Center for mindfulness | veterans affairs

The Center for Mindfulness at Greater Los Angeles VA is the national hub for mindfulness-based interventions in the VA. Located in the Integrative Health and Healing Center, The Center for

Mindfulness offers a wide variety of courses to Veterans to promote wholeness, enhance well-being and alleviate suffering. The Center for Mindfulness is also home to VA CALM, the national

mindfulness facilitators training program for VA clinicians.  * These resources are provided as a courtesy of VAGLAHS. These links, products, agencies or providers are NOT affiliated with VA

nor should be considered as an endorsement by VA. Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not

necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government.&; The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily

state or reflect those of the United States Government, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. J. Greg Serpa, PhD, is a clinical psychologist at the VA

Greater Los Angeles Healthcare system and the National Mindfulness Consultant for the Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation. He is honored to teach mindfulness to

America's veterans and is the first full-time mindfulness teacher and trainer in the federal system. Dr. Serpa is a Clinical Professor at UCLA, an active researcher, and continues his

work leading the VA’s national mindfulness facilitator training and certification program. Greg is the co-author of The Clinician’s Guide to Teaching Mindfulness. During the pandemic, he has

been deeply committed to his family’s “Chocolate Cake Challenge”…. The ongoing quest for the prefect chocolate cake. Jessica Dennis, PhD, is a clinical psychologist at the VA Greater Los

Angeles Healthcare system and serves as the Program Manager and Lead Faculty member for the VA’s national mindfulness facilitator training program. She is a proud Chicagoan whose desire to

teach mindfulness-based interventions lured her over to the west coast. She enjoys hiking, baking, and watching stand-up comedy with her friends and family, and will travel anywhere with

lofty mountain peaks and crystal blue lakes. She is also working on letting go of disappointment for not being an invited guest judge for Dr. Serpa’s Chocolate Cake Challenge. Susan

Steinberg-Oren, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist in Integrative Health and Healing at the Greater Los Angeles VA Health Care System (VAGLAHCS).  She has worked at VAGLAHCS for the last 32

years, serving in many capacities including Director of Training for the Psychology Pre-doctoral Internship Program and Lead Psychologist in Women’s Mental Health.  Over the past 8 years,

she has dived deeply into mindfulness and Buddhist psychology which has led to her certification as a mindfulness facilitator and trained teacher in Mindful Self-Compassion.   She’s a

beginning ceramicist who enjoys hiking and biking in California and beyond.  And, she’s hoping, one day, to taste Dr. Serpa’s celebrated chocolate cake!