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In 2006, Eric Garland began to contemplate developing a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) for the treatment of addiction. At the time, there were no empirically supported mindfulness-based treatments for addiction, and few studies of mindfulness for addictive behavior had been published.

In the last 20 years, the immigrant population has increased by “70 percent to about 43 million,” making up about “13 percent of the population” with “one in every four Americans” being “either an immigrant or the child of one” with estimates that “one million immigrants have come legally to the United States each year” since 2000 (Preston, 2016, p. 1). The Pew Research Center (2008) illustrated that by 2050 one in five Americans (19%) will be foreign born; non-Hispanic Whites who comprised 67% of the population in 2005 will now be 47%; Hispanics will rise from 14% of the population in 2005 to 29%; Blacks will represent around 13%; and Asians, who were 5% of the population in 2005, will be at 9%. By 2050, 54% of the American population will be minorities. With this changing cultural landscape has come some contentious political divides.

It is generally understood that people with mental illnesses are overrepresented in the US criminal justice system (Prins, 2014; Skeem, Winter, Kennealy, Louden, & Tatar, 2014). However, the prevalence rates among the academic literature and national samples vary. The most recent meta-analysis of the academic literature found a range between 10% and 31% of sampled prisoners suffered from mental illness (Prins, 2014). On the other hand, the most recent Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reports, among state prisoners, 61% of offenders had mental health issues, and 76% had substance use issues (James & Glaze, 2006). Standardization of sampling methods and methods for determining mental health issue prevalence is needed.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) older adults have largely been an invisible population, although they are now emerging from the shadows. Along with shifting demographics and profound graying of the global population, the older adult population is becoming increasingly diverse. Estimates indicate that more than 100 million Americans are aged 50 and older (US Census Bureau 2013b). By 2030, it is estimated that nearly 133 million Americans will be aged 50 and older with the 50-64 age group shrinking slightly, and those 65 and older nearly doubling (US Census Bureau 2013a).