Sue Hutton started her path to mindfulness in 1985. She did professional training with Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, and has since then taught over a thousand people in a wide range of communities. Sue focuses much of her work these days on supporting mindfulness in neurodiverse communities and caregivers.
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Sue's career as a social worker and work in disability advocacy allow her to add a special accessibility focused perspective to traditional mindfulness techniques.
MAKING MINDFULNESS ACCESSIBLE
"I've taught mindfulness in developmental services, in the education system, in cancer care services, and in the prison system. I also lead clinical groups with autistic adults and their caregivers for research in mindfulness for neurodevelopmental disabilities at CAMH.
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Teaching those with a disability, or cancer, caregivers, educators, and health professionals with the lens of my advocacy perspective has shown me the importance of making mindfulness accessible to anyone".
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~ Sue Hutton
My Approach to Mindfulness
Neurodiversity Informed & Trauma Informed
Honouring Traditional Roots
With decades of social work experience supporting people who are neurodivergent, I am passionate about inclusion and accessiblity. I self-describe as undiagnosed ADHD. The mindfulness skills I teach come from adaptations from traditional practices and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). I have been lucky to work with autistic adults and research teams adapting MBSR for autistic adults. Trauma is important as a part of the neurodiversity informed lens, and I incorporate trauma informed practices in my work.
Mindfulness comes from the roots of traditional Buddhist meditation. I have studied in India and with traditional Theravaden Buddhist as well as Tibetan Buddhist teachers. Honouring the roots of the path is important to me. Teachers include: SN Goenka, Zasep Tulku Rinpoche
Based in Research
I am privileged to co-create and adapt mindfulness tools with research teams, with and for the neurodevelopmental community. The beauty of working with a research team at the CAMH Azrieli Adult Neurodevelopmental Centre, is that I am lucky to work with research teams led by Dr. Yona Lunsky, a devoted advocate for advancing the wellbeing of adults with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their support networks. A list of my publications can be found under the research section of my site.