer-reviewed empirical journals and her work has been featured in various media outlets such as Women’s Health Magazine, NPR, American Educator, the Business Insider, CBS, and USA Today.

Janet Ahn, Ph.D.

MAPs for College Prep

Karen is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She co-created the curriculum Making Friends with Yourself: A Mindful Self-Compassion Program for Teens and wrote the The Self-Compassion Workbook for Teens. She has been a mindfulness practitioner for almost 40 years and has 18 years of classroom experience.

Karen Bluth, Ph.D.

Multi-Program Contributor

Valerie transformed her high-pressure, twenty-year career as a lawyer-lobbyist, representing educational institutions and nonprofits, to human-scale work with leaders and teams to foster trustworthy, compassionate, and authentic connections. She is an accredited leadership coach, international retreat leader, writer, and Chief Mindfulness Officer of Lead Smart Coaching, LLC, specializing in application and integration of mindfulness and leadership, and is a Co-Director of Georgetown’s Institute for Transformational Leadership.

Valerie Brown, JD, MA, PCC

Multi-Program Contributor

Tara Cousineau - Tara Cousineau, Ph.D, is a clinical psychologist, researcher and writer. She currently works as a staff psychologist at Harvard University’s Counseling Center. She is the author of The Kindness Cure: How the Science of Compassion Can Heal Your Heart and Your World and The Little Deck of Kindfulness. Dr. Cousineau is a mindfulness meditation teacher and on faculty at The Center for Mindfulness and Compassion, Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, MA. She is a trained teacher in Making Friends with Yourself for adolescents and young adults, an adaptation of the Mindful Self-Compassion group program, based on the teachings of Drs. Christopher Germer and Kristin Neff. Dr. Cousineau is also a certified facilitator of the Daring Way Method™ in practices of courage and resilience, based on the research by Dr. Brené Brown, PHD, LMSW. She is a founder of KindMinds.co and host of the Kind Minds podcast, and is devoted to bringing “kindfulness” practices to individuals, schools and workplaces through speaking engagements and workshops.

Tara Cousineau, Ph.D.

Multi-Program Contributor

Chris is a clinical psychologist and lecturer in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is a co-developer of the Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program, author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion, co-author of The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook, and (forthcoming) Teaching the Mindful Self-Compassion Program. He teaches and leads workshops internationally on mindfulness and compassion.

Christopher Germer, Ph.D.

Multi-Program Contributor

Itzel Hayward is a compassionate and fierce advocate for love. After serving as a public policy lawyer for 13 years, Itzel left her legal career and founded Attuned Living, a mindfulness and wellness organization that helps individuals heal the sense of separation they feel from others — or even from themselves. Her unique work — based on the teachings of yoga, mindfulness, and compassionate communication — ranges from promoting social justice work within organizations and communities to guiding individuals on their search for personal and professional fulfillment. Today, Itzel holds retreats, classes, trainings, and private one-on-one sessions online, over the phone, and in person with people from all over the world. Her mission is to gently remind you of your individual wholeness and your interconnectedness with others and all of life.

Itzel Hayward, JD

Multi-Program Contributor

Lynne Maureen Hurdle, author of the best seller, Closing Conflict for Leaders, is a conflict resolution strategist, facilitator, TEDx speaker and coach with over 40 years of experience. Lynn is known as The Conflict Closer, not just because she helps leaders gain the skills they need to dig deep and finally close the door on those conflicts that have been plaguing their life for too long, but also because she helps leaders bring conflict closer. By helping bring conflict close enough to examine the roots of it, the fruits of it and the long-lasting effects it has on business and life, Lynn makes conflict less scary by helping to actually see it, get to know it, and be in relationship with it. Over her forty year career, Lynn has helped people from Harlem to Hong Kong transform through a mix of different styles and methods. She brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and her special Lynnergy to every client.

Lynne Maureen Hurdle

MAPs for College Prep

Kailen Guggenheim is Founder & President of Mindful Awareness Practices, LLC and is passionate about spreading the transformative practice of mindfulness within professional industries and beyond. She is a lecturer and published author of “Put It In Perspective: A Teen’s Guide to Sanity” (AuthorHouse, 2014), a book offering mindfulness and stress-management tools for teenagers and young-adults. Kailen graduated Cum Laude with a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Florida in under three years, and received her M.A. in Clinical Psychology with a Concentration in Spirituality and Mind Body Practices from Teachers College, Columbia University. Additionally, she has completed an advanced certificate in Cooperation and Conflict Resolution from the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Columbia.

Kailen Guggenheim

Founder, President &
Multi-Program Contributor

Dr. Mark Leary is the Garonzik Family Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from West Virginia Wesleyan College and his doctoral degree in social psychology from the University of Florida. He taught previously at Denison University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Wake Forest University, where he served as department chair. Leary has published 14 books and more than 250 scholarly articles and chapters on topics dealing with social motivation, emotion, and self-relevant thought, including The Curse of the Self: Self-awareness, Egotism, and the Quality of Human Life. He has also recorded two courses for the Teaching Company:Understanding the Mysteries of Human Behavior and Why You Are Who You Are: Investigations into Human Personality.

