Free Online Mindfulness Classes for Parents and Caregivers

Meet the Team of Mindfulness Facilitators

Angélica Zapata

Angélica Zapata is a certified life coach, a marketing professional and an education consultant, specializing in early childhood development. She was trained in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based resilience (REAL-Pro) at the University of Washington, where she also worked leading the adaptation and implementation of mindfulness and compassion programs for community-based organizations and early learning professionals in Seattle. Currently, she leads Ready to Grow, and teaches mindfulness at Green River College. 

Angie Tamayo

Angie Tamayo Montero is a mental health therapist, plants lover and mommy. During college and through research programs where she worked, she learned about the great impact that mindfulness, or, as we call it in our program, "being present with heart and mind," has in people’s lives. She has always been passionate about working with her Latinx community and sharing what she knows with others. For her, it is important that the Latinx community has access to these types of tools and that they feel welcome in these types of spaces. As an immigrant woman of color and mom, practicing being present with heart and mind has helped her navigate difficult situations with compassion and learn to enjoy life’s simple moments even more.

Dominique Smith

Dominique Smith is a wife, mother of three, educator and mindfulness facilitator. She started her mindfulness journey in 2020 when the pandemic began. “Mindfulness can help to reduce my stress and improve moods. I have learned to practice mindfulness in my daily life as well as my children.”

Dr. Ella McRae

Ella is a mom, aunt, and sister who loves sharing the power of the Pause with others. She is a proud South Seattle Native and Garfield High School Graduate. Dr. McRae attended Washington State University for both her undergraduate and doctorate degrees. At W.S.U.  she became a member of AKA as well as graduating Veterinary School with honors and as one of the youngest graduates at the age of 23. Dr. McRae practiced small and exotic veterinary medicine in New Jersey and Maryland, before her path took her to do humanitarian work in West Africa. Dr. McRae lived over 10 years in Ghana doing grassroot community service, education, and Full Circle Doula care and began her journey in Mindfulness practice. Embracing and Celebrating the Power of the Pause and Being Present in the moment allows her to be compassionate and full of love even through difficult times.  She can often heard saying “I just love people!” Ella is passionate about helping people, building community, and celebrating life. She is a board member of FHIA, Black Farmers Collective and WSCACL.

Krista Hanson

Krista Hanson is a mindfulness and yoga instructor, organizer, writer and parent. More than a decade ago, the birth of her child with intense medical challenges set her on a path of seeking grounding, care and hope. She found embodied mindfulness and movement as one way of being with what is, even when it’s really hard. As a facilitator, she brings her passion for liberation work into her classes, drawing connections between personal and collective healing. Her daily teachers are her two extraordinary and unique children who sometimes show the way through their own grace and resilience… and who sometimes, in their chaos, inadvertently remind her to take a few deep breaths. Krista’s writing on parenting and disability has appeared in The Rumpus and The South Seattle Emerald, among other publications.

Dr. Lenna Liu

Lenna Liu has been passionate about supporting families in their well-being as a pediatrician at Odessa Brown Children's Clinic (OBCC) since 1992. When she faced significant challenges in her own life, she turned to yoga and meditation and vowed to share these transformative, healing practices with her families at OBCC. She is the mom of two adult sons and enjoys writing, partner dancing (especially tango) and the Oregon coast. She still finds wonder in the capacity of our breath, our constant companion through each moment of our life. 

Patty González

Patty González is the Parent to Parent program coordinator for Spanish-speaking families at the Arc of King County in Seattle. She provides information and support to the families of children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, particularly as they navigate special education and the health care system. She first took mindful self-compassion in 2017 and joined the team of parents and health care professionals at Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic with the goal of ensuring the Latino community could access a culturally tailored version of the class in Spanish.

Sarah Bergman

Sarah Bergman Lewis is a pediatrician, parent and mindfulness facilitator. Before pursuing medicine, she was a middle school teacher; she has also completed her yoga teacher training and is currently pursuing embodied social justice certification. She is committed to empowering individuals towards their own self-resourcing in body, heart and mind. Through her own journey, she has found mindfulness to be an accessible but profound way to be held by common humanity and work individually and in community towards generational healing and pursuit of a more loving and just world. She loves showing people that mindfulness is already within them and facilitating their own journey back to experience it. 

Suad Farole

Suad Farole is a Somali mindfulness facilitator, a full-spectrum birth doula, maternal healthcare specialist, community organizer, educator, educator of family and youth workshops, infant mental health specialist, and a mother of three. In her free time, she enjoys reading and is completing her Islamic study at the Islamic University of Minnesota. Mindfulness meditation practice has helped her with her five daily prayers. As a practicing Muslim, she finds it very effective when adding meditation before and after prayer, as this lowered her anxiety and increased her level of calmness.

Administrative Staff

Araceli Mendez

Araceli Mendez is the Project Manager for the Mindfulness and Compassion Program at Odessa Brown Children's Clinic. She studied Public Health at the University of Washington and enjoys contributing her administrative skills to operationalize the program’s mission of promoting the well-being of marginalized communities. She finds fulfillment in hearing about how program participants apply what they learn in the Mindfulness classes into their daily lives. Through this program, she has learned to love nature walks to seek out the sun’s warm embrace and listen to birdsongs.

Faith Eakin

Faith Eakin is an educator, writer, and Supervisor of the Mindfulness and Early Intervention Programs at Seattle Children's Odessa Brown Community Clinic (OBCC). With over 11 years of experience facilitating programs in schools and community-based nonprofits in the U.S. and abroad, she has come to believe that storytelling is magic, laughter is healing, and that community is essential to creating a happy life. She is committed to sharing the nourishing and healing power of mindfulness, self-compassion, and social emotional learning (SEL) in educational and healthcare spaces in order to promote community well-being, support mental health, and transform how we show up for ourselves and for those around us.

Tamiko Nietering

Tamiko Nietering is the Program Coordinator for the Mindfulness and Compassion Program at Odessa Brown Children's Clinic. She is originally from Osaka, Japan and now lives in South Seattle with her two daughters, husband, and labradoodle. She serves on the board of directors for the Arc of King County and is passionate about advocating for the well-being of all families. She wouldn't be the person she is today, had she not taken one of the program's mindfulness courses back in 2019 and hopes to spread the work of self-compassion and love.