I remember the first time I felt true compassion for one of my clients. I was still in graduate school, working at the local juvenile detention camp. I remember the office at the camp. It wasn’t fancy. My partner and I (the other therapist who worked with me) were tucked away in what appeared to …
Compassion Can Help You Work With Trauma-Impacted YouthRead More »
[Click for Mindful Eating Activity PDF] Learn about how to help youth impacted by trauma! Trauma-Informed Care for Professionals Working with Youth is a completely online, semi self-paced, and affordable training that will teach you the basics of a trauma-informed approach. Get updates on exact course dates and exclusive pre-launch discount codes! Thanks! Check your …
Whenever I teach mindfulness to teenagers I try as best as possible to incorporate the use of metaphor. I find that with teens (let alone people) metaphors access a different part of a person’s ability to relate to information. I often ask the youth I work with how they’d define mindfulness. For those I haven’t …
Cultivating the Lion Mind: A Mindfulness Metaphor that SticksRead More »
Noelle was a young woman I worked with in a school setting with a tragic story. She was what we would describe as multiply traumatized; in a sense, everything that could’ve went wrong in her life, did go wrong. One of the adverse impacts of all of her traumas was on her ability to trust …
3 Reasons Why Authenticity is a Trauma-Informed PracticeRead More »
Jeanette*, a 17 year-old high school student, found herself in my office trying to describe the shock of losing her father: “I just can’t….” and she trailed off. “I mean I don’t know, I just, I don’t, I can’t…” and she stopped again. She couldn’t speak because her brain was down regulating. The outer most …
9 Guidelines for Teaching Trauma-Informed Mindfulness To TeensRead More »
Guest post by Catharine Hannay of Mindful Teachers I dreaded my weekly staring contest with the man who was supposed to be treating my depression. He’d start each session by asking me a probing question, then silently wait for my response. Since I felt too intimidated to talk about my recent suicide attempt, we just …
An INCRAmental Approach to Building Rapport with YouthRead More »
Teaching mindfulness to teenagers is one of my favorite professional pastimes. I usually teach mindfulness to young people in educational, medical, and even correctional settings. To say the least, the teens themselves aren’t always that excited about closing their eyes and meditating in front of their peers, especially if they have a negative connotation toward …
Teaching meditation to teens who have the gigglesRead More »
Guest Post by Catharine Hannay of Mindful Teachers While you were growing up: Were your parents or caregivers unloving, unsupportive, or neglectful? Were you threatened or abused? Did you witness the abuse of one of your caregivers? Did you live with anyone who had a mental illness or a problem with alcohol or drugs? …
Guest Post by Catharine Hannay of Mindful Teachers It was one of those moments when someone’s trying to be helpful but says exactly the wrong thing. A student walked into the office while I was chatting with another teacher. In response to our cheerful “Good morning. How are you today?” he looked at us sadly …
When my colleague Steven Saul and I were developing the Mindfulness-Based Substance Abuse Treatment (MBSAT) 12-Session Curriculum at a juvenile detention camp, we had a number of conversations about the pros and cons of using cognitive acronyms as strategies to promote mindfulness and general self-awareness. He was more open to cognitive techniques given some of …
10 Acronyms That Promote Self-Awareness and Decision-Making in YouthRead More »