Mindfulness Practice Group

​Hi, I'm Maret and the founder/director of New Forest Mindfulness. My professional training is in clinical psychology and, over the last 20+ years, I have increasingly specialised in working with professionals and organisations. I am passionate about how we enable individuals and organisations to live into their potential, becoming an ever increasing force for good in the the world.

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I have a doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Southampton (DClinPsych), undergraduate (BA Hons) & postgraduate research doctorate (PhD) degrees in psychology from the University of Reading, as well as  an Inner MBA qualification, a  conscious business mastery programme, created by LinkedIn, SoundsTrue & Wisdom 2.0. The Inner MBA gave me the opportunity to enhance my skills and knowledge in working with teams and organisations, skills that I continue to use everyday in my current work leading a staff-psychology service within a UK NHS acute healthcare service. 

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I have practiced mindfulness and compassion based approaches personally for well over 20 years, later immersing myself professionally in the field of awareness based practice after I qualified as a Dialectical Behavioural Therapist (DBT) in 2005 and as a Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) teacher in 2007. My British Psychological Society (BPS) approved coaching training was gained through the UK School of Coaching Psychology and I am also currently finishing a 120 hour advanced training in Somatic Mind-Body Coaching through the USA Embody Lab. 

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In 2011 I was fortunate to begin working for The Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, leading a project  with Professor Mark Williams and a team of midwives introducing Mindfulness-Based Childbirth & Parenting (MBCP) into the UK. I subsequently worked as a Tutor for the University of Oxford's Masters in MBCT, for the Department of Continuing Education and developed the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation's non-academic mindfulness (MBCT) teacher- training pathway. Prior to all this I led postgraduate education programmes for healthcare professionals from within the Department of Nursing in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Southampton.

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As well as mindfulness, compassion and embodiment practices, in my coaching and psychological clinical supervision work, I also draw upon a wide range of other psychological models. I have have been fortunate to gain extensive experience and training in several over the years, including Cognitive-Behavioural, Dialectical-Behavioural, Attachment / Systemic and Cognitive-Analytical based approaches. 

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I am registered as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), a visiting academic at the University of Southampton, UK, an Affiliate of the Center for Child and Family Wellbeing, University of Wisconsin-Madison and a faculty member for the Mindful Birthing and Parenting Foundation, (MBPF), California.

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I am married with two children and live in the New Forest. I enjoy being in nature, walking, swimming, reading, learning to paddle board (falling off mainly!) and spending time with the many like-minded people around me personally and professionally who inspire me to keep offering what I believe in.

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