Valerie Mason-John Author

Dr Valerie Mason-John (Vimalasara) is a playwright and the author of seven books, including Detox Your Heart (2005, Windhorse Publications), and her award winning novel Borrowed Body, republished as the Banana Kid. Her most recent publication, The Great Black North - Contemporary African Canadian poetry 2013, is the first national anthology to document the voices of African Canadian Poets. She has just completed her second novel, The War Done Done. She works as a consultant in Conflict Transformation, Restorative Justice, Leadership and anti Bullying in both the domestic field of education, social services, youth, addiction and the police, as well as in the corporate world. She was ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order in 2005. She is currently based at the Vancouver Buddhist centre.Dr Paramabandhu Groves is a consultant psychiatrist working in the National Health Service in the UK, and has specialized in the field of addiction for 20 years. He is the clinical director of Breathing Space, which is the health and well-being wing of the London Buddhist Centre, teaching mindfulness-based approaches to help with depression, addiction, and stress. He developed the Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention course for addiction, which has successfully run in both the UK and Canada. He is the author of Practical Buddhism: Mindfulness and Skillful Living in the Modern Era, and has published academic papers and contributed to several books in the field of addiction. He is ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order.