Mindfulness in education: mindful teachers, mindful schools.
HeadRest can provide mindfulness training for the whole school community; teachers, support staff, students and parents. We begin with a focus on the development of a personal mindfulness practice for educators. This is considered best practice before implementing a program with students.
Programs for both adults and students can help develop attention as well as self-regulation. The ability to pay attention and regulate behaviour and emotion lay the groundwork for healthy learning environments. Mindfulness programs can help develope empathy, kindness, generosity and compassion - important qualities for both teaching and social and emotional learning.
In 2019 we will continue to run our in-school programs and will also run an out of school program in Marrickville in Term 2.
Programs for both adults and students can help develop attention as well as self-regulation. The ability to pay attention and regulate behaviour and emotion lay the groundwork for healthy learning environments. Mindfulness programs can help develope empathy, kindness, generosity and compassion - important qualities for both teaching and social and emotional learning.
In 2019 we will continue to run our in-school programs and will also run an out of school program in Marrickville in Term 2.
Teachers programs
Teachers are often passionate about their work, yet experience high rates of burnout. A pilot study from an 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program adapted for teachers found many personal benefits, including elevated levels of self-compassion and a decrease in anxiety, depression, and burnout. Improvements were noted in teacher's classroom performance, including behaviour management skills and emotional and instructional support of students. Results indicated that the practice of mindfulness might increase teacher effectiveness, by buffering them from the impact of stressful experiences as they were happening. Our trainers are all qualified MBSR teachers-the gold-standard mindfulness program and will bring their experience to your school. Mindfulness: Why it is good for you and good for your students.
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for teachers. A longer more in-depth course for teachers who are very keen. For the school's parents For your parents Mindful Parenting is a structured experiential 6 or 8-week course with a focus on cultivating resilience in day-to-day parenting and family activities. It is very different from many of the behavioural-based parenting courses with a focus on being a parent rather than learning skills to do it right. Mindful parenting helps us as parents (care-givers), develop more empathy, compassion and acceptance for ourselves and our child. Research has shown that parents who complete the course: respond less reactively to parenting stress; recognise patterns from their own upbringing in the here and now; improve conflict resolution with their child; relate differently to parental stress-whilst not all problems will change, attitudes towards the problems may. These programs support the development of a stronger bond with your child, enabling you to fully experience the joys and difficulties of parenting. Most parents will share a period of heightened stress due to the demands of parenting. The course is for all parents who would like to use a mindful approach to be with parenting stress. It is also useful where parents are parenting a child with behavioural, learning or psychological difficulties. The course runs for 8 weekly sessions of 2 1/2 hours and over one Sunday. A shorter 6-week program x 1 1/2 hours has been developed for the community sector and child care centres. Please contact us if you would like further information to discuss organising a course in your community. |
Mindfulness for students In the classroom setting We can come into your school and work directly with your student body but can also work with your staff to uptrain them to do this themselves. Research has shown that teaching mindfulness to staff first, leads to more effective student programs. We recommend:
MBSR-Teenagers groups The program is based on clinical and non-clinical work with 1,000s of individual adolescents , with families, in groups and in larger education and community settings. It adapts the gold-standard MBSR and MBCT programs to provide a practical mindfulness course for stress reduction that is developmentally and culturally appropriate to teens, to improve their lives. MBSR-T integrates the teaching of mindfulness skills, a range of activities and psycho-education about stress to provide teens with practical skills and tools to help them build resilience and improved quality of life. It typically runs for 8 x 1.5 hour sessions but can be adapted to a different time frame. MBSR is not a panacea for all teens with all problems but possible benefits of may include:
Locations? We currently run schools courses in Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Central Coast, Newcastle and the Northern Rivers region. If you're interested in running this course in another part of Australia, please contact us and we will endeavour to find an MBSR, Mindfule Schools or MBSR-T teacher to teach the program. We only employ teachers with the appropriate training and supervisor them throughout their time with you. |