168 About the author ABOUT THE AUTHOR Bernadette Lensen was born in Schoonhoven on September 14, 1968. During her studies in Rotterdam, she moved to Schiedam and continues to work in education in Rotterdam to this day. As a child, Bernadette had a broad range of interests, which is part of the reason why she has always continued to learn alongside her working life. She was an avid athlete, earning a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and winning the Dutch championship in this discipline. This is where she first discovered and learned the power of focus and breath, skills that would later resurface in her practice of mindfulness. Her love for sports, creativity, and music led her to become an elementary school teacher in 1990 at the Rotterdam Association for Catholic Education (RVKO). She aimed to convey her enthusiasm for learning and discovery to young children, especially those needing extra support. During the first ten years of her teaching career in Rotterdam, Bernadette worked in special education with children who had learning and/or behavioral problems. To better serve these children, she completed a two-year post-HBO study in Special Educational Needs. She continued to develop in the field of education through numerous courses and short training programs. She developed her management skills alongside her teaching duties, completing various courses, including a two-year post-HBO school leadership study. In 1999, she became vice principal at one of the largest elementary schools of the RVKO, the Nicolaasschool, a school in one of the most vulnerable areas of Rotterdam with about 700 pupils. From 2005 to 2020, she was co-principal of the school, during which her interest in resilience and well-being skills for both educational professionals and pupils grew. Between 2016 and 2020, she was trained by Dr. van Zundert (Radboud University) in positive psychology, and from 2014 to 2016, she completed the postgraduate mindfulness trainer study at the Radboud University Medical Center Expertise Center for Mindfulness under Prof. dr. Speckens. Since 2016, Bernadette has also provided Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training courses to elementary school teachers in Rotterdam and the surrounding area, alongside her role as co-principal. The enthusiastic reactions of participating teachers led to her thesis, a collaboration between the RVKO, Radboud University, UMC Radboud Expertise Center for Mindfulness, and the Trimbos Institute. As an external PhD candidate (2018-2024), Bernadette discovered that the bridging function between science and the
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