![]() “I was very concerned about the wellbeing of our children. Hawn said she began to get interested in mindfulness in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks. The Hawn Foundation, which provides social and emotional learning programs to reduce children’s stress and aggressive behavior and improve their focus and academic performance, has made its “MindUP TM” program available to 700,000 children in countries around the world. Speaking at TC’s seventh annual Academic Festival on April 11 th, the academy award-winning actress and children’s advocate Goldie Hawn delivered an impassioned plea for incorporating mindfulness training and education into classroom culture-both for children and educators themselves. So why aren’t we teaching kids about their brains?” ![]() ![]() "In my view this is the type of social-emotional learning that is sorely needed not only in schools but at every level of our society.“Not all of us are going to be scientists who change the world-so we need to create a group of people who can behave in a civil fashion, who can share and care and have empathy, and reach down inside themselves and find optimism. "When I experienced the MindUP program training and saw their fantastic curriculum I knew we had to bring them to Springfield," Guillette said. You can make a place that is calm and allows them to regenerate."Karen Guillette, a consultant working with the youth program staff at SHA, learned of this program at a training by the Hawn Foundation in North Adams last year, and arranged for the program to be brought to Springfield. "But you can create the environment in the place where you meet them. "You can't control what happens at home," explained Amsel. The Hawn Foundation-sponsored program combines neuroscience, cognitive psychology and educational methods to help educators create and maintain environments where a child's ability to succeed both academically and personally is directly linked to overall state of well-being.Īt Forest Park, housing authority providers got a crash course – three hours in all – that focused on brain development, and the connections between specific areas of the brain and ability to learn and grow. MindUp is usually taught in 15 lessons, and to educators in schools and districts around the country. Staff from summer and after-school programs at all six housing authority sites – Duggan, Marble Street, Pine-James, Riverview and Sullivan Apartments – participated in the training. His three-hour session at Forest Park Manor focused on how the brain processes information and converts that into emotion, and how SHA providers can create a positive, caring atmosphere every day. Instruction for the nationally recognized program was done by MindUp trainer Ryan Amsel. "By adding this component to our programs, it will help empower our kids to discover how their learning is influenced by their own thoughts, emotions and actions." "We wanted to bring this training to our after school and summer providers so that we can bring awareness to the social emotional aspect of learning," Wells said. Priorities for the programs are focused on literacy, physical fitness and mental and emotional well-being. Pamela Wells, director of resident services at the authority, said the MindUp training was brought to the providers as part of ongoing professional development to improve after-school and summer programs. ![]() MindUp is a nationally recognized social-emotional learning program founded by actor Goldie Hawn though the Hawn Foundation.Īnd, as the summer progresses into the fall in the housing authority's children's programs, the impact will increase as providers work together to learn the methods taught and to incorporate them more fully into their daily routines. SPRINGFIELD – Children in six Springfield Housing Authority's after-school and summer programs are enjoying an enhanced sense of peace and happiness.Īs they work and play, boys and girls will feel calm and content, under the leadership of 20 providers who recently took part in MindUp, a research-based training program for educators and children. ![]()
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