MBSR Instructors
Timothy D. Riley, MD, has been a practicing family physician for more than 10 years, and has been in Penn State's Department of Family and Community Medicine since 2012. After learning how mindfulness can impact provider well-being and quality of care at the University of Rochester, he became a qualified MBSR teacher through the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness. He currently serves as the Department of Family and Community Medicine's associate vice chair for wellness and as the Office of Faculty and Professional Development's co-director for well-being and burnout mitigation.
Holly Socolow, MHS, has been offering mindfulness programs in the Lancaster/Hershey/Harrisburg area since 2006. She was the MBSR facilitator for the Women's Health Research study for overweight women completed at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and published in August 2017. Socolow participated in professional training under the direction of Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, founder of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. She is a qualified MBSR teacher through the Center for Mindfulness, University of Massachusetts.
Participants are saying...
"By practicing mindfulness… I developed a picture in my imagination of a bubble surrounding me, separating me from those difficult situations and the accompanying emotions… I have been able to use that distance between myself and my emotions to think creatively about new responses to difficult situations."
Michael Hayes, PhD, is an assistant professor of psychiatry and member of Penn State College of Medicine's faculty and of Penn State Cancer Institute. Dr. Hayes is a licensed psychologist with 28 years of professional experience. His clinical practice is dedicated to caring for patients diagnosed with cancer as well as patients undergoing bone marrow or solid organ transplantation. He also serves as the psychosocial services coordinator for the Penn State Cancer Institute's cancer committee. Dr. Hayes is a University of Massachusetts School of Medicine Center for Mindfulness-qualified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teacher and on the pathway to become a CFM-certified MBSR teacher.
Michelle "Shelly" Ungemach, MSW, LSW, is a licensed social worker and the psychosocial program development coordinator at Penn State Health Children's Hospital. Ungemach has provided opportunities to learn and practice mindfulness meditation in the area for the past nine years. She is a qualified MBSR teacher through the University of California San Diego Mindfulness-Based Professional Training Institute.
Elizabeth Bhagat has been a registered Vascular Ultrasound Technologist at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center since 2005. As a healthcare worker, Bhagat has experienced the ways in which Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction can help with workplace stress, burnout and compassion fatigue. Additionally, as a parent of school-aged children, she appreciates the potential positive impact of Mindfulness on interpersonal relationships and family life. She is a qualified MBSR teacher through the Mindfulness Center at Brown University.