Article archive / March 1, 2012
Originally published: . Volume 3, No. 7. Source pages: 17, 18.
Dr. John Pickering, clinical psychologist from Baton Rouge, and practitioner of Zen Buddhism and meditation for over 40 years, will join Thay Dao Quang, Zen- trained Buddhist monk and Abbot of the Tam Bao Buddhist Temple in Baton Rouge, in offering a day of training on April 7. The training, called “Mindfulness Day for Mental health Professionals,” is a day-long didactic and experiential training. It will be held at the Tam Bao Meditation Hall in Baton Rouge.
This year’s topic is on the use of mindfulness and meditation practice by the therapist to enhance attention, empathy, and compassion when working with clients. Dr. David Weibel, another Baton Rouge psychologist, who
completed his dissertation on “Loving-Kindness Meditation” will also join Dr. Pickering and Thay Dao Quang. The presentation is offered for 6 hours of continuing education for psychologists, counselors, and social workers.
Dr. Pickering co-founded a small Zen meditation and study group with Dr. Gary Pettigrew that has now met weekly for nearly 20 years. He also helped create the Friday night (English speaking) meditation group at the Tam Bao Buddhist Temple.
Dr. Pickering is in private practice in clinical psychology at Dawson Psychological Associates where he has “always incorporated what is now termed a mindfulness- informed therapeutic approach,” he explained to the Times.
Last year he and Thay Dao Quang conducted their day-long continuing education program, attended by area LPCs, psychologists and social workers. Previously they have presented a “Mindfulness and Psychotherapy” seminars for the psychology, social work and counseling interns at the LSU Student Mental Health Center for several years. And in April, 2008, Dr. Pickering co-led with Dr. Pat Aptaker and Thay Dao Quang a continuing education workshop on the subject at the annual meeting of the Louisiana Psychological Association. Dr. Pickering has also presented a symposium on this topic for state-employed counselors, social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists.
Thay Dao Quang has been a committed practitioner and teacher of mindfulness and meditation techniques for the past two decades, and has conducted numerous meditation retreats for both the Vietnamese and English- speaking communities throughout the United States. He was born and raised in a small village in central Vietnam, and entered a Buddhist monastery in Long Thanh, Vietnam in 1991, receiving instruction from Thich Thanh Tu, a close associate of the monk Thich Nhat Hanh, an internationally known Zen Buddhist monk who was once nominated by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for the Nobel Peace Prize. In
1994, Thay left Vietnam and came to America with his family under a program initiated to rescue and sponsor Vietnamese political prisoners. He completed a Masters degree in Community Counseling at Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, LA in 2007, and has since provided counseling to substance abuse clients using mindfulness- based techniques.
In 2009 Thay was invited to join a group sponsored by the American Counseling Association, and traveled to Rwanda, in central Africa, to provide educational and counseling services to survivors of the Rwanda genocide.
For more information contact Dr. Pickering at Jpickering7@cox.net.
Participants at didactic section of “Mindfulness Day” in Baton Rouge.
Photo courtesy of Dr. Pickering
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