Diana Winston is the Director of UCLA Mindful, the mindfulness education center of UCLA Health. She is the author of The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering your Natural Awareness, and the co-author, with Susan Smalley, PhD, of Fully Present, the Science, Art and Practice of Mindfulness. Called by the LA Times “one of the nation’s best- known teachers of mindfulness,” she has taught mindfulness since 1999 in a variety of settings including hospitals, universities, corporations, nonprofits, and schools in the US and Asia. A sought-after speaker, she developed the evidence-based Mindful Awareness Practices (MAPS) curriculum and the Training in Mindfulness Facilitation, which trains mindfulness teachers worldwide. She is a founding board member of the International Mindfulness Teachers Association. Her work has been mentioned in the New York Times, O Magazine, Bloomberg, the Los Angeles Times, CNN.com, Women’s Health, and in a variety of magazines, books, and journals. More recently, Diana’s meditations were featured on the California governor’s Covid-19 response website. She can be found on the UCLA Mindful, Waking Up, and Ten Percent Happier Apps.
Moderator: Dr. Nikola Alenkin, LCSW
Dr. Nikola Alenkin, LCSW, is a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual social worker who has been in the field for 25+ years. He has worked with marginalized populations in Skid Row Los Angeles and communities of color in East Los Angeles. Dr. Alenkin is an LCSW in the state of California and supervises associate social workers working towards their licensure. His clinical experience includes administration and management of programs with the public and private sector, as well as delivery of direct clinical services to those most in need. He is also an educator of social work, psychology, and child and family studies for the past 20+ years. He works not only within communities, but also conducts research and is a sought-after speaker in the areas of stress and coping, homeless population service delivery, and work with specialized populations. He is currently with the Department of Veterans Affairs working in the largest residential treatment facility for veterans in the country and is also at California State University, Los Angeles as a faculty member in the school of social work. He is co-founder and co-director of a community organizing and policy advocacy institute, California Organizing and Policy Institute. He devotes his time to mentorship and lifelong learning.
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