Chris McKenna

Experience

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  Tibet Justice Center

  Jan 2004 - Jan 2006

  Executive Director

  Committee of experts supporting the Tibetan Government-In-Exile on a variety of advocacy issues at the United Nations and other international fora. Also provides resources and assistance to Tibetan refugees in Nepal & India.

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  The Center for Justice & Accountability

  Jan 2006 - Jan 2009

  Outreach Director

  Provides legal and psychosocial services to survivors of torture, genocide and war crimes from over 20 different countries.

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  The Mind Body Awareness Project

  Oct 2009 - Dec 2012

  Executive Director

  Provides mindfulness-based interventions to high-risk, gang-involved and incarcerated youth with complex trauma. Designs & researches wrap-around, mindfulness-based clinical programs for youth in the juvenile probation system.

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  Mindful Schools

  Dec 2012 - Aug 2017

  Program Director & Guiding Teacher

  Leading organization integrating mindfulness into education and youth mental health. Trains educators and youth service providers to integrate mindfulness-based approaches into their work with children and adolescents. Researches mindfulness-based interventions in K-5, middle, & high school settings.

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  Project Wayfinder

  Jan 2017 - now

  Program & Curriculum Consultant

  Curriculum and training design consultation for Project Wayfinder, a mental health and social & emotional learning program for grades 6-12 that emphasizes the importance of meaning and purpose in delivering effective youth interventions.

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  Mind Body Awareness Project

  Jan 2018 - Mar 2019

  Program & Curriculum Consultant

  Curriculum & training consultant on MBA's 2018 collaboration with Alameda County Sheriff's Department to bring an 8-week, bilingual, mindfulness-based violence prevention program into the Alameda County jail system.

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  Risingfalling.co

  Jan 2018 - now

  Teacher & Counselor

  risingfalling.co is the psychospiritual teaching team of Megan Cowan & Chris McKenna. Their style emphasizes the absolute uniqueness of each individual on the path of de-conditioning - of seeing through and transmuting the patterns, fixations and wounds that obscure the full expression of true nature. Their interest is in supporting folks as they navigate the many inquiries that arise over the course of the awakening process. They do this through four core offerings:1. An online weekly group that focuses on presence-awareness, somatic embodiment, self-observation, parts work, and the development of intuitive inquiry skills.2. One-on-one work that allows people to receive specific, confidential and intuitive feedback about any aspect of their inner process. Our approach to one-on-one work is radically non-judgmental in nature and assumes that, given the right conditions and support, you are actually capable of navigating even the stickiest conditioned patterns with wisdom-intelligence. Our main job is therefore to facilitate a direct relationship with that intelligence, as well as to support the younger parts of the self in putting down the burden of their various conditioned adaptive strategies.3. Online courses and multi-week intensives on specific areas of the path. You can do these live or pre-recorded. For the pre-recorded classes, we offer folks options for written and live (over Zoom) practice support as they progress through the material.4. In-person and online retreats. For several years, these were taking the form of intimate, 8-person gatherings on a small piece of land in British Columbia. During COVID, we have been experimenting with online at-home retreats. We hope to begin doing in-person retreats again in 2022. Show less

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  Mindful

  Apr 2018 - Apr 2020

  Education Program Officer

  Education Program Officer at the Foundation for a Mindful Society - the Foundation arm of Mindful Magazine/Mindful.org