PAUSE:
A Caregiver Retreat

Andrew is the Director of Program Development at Sarana Institute and along with his wife, Angie, is a co-founder. In 2010, Andrew was ordained as Buddhist Chaplain by Roshi Joan Halifax, a leader in the fields of compassion, caregiving and end-of-life. His thesis, Mindful Listening at End-of-Life, was recently published and explores the roles of mindfulness, empathy and compassion, from both neuroscience and Buddhist psychology perspectives, as skills to prevent caregiver “empathy fatigue.”

A teacher and educator of mindfulness meditation, Buddhism, End-of-Life caregiving, and his Mindful Listening work, Andrew has created training and curriculums at University of Toronto through the Applied Mindfulness Mediation Program, at Sick Kids Hospital through The Mindfulness Project, at Hincks Dellcrest Centre, as well as numerous conferences, hospitals, hospices and organizations involved in service, healthcare, end-of-life care, volunteer caregiving. In addition to his teaching, he guides individual and families at end of life and serves as an officiant at memorials and funerals. Andrew is also a Registered Psychotherapist.

www.andrewblake.ca

Dr. Agnes Wong is Professor of Ophthalmology, Neurology, & Psychology at the University of Toronto, and an active staff Ophthalmologist at The Hospital For Sick Children in Toronto. She is the former Ophthalmologist-in-Chief at The Hospital For Sick Children, where she was named the inaugural John & Melinda Thompson Chair in Vision Neuroscience. She is also the former Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Toronto. In her career as a physician-scientist, Agnes has published extensively in the field of Ophthalmology and vision sciences, has travelled widely as a visiting professor and invited speaker, as well as won many research and teaching awards.

Agnes received lay ordination as a chaplain and Dharma Holder (empowerment to teach) in the Soto Zen lineage from Roshi Joan Halifax, Ph.D., Abbott of the Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. She completed intensive teacher training in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy with its cofounder, Dr. Zindel Segal, at the University of Toronto. Agnes is a lead faculty of the Mindfulness and Compassion Training for Health and End-of-Life Care Professionals program at the Sarana Institute in Toronto. As a surgeon and clinician, she also gives talks and runs workshops on physician well-being at many professional organizations, universities, and hospitals worldwide, to enhance physicians’ skills in mindfulness, compassion, and systems thinking.

Agnes’ literary and artistic work includes haiku poetry, photography, and translation of ancient Chinese philosophical classics (Tao Te Ching). Her work speaks to love, loss, vulnerability, healing, femininity, and spirituality—important dimensions of human existence that are often unacknowledged in our modern busy lives. Her latest books include “The Art and Science of Compassion. A Primer—Reflections of a Physician-Chaplain” published by Oxford University Press, and “Loving Presence: Visual Meditations of a Woman’s Inner Journey.” Her professional website is agneswongmd.com.

Lysa Toye is a Clinical Social Worker, Psychotherapist and Expressive Arts Therapist in private practice. Her clinical focus for over a decade was centred on child and family grief and trauma through her roles at the Dr. Jay Children’s Grief Centre and the Hospital for Sick Children. For the last 15 years, her private psychotherapy practice has been focussed on supporting individuals across the life span living with the effects of grief, complex trauma and dissociative disorders. She is an instructor in Wilfred Laurier University’s Death, Dying and Bereavement Certificate program and SickKids Centre for Community Mental Health’s Certificate Program in Children’s Grief and Bereavement. She was a participant in the first cohort of Sarana Institute’s Mindfulness and Compassion Training Program for Health and End of Life Care Professionals before taking up service as current faculty.

Lysa has been engaged in contemplative life and practice in various streams of yoga and Buddhism for over two decades. Mindfulness and compassion are the foundation of her work as a psychotherapist. She is passionate about supporting people of all ages facing the complex impacts of adversity, loss and trauma to return to themselves, give voice to their experiences and to discover their own wisdom, resources and vitality. Her professional website is lysatoye.com.