James-Shier, Maria: - "Maria James-Shier, RN, MN, CCRC-PM, CPXP, and author of 'Cultivate Compassion: Self Kindness Counts." As a Registered Nurse, Maria brings over three decades of experience in healthcare delivery and observing human behaviour in emergency, mental health, public health, clinical research and end of life family caregiving. As a lifelong learner, writing was always a passion. The spring of 2020 provided an unanticipated silver lining to COVID 19 - the gift of dedicated time to make this qualitative research project 'Cultivate Compassion: Self Kindness Counts' a reality. Her debut work is an inspirational qualitative research collection from the field of caring professions. This collection brings over 1600 years of insights shared by 100 caring professionals as they explore the essentials to boost compassion resiliency for both professional and family caregivers. Maria James-Shier can usually be found reading, writing or planning her next travel getaway. When not immersed in thoughtful ventures or wanderlust, Maria can be found on her yoga mat, or chopping vegetables and blending green juice. She lives in Whitby, Ontario, with her family and is a very proud new Grandma to Henry. 2020 - such an unprecedented year on so many levels."