Lara Naughton

Background

About Lara Naughton

I’m a New Orleans-based writer, teacher/mentor/counselor, and compassion and narrative trainer, with a special interest in working within arts, education, museums, and/or corrections. I have designed innovative programs and special events for 2 - people. I work to promote communal well-being, radical listening, equitable systems, and individual growth. I’m a certified Compassion Cultivation Trainer through The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University School of Medicine; founder of The Compassion Program at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, LA; a senior teacher at the Compassion Institute; and Creative Writing Faculty at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. With more than twenty years teaching and facilitation experience, I have worked with people of all ages, kindergarten through community elders, and led workshops, classes and retreats with individuals facing challenging circumstances (homelessness, HIV/AIDS, wrongful conviction, incarceration, and torture). I incorporate narrative writing into the trainings, and guide individuals and organizations in telling their own stories. My non-fiction writing includes a memoir The Jaguar Man, and the documentary stage play Never Fight a Shark in Water: The Wrongful Conviction of Gregory Bright, as well as essays published in The Sun, Salon, Guernica, Refinery29, Bustle, and Narrative.ly, among others. I recently completed a 365-Day compassion guide co-written with individuals incarcerated at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, LA.