Sam Himelstein

Biographical Information
"Sam Himelstein, a formerly incarcerated youth himself, is dedicated to and passionate about serving high-risk and incarcerated youth through the practice of mindfulness and other emotional intelligence skills. He brings a great deal of both personal and professional experience to his role as Executive Director of The Mind Body Awareness Project.

"As a young adolescent, Sam was heavily involved in the juvenile justice system and was incarcerated on several occasions over a period of three years. He was on a personal path to destruction, struggling with drugs, violence, delinquency, and most notably anger. He eventually turned his life around through connections with mentors, personal inner work (including mindfulness meditation), and the never-ending love and support of his parents.

"Sam went on to graduate high school, college, and eventually pursued his PhD in Clinical Psychology. He received his PhD from Sofia University (formerly the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology) where he is now Associate Core Faculty, teaching classes on the incorporation of mindfulness into psychotherapy in the low residency master’s program.

"Sam completed the first published research for MBA, entitled, “A Mixed Methods Study of a Mindfulness-Based Intervention with Incarcerated Youth.” as his dissertation. He has been involved with MBA for over five years in many different positions including MBA Instructor, Program Manager, and Director of Research and has dedicated his career to working with high-risk and incarcerated adolescents.  His knowledge and love for this work have been compiled in his upcoming book, “A Mindfulness-Based Approach to Working with High-Risk Adolescents,” which will be published by Routledge in April of 2013."