Expanding Yoga and Mindfulness in Schools Across the US
Summary
Holistic Life Foundation committed in 2022 to scaling Mindful Moment, a school-based mental health program that utilizes a trauma-informed approach to teach students and staff calming and self-regulating techniques through yoga and mindfulness. Building from 15 years of success in the Baltimore City School District, HLF will expand to address access to school-based youth mental health treatment in 5 poverty dense U.S. cities lacking resources by the end of 2023.
Approach
HLF commits to scaling the Mindful Moment program to five additional U.S. cities by the end of 2023. We aim to use our expertise in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) treatment and trauma-informed practices to address access to youth mental health treatment in poverty dense areas lacking resources.
Mindful Moment is an in-school program for students and staff that integrates yoga and mindfulness practices into the school day and provides a safe space for students. HLF staff instructors facilitate students, teachers, and staff in a yoga and mindfulness routine practiced at the start and end of the school day. Included in the Mindful Moment program is the Mindful Moment Room which is an oasis of calm that serves as a ‘cool down’ room for children who are upset, or otherwise disruptive in class. Students can self-refer to the Mindful Moment Room, or teachers may send distressed or disruptive students for individual assistance with emotional self-regulation.
The resources we contribute are facilitating mindfulness practices like yoga and meditation to help students recognize when they are slipping into unhealthy states of mind and give them tools to regain calm, balance, and perspective beyond the moment. These skills result in conflict resolution and violence prevention at school and in the community, as students gain self-control rather than react to situations in the short term or engage in retribution afterward. Long-term benefits include greater empathy and confidence, which leads to stronger interpersonal bonds and a greater sense of community.
Potential challenges that we foresee include establishing relationships with schools in the five U.S. cities that we’ve selected. Additionally, as we continue to grow, the need for additional staff to build programming and infrastructure for the Mindful Moment program becomes increasing challenging requiring additional financial resources to facilitate ongoing training, monitoring & evaluation.
Action Plan
Quarterly:
03/01/2023 We will continue to outreach in the five cities (with the help of the Foundation of Mindful Society) and confirm which locations we will be providing our Mindful Moment program
06/01/2023 We will begin recruitment and training of all staff members in the second quarter
09/30/2023 HLF will begin setting up Mindful Moment Rooms at each location, start the Mindful Moment program in all five cities, and begin initial evaluations and pre surveys
12/01/2023 – We will continue virtual training and virtual site visits in the fourth quarter
03/01/2024 – We will conduct in-person site visits and provide continued training
06/01/2024 – HLF will complete first year post evaluations by the end of this quarter
09/01/2024 – Second set of evaluations, the launch of year two of the program, and adding the Mindful Ambassador program to all schools
12/01/2024 – Virtual training, virtual site visits, and continue fundraising for year three
03/01/2025 – In person site visits
06/01/2025 – Final evaluation reporting out
Background
Stressful or traumatic events have been known to cause chronic and toxic stress, severe depression, anxiety, anger problems, impulsive behavior and more. The National Alliance on Mental Illness confirms approximately one in six youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year, and 50 percent of mental illness begins by age 14. Over half, 53.1 percent, of all mental illness cases are Black, African American, or multiracial (“Mental Health by the Numbers.” NAMI, https://www.nami.org/mhstats) . The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) reports that one in three children under the age of 18 have experienced at least one Adverse Childhood Experience or ACEs, which leads to increased risk of a wide range of health problems throughout a person’s lifetime. (2018 data collection from HRSA’s National Survey of Children’s Health) .
Schools offer a unique opportunity for interventions aimed at helping youth access mental health services. Since 2007, the Holistic Life Foundation’s Mindful Moment program has trained 3,850 teachers and staff members to help approximately 45,600 students in 152 schools in the Baltimore City School District.
The Co-Founders, Ali Smith, Atman Smith, and Andres Gonzalez have more than 20 years of experience teaching yoga, pranayama (practice of breath regulation) , and meditation internationally, while focusing mainly on their hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. HLFs mission is to improve social, emotional, educational, and community outcomes in low-income, underserved communities by providing multi-faceted programming to empower Baltimore’s youth, families, and adults; with the vision of changing the culture of violence in Baltimore.
Progress Update
Funding: Holistic Life Foundation has successfully secured seed funding to kick start their initiative, thanks to the generous support of the Open Society Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Unlikely Collaborators, and the Caring for Denver Foundation.
District-wide Recognition: Excitingly, Holistic Life Foundation attained pre-qualification as a vendor school district-wide in Buffalo, NY; a significant step toward broader implementation of their programs in that city.
Partnerships: Holistic Life Foundation forged meaningful partnerships with Colorado High School Charter (Denver) , Austin College & Career Academy High School (Chicago) , Bradley Technology & Trade School (Milwaukee) , Milwaukee Parkside School for the Arts (Milwaukee) , and CoNect, a community-based organization in Buffalo, NY. The aforementioned schools are slated to implement Mindful Moment programming in Fall 2024. These partnerships and collaborations will serve as a launching pad for greater reach and impact in these communities, allowing HLF to once again replicate a successful evidence-based initiative in their selected Commitment locations.
Program Implementation: Phase 1 of program implementation commenced in January 2024 and is ongoing until June 2024. Key activities during this phase include conducting comprehensive three-day mindfulness intensives at each partner school, engaging students, teachers, and administrators in their holistic approach to mindfulness education.
Additionally, HLF is proud to note the initiation of the Mindful Ambassador Peer Program, with teachers and administrators identifying and involving 10 to 20 students from each school site.
Program Evaluation: HLF will be partnering with the Trauma Research Foundation and have begun discussions with Dr.
Lenwood Hayman to develop a robust program evaluation framework spanning their multiple school sites. These discussions encompass the identification of baseline data, the definition of measurable outcomes, and strategies to leverage their evaluation findings for securing research grants and funding earmarked for policy reform and systems change.
Partnership Opportunities
HLF will need funding to hire and train 10 Mindful Moment facilitators, two staff members and a Director of Implementation. Our current funders for this program are the NoVo Foundation, Eagle and the Hawk Foundation, NLJ Harris Foundation, and Open Society Foundation. Additionally, HLF is looking into potential funders such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Ahmanson Foundation, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Ford Foundation, A. O. Smith Foundation, OneCause, PNC Foundation, and more.
HLF is also seeking partnerships with organizations or individuals with a need for our programming that can help us build relationships with school districts and communities in the 5 identified cities for this project., HLF partnered with the Foundation for Mindful Society who connects non-profits to funders and point of contacts for the Mindful Moment initiative. Additionally, we have partnered with a research team to develop and share best practices through the evaluation of our programming. This project opens the door to new potential partnerships in the cities we seek to expand to and in the future can provide jobs for residents in the community.