Dr Marti Balaam PhD MSc PgC Prof Ed BA (Hons) RGN RNT FHEA FRSA
Salon Director and Founder
Marti is the Director and Founder of The Compassion Salon. Marti is a healthcare professional, educationalist, researcher and social scientist who has worked in medical, nursing, health, and social care education for over 25 years. Currently Marti is working within the undergraduate medical programme and with Nursing Studies at the University of Edinburgh and is focused on the education, development and wellbeing of the medical, health and social care workforce. This includes integrating compassion into innovative curricula to transform society. She is also an associate of the Edinburgh Global Compassion Initiative, whose purpose is to enable and embed the evidence and practice of compassion within the University, in Scotland and across and the world. She works across the University and City of Edinburgh working closely with the University Chaplain and International partners to develop initiatives on compassionate engagement and learn from global and local experiences of how other communities practice compassion.
Glen Dawkins
Salon Adviser
Glen provides the salon’s current and spiritual home, Steel Coulson Tap in Leith. Having grown up in Sheffield and seen the importance of pubs as the centre of many communities and the disconnect caused when they ceased business, he began regenerating and refurbishing closed pubs, highlighting their original features and promoting belonging and cohesion in small communities.
Dr Jane Hislop PhD MSc MCSP HCPC FHEA
Salon Adviser
Jane has been a physiotherapist for 30 years and has worked in a range of health and education settings in the UK, Australia, Sri Lanka and California. Currently leading on an educational programme for physiotherapists in Edinburgh, she has an interest in integrating compassion and kindness into curricula. Jane is social media savvy and is helping us get to grips with spreading our message of compassion across the world.
Kim Newstead MA MSc
Salon Adviser
Kim works in health improvement and has twenty years’ experience of supporting community food initiatives. She believes that compassion is vital when approaching community-led work. Kim aims to help ensure we include all members of the community in our salon.