About Mindfulness SWO

Your Facilitator

Dr. Jillian MacDonald

MD, CCFP

Dr. Jillian MacDonald is a Nova Scotia native who has lived in Southwestern Ontario for over a decade and now calls London, Ontario, home. She completed undergraduate training at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, a Master’s in science at Memorial University in Newfoundland and then her Medical Doctorate degree at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. During her residency in family medicine at Western University, she developed a passion for chronic pain management and successfully completed the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario change of scope to interventional pain management in 2016. Dr. MacDonald is a past diplomat of the Canadian Academy of Pain Management and the current Ontario Medical Association (OMA) chronic pain section secretary.

Since 2014, Dr. MacDonald has dedicated her practice to holistic chronic pain management. She is trained in Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and most recently completed the comprehensive Medical Psychotherapy Association Canada’s Psychotherapy Training Program. She completed her mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) training through the Centre for Mindfulness in Toronto and has gained extra knowledge in providing trauma-informed mindfulness from David Treleavan and the Fellowship in Traumatic Stress Studies led by Dr. Bessel Van der Kolk. 

Dr. MacDonald has been inspired by her own challenges with chronic pain to support patients with their pain and struggles in life. She started her journey in meditation serendipitously seven years ago when she attended a meditation retreat on the West Coast and has been participating in retreats and training programs since then. She is grateful to have found mindfulness for her personal and professional well-being and feels privileged to be able to offer Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) to patients.