Lucia's Vision
Lucia’s belief and passion
center on bringing mindfulness practices to all populations and wide variety of settings. The benefits of mindfulness practices prove to be effective for many living with stress, pain and chronic conditions. Pioneered in 1979 by Jon Kabat Zinn, the highly utilized and researched Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) introduced the practices of mindfulness, yoga, meditation and paying attention to wide swaths of the population.
Yet access to the benefits of MBSR often requires modifications for underserved populations, including those with cognitive and physical challenges, educational and economic differences. Currently mindfulness teachers and clinicians continue to evolve these teachings using language, images, conceptual and visual representations that are more diverse and inclusive.
Based on personal practice, professional experience and research, Lucia conveys the fundamentals of mindfulness and MBSR to populations unable to participate in traditional programs. Whether shortening or adapting the practices, embodying the essence or non-verbally communicating the exercises, Lucia brings mindfulness to clients with impaired cognition or at the end of life; caregivers with little time or energy; resistant or hesitant participants. In addition, she now shares her knowledge and insights with clinicians interested in adapting mindfulness for themselves and their settings. Mindfulness is for Every One!
Lucia's Manual & Articles
Mindfulness-Base Elder Care: A CAM model for Frail Elders and their Caregivers
"She shares with us her gold - the conception, trial and error implementation, and initial scientific investigation of a new, educationally-oriented treatment approach that she has named mindfulness-based elder care (MBEC)." - from the Foreword by Saki Santorelli, EdD, MA, Associate Professor of Medicine, Executive Director, Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Drawing on years of experience as a geriatric social worker and mindfulness-based stress reduction practitioner, the author has taken Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program and adapted it to the particular needs of elders, their families, and professional caregivers. Mindfulness practices focus on abilities, rather than disabilities, in order to provide paths to the inner strengths and resources that we all possess. McBee's Mindfulness-Based Elder Care conveys the benefits of mindfulness through meditation, gentle yoga, massage, aromatherapy, humor, and other creative therapies to this special population. She provides clear, concise instructions for her program, as well as a wealth of anecdotal and experiential exercises, to help readers at all levels of experience. Hers is the first book to fully explore the value of mindfulness models for frail elders and their caregivers.
Features of this groundbreaking volume include:
- Valuable tips for establishing programs to address each population's specific needs and restrictions
- Designed for short classes or 8-week courses
- Detailed experiential exercises for the reader
- Replete with case studies
- Clear, easy-to-follow instructions for elders and caregivers at all levels
This innovative book is suitable for use with a variety of populations such as nursing home residents with physical and cognitive challenges, community-dwelling elders, direct-care staff, and non-professional caregivers.
Testimonials
"Thank you for an incredible
training/retreat last week. It was exactly what I needed, and I have already been sharing some of the exercises and skills in client sessions and staff supervisions. I am the clinical director for a program that runs 8 counseling enriched classrooms on public school campuses in Northern California (Easy Bay Area)…I really appreciated your attention to social justice, self-practice, and preventing staff burnout, I think you [are] a phenomenal trainer." July 2018 PESI participant
"Lucia's extensive experience
in the healthcare field combined with her firm grasp on how to apply and teach simple yet powerful alternative medicine techniques is what makes Lucia a leader in the wellness programming."
~ Amy Lombardo, Certified Yoga Instructor, Life Coach, and Wellness Counselor
"What a difference!
The knowing that had been theoretical suddenly became very real for me. The connection between mindful presence and vitality of life had never been clearer."
~ July 2018 PESI Participant
"Dear Lucia:
Your guidance and your wonderful tape kept me alive and helped me to become the real person I am today. Without your help I never would have reached my 90th birthday. And had the courage to get on a plane after my dear son passed and go to Florida where I am going to live."
~ Dorothy C., 90 year old participant in the Wellness by telephone group
"There are many things
I learned in this group that I can and will apply and live with the rest of my life."
~ Family Caregiver
"It’s hard to believe it was only a week ago
that we were ending our retreat. It was a wonderful, powerful experience for me. I’m truly grateful [to you both] for creating such a wonderful learning environment."
~ July 2018 PESI Participant