Mindfulness Practice for Children (Between 7 - 12 years old)

Hello there! I am the owner and Director of LifeWorks Dubai, running LifeWorks alongside my daughter, Carmen Benton, who is the Managing Director of the company.

I'm originally from New Zealand and now love my life in Dubai. I love the opportunities for travel we can explore by living in the hub of the world!

With around 40 years experience as a counsellor, specializing in personal and self development, spiritual direction, individual, couples and marriage counselling, I have acquired many distinctive skills for providing specialized help, including an empathetic and careful listening approach combined with deep intuitive and compassionate understanding.

My unique advantage is many years experience in the field of counselling and self development for individuals, couples, marriage and grief counselling and teaching meditation and mindfulness. 

Counselling, teaching, training, mentoring and caring for people has been my life's work. This enables me to be plausible, credible and trusted, while displaying the broad perspective which can only be gained through a great deal of training and experience.

My life's experiences have created a strong interest in relationships and human development, and in understanding the psychology of grief and loss. My own personal journey towards growth, change and self acceptance led me to studies in Transactional Analysis, Progressive Counselling and Gestalt Psychotherapy.

Living for some years in a meditation and retreat center, where I worked as a counsellor and a teacher of both Hatha Yoga, Meditation, and Mindfulness, has had a marked impact on my way of being and further fueled my desire for authentic living.

Throughout my adult life I have participated in and taught many groups involved in the personal search for authenticity, meaning, purpose and connection. Mindfulness as a way of living and my meditation practice are core teachings for me and enable me to be grounded and connected in my daily life. I am continuously renewing my commitment to growth through regular participation in supervision, research and learning.

I greatly enjoy my life working with people as a consultant, workshop trainer and facilitator, mindfulness and meditation teacher, parenting educator, mother, grandmother, writer, speaker, traveler, web site editor, and explorer of human nature! These labels sum up who I am today and also reflect some of my life's journey too. My skills constitute a life time's dedication to working compassionately with people from all walks of life, cultures, countries and abilities.

Frequent travel has become a large part of my life and I have been blessed to be able to live and work abroad as an expat in some amazing countries which has given me a broader understanding of the impact of culture and change for expatriate lifestyles. I particularly enjoy the focus of group work in expat communities where the diversity of cultural experiences and understandings can be shared