Our Team

Mindfulness Instructors

Derek Covington, MSc

Derek combines his Olympic high-performance experience with mindfulness and meditation training into a powerful approach to helping individuals attain their performance and well-being goals.

Based in Montreal, Canada, Derek is a certified mindfulness instructor (mPEAK) through the School of Medicine, Centre for Mindfulness at the University California, San Diego. He coaches athletes and teams from around the world, from youth development to Olympic and professional levels. Derek began his meditation practice twelve years ago alongside an active vinyasa yoga practice.

A compassionate and supportive connector, Derek’s approach is to create awareness of the body in grounding oneself in the face of challenges, while making choices that are consistent with intentions. He is currently a faculty member at Mindspace-Well-being, a state-of-the-art psychology clinic with a focus on evidence-based approaches to mental health.

Renae Stevenson

Renae Stevenson, is a former professional hockey (NWHL) player, as well as Hockey Canada Certified Coach. She is a retired police officer with over two decades of service who trains elite athletes and first responders in mindfulness skills throughout North America.

Based on the West Coast, Renae Stevenson splits her time between Vancouver Island and Greater Vancouver. Renae is an IMTA Certified Professional Mindfulness Teacher. After completing an interdisciplinary graduate degree in Leadership, Education and Mindfulness, she obtained her teaching designations in both MBSR and mPEAK from the UC San Diego’s School of Medicine.

Renae has a strong understanding of the needs of elite athletes and first responders. Renae’s greatest passion is her service work for First Water, leading philanthropic programming to eliminate financial barriers to mindfulness skills training – for non-profit organizations, schools, First Nations, and youth.

Jennifer Innes, MSc

Jennifer is the founder of Ottawa Meditation & Wellness and a skilled teacher with broad experience working with adults with a range of challenges, such as anxiety depression, trauma and chronic pain, as well as the many who are looking for new skills to build resilience and meet the stressors inherent in daily life.

Jennifer’s passion to teach comes from personally experiencing the transformative benefits of these practices.

Beyond her two undergraduate degrees and a masters from the London School of Economics in the UK, Jennifer has trained extensively in mindfulness-based interventions for over four years. She was trained at University of Massachusetts and the UC San Diego medical schools. Her credentials include:

  • Brown University certified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teacher
  • UCSD trained Mindful Self-Compassion teacher
  • UCSD trained Mindfulness, Performance, Enhancement & Knowledge (mPEAK) coach
  • Mindfulness-Based Habit Change teacher
  • Certified Sivananda yoga teacher.

She has also been a yoga practitioner for over 20 years and beyond mindfulness and meditation, she loves nutrition, weightlifting, hiking, cross-country skiing and spending time with her four teenagers (and dog Hazel) who continue to inspire her to be fully present, and the best mom she can be.