Dr. Shawn Y. Holmes is a mother, educator and a consultant. She creates and facilitates science-based mindfulness programs for organizations. Her work moves mindfulness from conceptual understandings to embodied practices and direct experiences.
Shawn has 30 years of experience across the education spectrum as a secondary science teacher, university professor, corporate trainer, and teacher educator and mentor for beginning teachers. Leveraging her professional and personal journeys Shawn’s approach is learner-centric, anti-racist, compassionate and trauma-sensitive. After being a dentist, science teacher and university professor, Shawn founded The YOU in you Consulting Inc., weaving the essence of her being and ancestry into inclusive, fair and empathetic consulting practices.
Her DMD, MA in multicultural education, PhD in science education and teacher certifications in mindfulness meditation are the foundation of her expertise. Shawn knows that embodied mindfulness programs are necessary to create accountable spaces that cultivate resilience so we can disengage from behaviours that support the oppression of ourselves and others, and instead turn us toward creating thriving, systemically diverse and equitable spaces.
Experience
Shawn has experience as a consultant, co-creating with clients in adult education, mindfulness meditation and change management. As a senior consultant she has experience as lead researcher, creating an inclusive, welcoming onboarding program for a rapidly growing division of 100 employees.
Shawn is a mindfulness meditation teacher and mentor. Mindfulness Mentoring and Affinity Sessions are an integral part of each program. As a mentor, she supports participants and answers their questions throughout the program. Affinity Sessions support and uplift the experiences of systemically marginalized groups by co-regulating with others and being aware of personal experiences in a social context.
Memberships and Committees
Shawn is a member of the Advanced trauma-sensitive mindfulness (TSM) community and a Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Alumni.
Education
2021
Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification
Greater Good Science Center, University of California, Berkeley
2018
Personal Sound Meditation Teacher Certification
The Chopra Center
2009
PhD in Science Education
North Carolina State University
1999
Master of Arts in Multicultural Education
Eastern University
1990
Doctor of Dental Medicine
Temple University Kornberg School of Dentistry
Awards
2010
Best paper award nominee
National Association Research in Science Teaching International Conference
2010
National Technology Leadership Initiative Fellow for Science Education
/
1990
Best poster award
Association for Moral Education International Conference
Research
Research interest
Creating racially equitable spaces in healthcare
Experiences of racially and gender diverse populations in healthcare
The effects of compassion and mindfulness in wellness programs for racially and gender d
Publications
Holmes, S. Y. (2011). [Review of the book Sowing the Seeds of Character: The moral education of adolescents in public and private schools]. Journal of Moral Education.
Holmes, S. Y., (2010). Mitigating the Hawthorne Effect Using Computer Simulations. In L. Annetta and S. Bronack (Eds.). Serious Educational Game Assessment: Practical Methods and Models for Educational Games, Simulations and Virtual Worlds. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
Holmes, S., Annetta, L., Crumb, L., (2019). Investigating pre-service science teacher ethical sensitivity through computer game and video. Journal of Education in Science, Environment and Health, 5(1), 55-69.
Holmes, S. Y., Thurmond, B., Annetta, L., & Sears, M. (2012). Serious educational games (SEGs) and student learning and engagement with scientific concepts. In L. Lennex and K. Nettelton (Eds.). Cases on inquiry through instructional technology in math and science: Systemic approaches, 464 – 486.