In partnership with the Churchill County School District, the Churchill Community Coalition has started teaching mindfulness in all district schools this week. Churchill Community Coalition has been teaching mindfulness techniques in the Churchill County School District since 2016. The program is called “Mindful Youth” and is the passion project of the Coalition's previous director, Mary Beth Chamberlain. “Our mindfulness practices can be boiled down to four basic practices: breathing, seeing, hearing, and feeling,” said Kadie Zeller, Churchill Community Coalition’s project coordinator and Mindful Youth program trainer. District students in pre-K to 12th grade receive the program. Based on teacher observations and student surveys, there has been an increase in the regulation of emotions and the ability to focus during school and home time since the program started in 2016. Students have also proved to be more capable of acknowledging their feelings and observing the social situations in which they find themselves. “Students become excited when we enter the classroom, and they see the singing bowls because they know they get to practice mindful hearing and get to ‘feel relaxed in my bones’ as one fourth-grader put it,” Zeller said. Since the program has been in district schools for six years, many students are now familiar with mindfulness and use it to help them deal with stress, positive decision-making, studying, and even controlling emotional outbursts. “We have had students share that they have gone home to teach it to their parents and siblings,” Zeller said. In special education classrooms, the coalition staff has observed these students who need extra support fully immerse themselves in practices involving the singing bowls. “Words cannot describe some of the impacts our staff has witnessed in the classroom,” Zeller said. “We cannot thank school admin, educators and partner organizations (enough) for letting us come in year after year to share this program with the youth in our community.” Superintendent Dr. Summer Stephens said the program has become vital in district schools. “Inviting the coalition into our schools to teach mindfulness is another way we support our students socially,” she said. “The resources and techniques they gain through our partnership with Churchill Community Coalition have impacted our students tremendously. Many of them take what they learn home. Having the language and the skills to provide this level of support in the classroom is a game changer for not only our students but our staff as well. We look forward to the next phases of this work, which will bring in more staff support and training.” The coalition enters classrooms weekly to teach mindfulness to students. Many teachers have used what they have learned from the program to facilitate further discussions with their students about ways to be mindful. "This week, students in my class brainstormed ways to show patience and what to do when we feel like we are losing our patience. We worked on mindful breathing, which ties in well with our weekly Mindful Youth classes,” third-grade teacher Shannon Windriver said. Research has shown that mindfulness can increase connections in the brain, allowing students to step back and observe instead of reacting without much thought. It provides students and educators with essential tools to calm and re-direct attention, regulate emotions, and reduce stress, which are critical skills, especially since the pandemic has severely impacted children’s learning and social development. It is becoming a common practice that educators and students share with others. “That is our goal, to give the kids in our community the tools they need to deal with stress and create healthy lifestyles in a way that is easy and accessible to everyone, anywhere, any time,” Zeller said. For information on mindfulness resources and research, visit churchillcoalition.com/mindfulness. Kaitlin Ritchie is public information officer with the Churchill County School District.
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