The Breathworks Foundation

Making mindfulness accessible

We are a registered charity, with a mission is to make mindfulness accessible to everyone. Being an organisation that gives back has been important to us from the very beginning. Our Founder Vidyamala was living on benefits for many years before she was able to secure funding through a disability grant to start Breathworks. We know that many who benefit the most from our services are least able to afford it, so we are committed to help those in need through bursaries, scholarships, free resources and other funding initiatives.

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The Breathworks Foundation Advisory Group

The Breathworks Foundation has an independent advisory board of leading academics working in the field of pain and/or mindfulness research who help guide our programme of research.

Amanda C de C Williams - Advisor Breathworks Charitable Foundation Dr Amanda C de C Williams is an academic psychologist at University College London (UCL), with a clinical session at the Pain Management Centre, National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery (UCH).

She also works for the International Centre for Health and Human Rights. At UCL she teaches undergraduate and postgraduate psychologists and medical students. She has worked in the pain field for over 25 years, with particular interests in evaluating psychologically-based treatments, including systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and national and international guidelines; in expression of pain and its interpretation by clinicians; in pain from torture; and in the use of responsive technology to extend healthcare. She has written over 140 papers and chapters on aspects of pain and psychology, presents at national and international pain meetings, and is on the editorial boards of several major pain journals.

Jenny Edwards CBE is Director of Thriving Minds, which promotes positive steps people can take to promote their mental health and wellbeing. She is an advisor to various mental health organisations and programmes, including new initiatives in digital mental health, mindfulness and international information sharing.

As Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation from 2013-17 she led its focus on prevention and mental health inequalities, working to influence government and city-wide strategy on public mental health. She is often seen in the media, on social media or at conferences promoting positive messages on mental health.

Jenny is an Honorary Fellow of the Faculty for Public Health; the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership and the Society of Leadership Fellows and is a member of the Mindfulness Initiative National Advisory Panel. She chaired the National Expert Reference Group on Acute Mental Health Care for Adults. She is a member of the National Institute for Health Research Challenge Panel which looks at Digital Innovation. She is a charity trustee providing expertise in the fields of mental health and learning disabilities. Jenny’s previous roles include leadership in the homelessness and cultural sectors as Chief Executive of Homeless Link and Director of the National Campaign for the Arts/Director of External Relations Arts England (London). She was awarded a CBE in 2011 for her work for disadvantaged people.

Mindfulness Charitable Foundation Advisor lance McKraken - Breathworks Professor Lance M. McCracken is Professor of Behavioural Medicine at King's College London, in the Health Psychology Section of the Psychology Department. He is also a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and the Psychology Lead at the INPUT pain management centre at St Thomas' Hospital in London. He has published more than 150 scientific papers and chapters, and two books.

He is on the editorial boards for Health Psychology, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Journal of Pain, and European Journal of Pain, among others. He has also been named a Fellow of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science. His primary research interests are in chronic pain treatment development, behavioural theory, contextual approaches within the cognitive behavioural therapies, interdisciplinary treatment design, and psychological flexibility.