Opening Minds and Hearts in the Midwest
Cultivating Cultural and Intellectual Humility Through Contemplative Practices
Dr. Sydney Spears
Sydney has been a licensed clinical social worker in Kansas and Missouri since 2003 and a social work educator since 1998. She specializes in trauma informed care, social justice and diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in mindfulness teaching. She provides therapeutic yoga for stress, trauma, and anxiety as a certified trauma-sensitive facilitator, trained mindfulness instructor, and certified Mindful Self-Compassion teacher. Sydney is the author of Finding Self-Compassion: A Mindfulness Workbook for Getting to Know and Love Yourself, a guided journal. Email Sydney
Kansas is named after the Kansas River, which in turn was named after the Kansa (Kką:ze) Native Americans who lived along its banks. The name is often said to mean people of the south wind. The Free State is home to almost 3 million people now. Nearly 90% of Kansas’s land is devoted to agriculture producing cattle, sheep, wheat, sorghum, soybeans, cotton, hogs, corn, and salt.
