Our beginnings
As director of Nursing Research and Innovation at Mayo Clinic Arizona and an associate professor of nursing at Mayo Clinic's College of Medicine, Dr. Pipe had long understood the critical implications of mindfulness toward resilience in healthcare, education, and everyday life, beginning her own mindfulness practice during her time in the nursing profession. As a caregiver entrusted with decision-making in a high-stress, high-stakes occupation, Pipe understood the value of mindfulness in quelling inner fears and uncertainties and in creating an interior environment in which reason and response (rather than reaction) informed actions.
Upon joining ASU as Dean of the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation in 2011, Dr. Pipe brought her passion for mindfulness practice with her to ASU, becoming a leading researcher in mindfulness in the healthcare sector.
As she spoke about mindfulness with communities at ASU, Dr. Pipe realized that many students, faculty and staff were already engaging in mindfulness practices -- sometimes without recognizing it -- within their classes, departments and families.
Determined to foster a community in which practitioners of all walks of life could practice and share resources around mindfulness, Dr. Pipe began hosting Mindful Gatherings at her house. From these organic gatherings, the concept of Center coalesced. Encouraged by peers and colleagues, Pipe continued incubating the idea of a center that would elevate the values of mindfulness, compassion and resilience for the ASU community.
Finally, after meetings with stakeholders, community members, and leaders within ASU, Dr. Pipe's proposal for this center was submitted and approved by ASU's Provost, and the Center for Mindfulness, Compassion and Resilience opened its doors in 2017.
Our continuing journey
Since its inception, Center has grown to reach 100,000+ people across 94 countries, providing programming, facilitating connections, and sharing resources in both in-person and virtual environments. Center offers our communities access to enhanced well-being through virtual community forums for a global audience, through community-specific, trauma-informed conversations around healing, identity and resilience, through individual, one-on-one consulting sessions, and in all manner of modalities in between.
Though we work with partners and constituents both outside and within ASU, service to our student communities and to the further development of the science behind mindfulness remain integral to our charter. Center supports mindfulness research at the undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral levels, helping guide and foster robust, evidence-based study at the forefront of mindfulness and wellness research, across clinical and academic settings and contexts.
Every semester, Center serves as an internship site and incubation space for ASU undergraduate and graduate students pursuing research or professional development around mindfulness practice. Center staff serve as mentors, individual and club advisors, and dissertation, thesis or honors committee members to students.
Above all, Center is passionate about serving the communities we are embedded within: we program with animal rescue organizations; we serve on both university and community boards and committees around issues of wellness, health, and equity; and we provide consultation, programming and resources to academic and nonacademic units within ASU, within local school districts, and with area organizations and businesses; and we host events to engage with our ever-expanding, beloved community.