At 17, Karen Walant arrived at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music with plans to become a professional opera singer. But as she immersed herself in the dramatic stories she was learning to perform, she began questioning whether the stage was where she truly belonged. Opera gave her a way to portray human suffering, but she wanted something more: to sit alongside people experiencing life's difficulties and help them navigate those challenges.
That desire wasn't new. Even as a child, Walant recalls being drawn to people who were struggling, offering a listening ear and a compassionate presence. Her path eventually led her to clinical social work and psychotherapy, where she built a career grounded in the belief that genuine human connection is central to healing.
During those early years in Cincinnati, Walant also met her future husband, Dave, who introduced her to meditation. It was the beginning of another important thread in her life, one that would develop alongside her clinical work for decades before finding a more integrated expression through MBCT.
Walant earned a doctorate in clinical social work from New York University and built a psychotherapy practice rooted in relational and attachment-based approaches. Alongside her professional work, she deepened her meditation practice, eventually completing a mindfulness meditation teacher training program. Yet she continued seeking a way to bring these dimensions of her life together.
Finding the connection
She found that connection when Zindel Segal, one of MBCT's developers, spoke to her cohort during a certificate program at the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. Integrating mindfulness practices with elements of cognitive therapy, MBCT resonated with both her clinical experience and contemplative practice. “That spoke to my soul,” Walant recalls.
Eager to explore further, Walant enrolled in one of Brown University's first MBCT teacher training cohorts. What began as an opportunity to unite two longstanding passions became a transformative learning experience, inviting her to complement intellectual understanding with a more embodied approach to teaching and clinical practice.
Learning to teach with presence
For Walant, learning to teach MBCT meant more than mastering a curriculum. Brown's training pathway called for sustained personal practice, experiential learning, teaching experience and ongoing mentorship. Despite decades as a psychotherapist, she found herself developing a different kind of confidence, one grounded in her ability to remain present with whatever unfolded in the classroom.
Working with Brown faculty and mentors, including Janet Curry and Patti Holland, Walant learned to balance fidelity to the curriculum with responsiveness to participants. Early on, she felt pressure to cover everything planned for a session. With experience, she became more comfortable allowing conversations to unfold and recognizing when participants needed space to reflect or connect.
She learned to trust the practice, the group and her capacity to respond thoughtfully. Rather than focusing on delivering the right information, Walant increasingly saw her role as helping participants discover their own insights. She learned to ask herself: