Zayda Vallejo, MLitt, was born in Colombia, South America. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Psychology at Loyola University in Chicago and a Master’s degree in Political Economy at Oxford University. She has been practicing meditation and yoga since 1978. Her keen interest in meditation took her to Japan, India, Burma, and Nepal, where she lived for three years.
Zayda is an adjunct faculty member at Cambridge Health Alliance Center for Mindfulness and Compassion (CMC). She is a mindfulness instructor, trainer, and part of the team that developed the Mindfulness Training for Primary Care Group Leadership Manual. She is an adjunct faculty member at the Mindfulness Center at Brown University School of Public Health. For the past 18 years Zayda has served as a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) instructor, teacher, and supervisor of professionals who aspire to teach MBSR at the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society (CFM). From 2007-2015 she taught MBSR for The Lazar Lab at the Massachusetts General Hospital for research purposes.
Zayda has taught mindfulness programs and developed curricula at The Garrison Institute, Mindful Kids Miami, University of Southern California, and other organizations. In 2014 she co-founded The HeartWell Institute, a non-profit community organization in Worcester, MA dedicated to foster contemplative practices and wellness education. Zayda leads 5-day and 7-day silent retreats.
Publications
Books
Treating Co-occurring Adolescent PTSD and Addiction: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Adolescents with Trauma and Substance-Abuse Disorders, co-authored with Lisa Fortuna, MD, PhD, New Harbinger, 2015.
Moment-by-Moment in Women’s Recovery: A Mindfulness-Based Approach to Relapse Prevention, 8-week Educational group Curriculum Facilitator’s Manual, co-authored with Hortensia Amaro. Published by The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, SAMHSA, and the Institute on Urban Health Research at Northeastern University, 2008.
Articles
Insurance-Reimbursable Mindfulness for Safety-Net Primary Care Patients: a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial, Gawande, R., Pine, E., Griswold, T., Creedon, T., Vallejo, Z., Rosenbaum, E., Springer Science+Business Media, Published online: 18 March 2019.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Tourette Syndrome and Chronic Tic Disorder: A Pilot Study, Reese, H., Vallejo, Z., Rasmussen, J., Crowe, K., Rosenfield, E., Wihelm, S., Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 78:3 293-298, 2015.
Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Outcomes of a Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention Intervention for Culturally Diverse, Low-Income Women in Substance Use Disorder Treatment, Amaro, H., Spear, S., Vallejo, Z., Conron, K., & Black, D., Substance Use & Misuse, 49, 547-559, 2014.
Adaptation of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program for Addiction Relapse Prevention, Vallejo, Z. and Amaro, H., Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 192-206, June 2009.
Curricula
Mindfulness Training for Primary Care: Wisdom for Living Well through Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Pain, and Illness, Schuman-Olivier, Z., MD, Vallejo, Z., MLitt, Rosenbaum, E., MS, LICSW, Pollak, S., MTS, Ed.D, Center for Mindfulness and Compassion at Cambridge Health Alliance, 2019.
Managing Stress with Mindful Awareness: Coming Back to Ourselves with Compassion, Facilitator’s Guide and Workbook, Vallejo, Z., M.Litt, Goldman-Fraser, J., Ph.D., M.P.H., Gardiner, P., M.D., MP.H, Jones, B., M.S., Mack, J., M.P.H., Boston Medical Center, 2016.
Moment-by-Moment in Women’s Recovery: A Mindfulness-Based Approach to Relapse Prevention, 12-session version. Facilitator Manual, Vallejo, Z., M.Litt, Amaro, H., Ph.D., University of Southern California, School of Social Work – Department of Preventive Medicine, 2016.
