The above photo shows the type of stereotypical image that’s often used to illustrate ‘mindfulness’ or ‘meditation.’ To be fair, it can be challenging to find an image that accurately represents an abstract idea, like a state of awareness. But it’s important to do our best not to spread inaccurate depictions of mindfulness. Three typical …
Three Dangerous Misunderstandings About Mindfulness Read More »
It’s common for adults to tell youth to “stop overreacting.” That’s usually not very helpful, especially if the adult is yelling at them to calm down! It’s much more effective to be a good role model of skillfully responding, and to teach them what’s going on in their brains and how they can self-regulate when …
One of my most sobering moments as an English as a Foreign Language teacher came during a discussion about Martin Luther King’s ‘crusade for justice.’ Some of the students didn’t know what ‘crusade’ meant, so I asked for a volunteer who could define the word. A young man from Saudi Arabia raised his hand. “I …
4 Tips for Culturally-Sensitive Teaching Guest post by Catharine Hannay In his book on Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness, David Treleaven tells the story of Nari, a young woman born and raised in the United States. Nari was on her first meditation retreat, looking forward to her first private appointment with the teacher. Unfortunately, he started the session …
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 sat there awkwardly looking at each other until …
An INCRAmental Approach to Building Rapport with Youth Read More »
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? These are all examples of ACEs, or Adverse Childhood …
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 and said, “Bad day.” “You shouldn’t say that,” …
In retrospect, it wasn’t such a great idea to tell my devout Christian mother I thought I was a pantheist. I don’t blame her for freaking out. The poor woman must have imagined me performing Dionysian rituals in the backyard, assisted by our ever-accommodating golden retriever. But I do fault her for this: after the …
Four Ways to Improve Difficult Relationships With Youth Read More »
One year on February 14th, my husband did something utterly baffling. He bought me flowers. As everybody knows, women are supposed to buy men chocolate on Valentine’s Day, and men reciprocate a month later on White Day. At least, everyone knows this in Osaka, which is where we were living at the time. I sometimes …
Add a Culturally-Aware Lens to Your Trauma-Informed Toolkit Read More »
During a meeting at a refugee assistance organization, a psychologist described a problem she was having with one of her clients. “I think he must be lying about how he got to the U.S.” she said. “I mean, given the rest of his story, how could he possibly have been in Iceland?” The young man …
3 Essential Tips for Working with Limited English Proficiency Youth Read More »
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