Tsunma Jamyang Donma

Tsunma Jamyang Donma, RP, CRPO, is a certified clinical chaplain and pastoral counselor. She serves as Lead for Spiritual & Religious Care and The Mindfulness Project at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada and is an ordained Buddhist nun. Tsunma provides ongoing support to patients, families, and staff, as well as on-call throughout the hospital as needed. She is also an active supporting participant in the Pediatric Advanced Care Team at SickKids. Originally of the Anglican Christian faith, she took ordination as a Buddhist nun, within the Tibetan Buddhist Vajrayana tradition.

Tsunma has over 25 years’ experience in meditation/mindfulness, Buddhist philosophy, contemplative bedside care, and Tibetan yoga. Tsunma is often asked to be a therapeutic presence for children and their families. Assisting families to be at peace with the circumstances they find themselves in with contemplative support at bedside. This includes: consultation, meditation, compassion, loving kindness practices, and clinical hypnosis.

Encouraged by senior administration, Tsunma currently leads a hospital wide initiative called “The Mindfulness Project”. This initiative offers a dedicated website with resources for staff, an annual Mindfulness Month, Mindfulness & Compassion Rounds, the Compassion Champion Program, as well as ongoing mindfulness sessions for staff, as well as bedside care for families here at SickKids. The Mindfulness Project also provides presentations and trainings from qualified facilitators with skills in applied mindfulness in healthcare as well as a bi-annual Mindfulness Research Symposium.

Tsunma is also a founding member of the Riwoche Tibetan Buddhist Temple in Toronto as well as an instructor for Samye Institute and Samye Hermitage in Cooperstown, NY.  Tsunma has studied and practiced with such Masters as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Khen Rinpoche Sonam Tobgyal, Roshi Joan Halifax, Jetsunmma Tenzin Palmo, Ven Dhyani Ywahoo, His Eminence Chokling Rinpoche, and Kyabgon Phakchok Rinpoche.