Joan P. DeHovitz was born in St. Louis, MO and moved to Palo Alto, CA as a young child. Eventually, her family moved to San Francisco, CA, where she attended Lowell High School. Major interests included theater, singing, modeling and most academic areas.
After completing high school, Joan enrolled at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) but transferred to University of California, Berkeley (Cal), where she received a B.A. Degree in Mass Communications in 1983.
In 1984 she accepted a position at the Bank of America in San Francisco, and resigned her position in 1989, before the birth of her first child. During the 90’s, Joan and her husband had a total of four children (two boys, two girls) in 1990, 1991, 1994 and 1997. Joan managed a busy household and was involved in all aspects of her children’s lives – academic, artistic, athletic, social and religious. As a result, from 1997 to 2008, she was a parent volunteer.
Starting in 2008, Joan acted as a parent representative in various capacities at the Branson School in Ross, CA, including organizing a wide range of functions for up to 250 people. In 2011, Joan Pauline DeHovitz began serving as a board member at the Community Health Resource Center (CHRC) at the California Pacific Medical Center. Her work has included numerous committee assignments, as well as serving a term as the development chair. Some of Joan P. DeHovitz’s special skills include managing events, organization, planning, hosting and customer service. Namely, Joan has successfully planned a number of events, ranging in size from 20 to 250 quests, including budget, vendor management and contract negotiations. She has led and acted as event host to insure the needs of all guests/attendees were accommodated.
Over the past several years, Joan has been a
part of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California. This includes assisting attendees of major events with purchases at the on-site bookstore. The large inventory includes many types of books, instructional materials and gifts, as well as publications from various presenters and faculty at Spirit Rock. In 2014, she participated in her first Residential Retreat program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center (5 days, led by James Baraz) and in 2015 and 2016 participated in a 10-day retreat with Joseph Goldstein. In 2017, Jack Kornfield & Trudy Goodman led a 5 day retreat that Joan participated in.
Most recently, Joan DeHovitz Braun is on the teacher training path of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR), affiliated with The Center for Mindfulness at UMass Medical School. She has completed MBSR training programs, such as the Professional Teacher Training Program including the MBSR Fundamentals Practicum at El Camino Hospital in Mt. View, CA, and completed an 8 week MBSR introductory course at UCSF Osher Center with James Mitchell. In the spring of 2018, Joan will participate in the Practice Teaching Intensive (PTI) Retreat in Petaluma, CA and upon completion, she will be certified to lead MBSR sessions.
