Jacob Hess

Jacob Hess teaches Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and co-founded the non-profit, All of Life, which offers a free online mindfulness-based class for those facing serious mental and emotional challenges (see Mindweather 101). Since completing his PhD dissertation research on contrasting narratives of depression treatment in 2009, Jacob has worked as research director at Utah Youth Village, a nonprofit for abused children in the Rocky Mountain region. During this time, he’s published 13 peer reviewed papers – including an exploration of conflicting narratives for what it means to be “successful” in mental health treatment (Hess & Lacasse, 2010), what it means to “recover” from serious mental or emotional challenges (Hess, Lacasse, et al., 2014) and the brain and body’s role in mental illness (Hess, Gantt, et al., in press). Part of Jacob‘s research focus is reviewing risk factor research – as a way to raise awareness among individuals and families facing serious health conditions. As a long-time member of the National Coalition of Dialogue and Deliberation, Jacob believes deep conflicts over both socio-political and health matters call for open-hearted, generous exploration between conflicting perspectives. He co-authored You’re not as crazy as I thought, but you’re still wrong, and Once upon a time, he wasn’t feeling it anymore – and currently is a partner with Living Room Conversations and director of Village Square, Salt Lake City. Jacob is married to Monique Moore, with three little boys who make sure their daddy smiles at least 9 times a day.