Sydney Spears is a licensed clinical social worker, adaptive yoga and mindfulness instructor, professor, and cofounder of Midwest Alliance for Mindfulness. She offers classes, trainings, and programs through Midwest Alliance for Mindfulness and works as a trauma-sensitive yoga facilitator, consultant, and certification supervisor for the Boston, Massachusetts Center for Trauma and Embodiment.
Spears provides adaptive yoga at the Kansas City, Missouri VA for veterans who have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress and for community survivors of complex trauma through private sessions. She launched a mindful adaptive yoga class for veterans experiencing spinal cord injuries. She has also provided a culturally sensitive mindfulness-based training (Path of Freedom program and MBSR professional teacher training) for Missouri Department of Correction incarcerated males to support their re-entry into the community.
Through her counseling practice called MidLife at Ease Counseling, Spears specializes in mindfully supporting people with chronic stress, grief/loss, trauma, anxiety, depression, and relationship challenges. Spears has taught academic courses in cultural diversity, social justice, and clinical social work practice for 15 years and is passionately committed to advancing social justice efforts through providing and maintaining a non-oppressive, trauma-sensitive, and culturally responsive practice.