Mark Leary, Ph.D.

MAPs for College Prep

Darryl is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with over a decade of experience where he has practiced in multiple sectors within the behavioral health and psychiatric industry. As a clinician, researcher, educator, and developer, Darryl has gained knowledge and expertise in Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Positive Psychology to create and provide services that meet the behavioral health and psychiatric needs of a large range of cultural, social economic, and age diverse populations. He is the co-founder and co-leader of the Crimson Mind and Body Program, whose mission is to support the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of all identities and roles of the student-athlete population and provides mental health education and consultation to students, coaches, and staff at Harvard Athletics. Darryl has served as an expert in developing educational materials and workshops in the areas of diversity, inclusion, belonging, and mental health.

Darryl Lemus, MA, LMHC

MAPs for College Prep

Dan is a clinical instructor at New York University, teaching positive psychology and peak performance to almost 1,000 students each year in “The Science of Happiness,” the most popular elective course at NYU. Dan co-authored UThrive: How to Succeed in College (and Life). Dan works with students, established and high-potential performing artists, athletes and numerous Fortune 500 companies and executives around the world to help them manage stress and anxiety, achieve well-being, and uncover their core strengths.

Dan Lerner

Multi-Program Contributor

Dr. Monica Lewin is an expert in the neuropsychology of optimal learning strategies. She holds a Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience from NYU, and a B.S. in Psychology from UMass Amherst. As Faculty of Arts & Sciences NYU, she created the original course entitled, "How We Learn." In this course, Dr. Lewin trains NYU students to apply the science of learning and memory to their own study habits. Dr. Lewin also serves as an expert resource to NYU faculty, training them in research based strategies for creating memorable, engaging learning experiences. Her expert teaching prompted her to be selected for a Golden Dozen Teaching Award nomination. Dr. Lewin is driven by her passion for helping her audiences live optimally by letting them in on the secret science behind everyday life.

Monica Lewin, Ph.D.

MAPs for College Prep

Cory is a former monk, mindfulness advisor for the Dr. Oz show, and bestselling author. He has taught Mindful Leadership at Columbia University, is an instructor of Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, and for the last ten years has offered mindfulness workshops and retreats around the world. Named by Dr. Oz as one of the nation’s leading experts on mindfulness, his meditations have been heard more than 10 million times in over 100 countries. Cory is the host of the top ranked podcast, Practicing Human, host of the mindfulness app and platform, Mindfulness.com, and author of the bestselling book, Stop Missing Your Life: How to Be Deeply Present in an Un-Present World.

Cory Muscara, MAPP

Multi-Program Contributor

Alan is a clinical assistant professor at NYU Langone Medical Center and the director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Outpatient Services at Bellevue Hospital Center. Along with Dan Lerner, Alan teaches “The Science of Happiness” at NYU. In both of his roles, Alan studies how people overcome mental illness and how healthy people develop their strengths. Using the best science that we have, he works to foster behaviors and thoughts that might help prevent mental illness.

Alan Schlechter, M.D.

Multi-Program Contributor

Tim Urdan has been a professor at Santa Clara University since 1996. He was an assistant professor at Emory University in the Division of Educational Studies for two years before moving to Santa Clara University. Dr. Urdan received his Ph.D. from the Combined Program in Educational Psychology at the University of Michigan, his Ed.M. at Harvard, and his B.A. in Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. His research areas include academic motivation, adolescent development, cultural and ethnic identity, and adaptive educational environments. He lives in Berkeley with his two children.

Tim Urdan, Ph.D.

MAPs for College Prep

Dr. Jo Ellyn Walker is a licensed clinical psychologist who believes diversity without inclusion is an incomplete and ineffective stance, and that diversity/inclusion work is everyone’s work. Having developed a passion for social justice early, Dr. Walker has worked for years to address health disparities, and other forms of oppression through various roles in student and academic affairs; as well as community agencies. She engages in individual and institutional level interventions to support healing, thriving, and foster the empowerment of marginalized communities. This multimodal work has included: providing group and individual therapy, providing training and consultation regarding crisis management and mental health referral, conducting and presenting research that emphasizes intersectionality in health and higher education contexts, and collaborating to enhance campus/organizational climate. Dr. Walker holds a Ph.D. in counseling psychology and Master’s in education from Texas A&M University; as well as a Bachelor’s in psychology from Northwestern University. She currently works as a Staff Psychologist & Wellness Director at Georgetown University.

Jo Ellyn Walker, Ph.D.

MAPs for College Prep

Preparing for college is stressful.

We’re here to help on your journey.

Mindful Awareness Practices (MAPs) for College Prep was developed because transitioning to college is challenging, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

What Will I Learn?

"Now that I have completed the course, I feel a lot more confident about my transition to college. This course gave me a tool kit to approach various problems that could be magnified in college."

Contact Us

Preparing for college is stressful.

We’re here to help on your journey.

Mindful Awareness Practices (MAPs) for College Prep was developed because transitioning to college is challenging, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

What Will I Learn?

"Now that I have completed the course, I feel a lot more confident about my transition to college. This course gave me a tool kit to approach various problems that could be magnified in college."