Bios

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction is a separate educational service for those interested in developing mind-body connections. MBSR is an educational program offered apart from Dr. Handlin’s psychology practice and is not meant to substitute for personal or professional psychological advice which must be received from a licensed mental health professional.

Founder and Executive Director

Dr. Diane Handlin, the Founder and Executive Director of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Center of NJ is one of the few people in the world and was the first person in New Jersey who was Certified to teach MBSR by Jon Kabat-Zinn’s and Saki Santorelli’s Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Healthcare and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. A long-time practitioner of meditation and mindful yoga, she has trained intensively at the Center for Mindfulness where this educational program has been in existence for over thirty years.

Dr. Diane Handlin received her degrees from Columbia University and Albert Einstein College of Medicine as well as Parsons School of Design. In addition to a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (NJ lic. #3306; NY lic. #015840), she has a degree in Career Counseling and is a clinical supervisor of doctoral students at the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University.

She was the Diversity Coordinator and Teacher of the History of Philosophy and Religion at the Pingry School, a Staff Psychologist at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School/UBHC and a Consulting Psychologist and popular speaker at numerous independent schools and other organizations.

She specializes in life transitions and has helped adolescents, adults and families for more than twenty years, both as an educator and in her separately maintained psychology practice.

For more information about Dr. Handlin's separate psychology practice, see Specialization

(Although Dr. Handlin is a licensed psychologist and was the first person in NJ Certified to teach MBSR and has a psychology practice, please note that MBSR is an educational course for those interested in developing mind-body connections. MBSR is a non-psychological service offered apart from Dr. Handlin’s psychology practice and is not meant to substitute for personal or professional psychological advice.)

Educational Consultant

Jim Handlin, Founding Member and Educational Consultant to the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Center of NJ in Metuchen, NJ, has a doctorate from Columbia University in Educational Administration, as well as an advanced degree in Career and Counseling Psychology from the same institution. He is a classical languages scholar and well-published poet whose work has been chosen to be carved in marble alongside that of William Carlos Williams, Amiri Baraka and Walt Whitman in the New Jersey Transit area of Penn Station of New York City.

In addition to being Certified by Jon Kabat-Zinn’s and Saki Santorelli’s Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society at UMass Medical School, Dr. Jim Handlin has been a lifelong meditator and practitioner of yoga. His career as an educator has spanned his having been Head of the Upper School at the Pingry School in Martinsville, NJ (where he founded the longest running meditation program for high school students in the US), as well as Headmaster of the Rockland Country Day and Woodstock Day Schools over a 25 year career. Dr Handlin is also a gifted College Placement Specialist who has spent his life helping adolescents and adults develop their full potential. He has taught MBSR in numerous venues including at the Summit Medical Group in Berkeley Heights, NJ and at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He has been an extremely popular speaker and workshop leader for a number of organizations including the Adult Education program at the JCC Metrowest of NJ (where he returned repeatedly by popular demand), United Bank of Switzerland, and the Parents’ Association at the Newark Academy in Livingston, NJ. In addition to teaching courses at the MBSR Center of NJ and teaching numerous private clients, Jim consults on mindfulness to the Metuchen School District, Lawrence Township School District, and the Freehold School District. Also, most recently he consults on mindfulness to several corporations including Bristol, Meyers, Squibb at their nine NJ locations.

To hear Dr. Jim Handlin speak on “Mindfulness and Education click here

(Please note that most teachers who have done training at the Center for Mindfulness at UMass Medical School are not formally Certified to teach MBSR by them. It is a great honor to be recognized in this way.)