Lorraine M. Hobbs, MA, is founding director of the family and education programs at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Center for Mindfulness. Hobbs is cocreator of the mindful self-compassion for teens (MSC-T) program, and codeveloper of the MSC-T teacher training pathway. She is a certified teacher of mindful self-compassion (MSC), compassion cultivation training (CCT), and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). Hobbs is an MBSR mentor at the UCSD Mindfulness-Based Professional Training Institute. She is also codeveloper of A Friend in Me: Self-Compassion for Kids and Parents; and the Compassion in Parenting Program (CiP), adapted for parents of kids with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other neurodiverse challenges. Hobbs is coauthor of the book, Teaching Self-Compassion to Teens.Amy C. Balentine, PhD, has practiced for more than twenty years as a clinical psychologist specializing in children and teens. She is founder and director of the Memphis Center for Mindful Living, LLC. She is also a qualified teacher of MBSR; and serves as a mindfulness teacher at the University of California, San Diego Center for Mindfulness; and also leads mindfulness classes and retreats for schools, nonprofits, and other organizations. Balentine is codeveloper of A Friend in Me: Self-Compassion for Kids and Parents.Kristin Neff, PhD, is currently associate professor of educational psychology at The University of Texas at Austin. She is a pioneer in the field of self-compassion research, conducting the first empirical studies on self-compassion more than fifteen years ago. In addition to writing numerous academic articles and book chapters on the topic, she is author of Self-Compassion. In conjunction with her colleague Christopher Germer, she developed an empirically supported, eight-week training program called Mindful Self-Compassion, and offers workshops on self-compassion worldwide.
