A few weeks ago, Margaret Flinter, Senior Vice President and Clinical Director of the Community Health Center, Inc. sent me an email suggesting that I ‘might really benefit from participating in’ the Stress Reduction Program that Beth Roth, MSN, runs at CHC.  I suspect she was suggesting a source of material about unique and interesting programs that CHC offers, perhaps, even a chance to meet some fascinating CHC patients, and not a commentary on whether I have been appearing stressed out.  Whatever the motivation, I’m glad that she made the suggestion.

In 1992, Beth Roth studied under Jon Kabat-Zinn and then brought his ideas of applying concepts of meditation into health care to CHC.  With a brief hiatus, she has been offering this program here ever since, and some people come back year after year.  So, in preparation, I did a little research, and found a video of Jon Kabat-Zinn speaking about his work to a group of people at Google.

It is a long video, but when you can make some time, you should watch it.  What I found especially interesting is that Google has a mindfulness based stress reduction program.   I figure if it is good enough for Google Employees, it just might be good enough for CHC patients.

So, this morning, I went to one of CHC’s sessions.  I had a couple good chats with other participants and have come away with a lot to think about, research, and hopefully write more about.

I’m still not sure exactly which benefits Margaret thought I would get from the stress reduction program, but it seems as if there are plenty to be had.