Gwendolyn Kinney, RN, MSN

Caritas Coach
HeartMath Trainer
Encore Careerist
Caritas Colleague


Gwendolyn Kinney has had over 40 years of nursing experience as a critical care staff nurse, outpatient director, consultant for leadership development, and clinical nurse educator for geriatrics /adult services. During her six years as the Northern California Kaiser Permanente Regional Manager for Caring Science Integration, her responsibilities included the implementation of Caring Science/Heart Math across 21 hospitals, clinics, and continuum of care agencies; along with facilitation of healing environments for each of these various clinical settings.

As a Nurse Education Coordinator at Inova Healthcare System in Virginia, her scope of practice included facilitation of a four year federally funded HRRSA grant to implement a human caring model for the integrated healthcare system. With her adult advanced nursing practice background, she has supported clinical best practice initiatives, performance improvement projects, and patient/family centered care for the adult care services. Always an area of great affection for the geriatric population, she has developed heart-centered geriatric training for medical-surgical nursing who furthered their clinical expertise in palliative/hospice care. She has co-authored articles on Caring Science and launched unit based nursing research for compassion fatigue.

Currently, she is an adjunct professor for Samuel Merritt University in Oakland, California and a faculty member for the Caritas Coach Education Program® (CCEP) with Watson Caring Science Institute (WCSI). As a supporter of encore career development, she volunteers for the Equi-Satori Center for horses and DeYoung Museum of San Francisco. She is a Commissioner for the Public Arts Advisory Commission for the town of Windsor, CA to promote the esthetics and beauty of art for everyone. Her self-care practices include sports, painting, yoga, and meditation.