Youth and Family Mindfulness Programs

Art created by one of our teen program participants.

Our vision is to encourage young people to explore and deepen an awareness of self through mindfulness training. We teach a curriculum that is designed to support social and emotional learning and cultivate awareness of stress reactivity in children and adolescents. Mindfulness-based practices inspire discernment in decision-making and lead to healthier and happier choices. These experiential programs offer youth, and the families who care for them, an opportunity to discover their capacity for a deeper purpose and more meaningful connection to themselves and the world around them.

~ Mindfulness is the new ABCs of education: Attention, Balance and Concentration
~ Susan Kaiser-Greenland

The Center’s Youth and Family Mindfulness Programs Include:

A Mindful Education curriculum designed for the classroom. These programs, offered to elementary, middle and high school students, use age-appropriate training materials and practices that inspire exploration and curiosity. The result is higher levels of concentration, organization, and the ability to attend to problems with greater patience and empathy. In some cases, it may be appropriate (and preferable) to train classroom teachers in the methods and practices of mindfulness to facilitate implementation of the curriculum.

A Mindful Teen & Pre-Teen Programs. Held on the premises of the UCSD Center for Mindfulness, these two weekly programs are designed for kids aged 12-18 and 8-13, respectively. The Mindful Teen & Pre-Teen programs utilize a combination of age-appropriate exercises, that include yoga, art, meditation practices and multimedia to encourage insight, self-awareness and strengthen the capacity for self-regulation. Neuroscience research provides strong evidence that these mindfulness practices can alter the structure and function of the brain to improve quality of life.

A Mindful Parenting program. Offered once a month for parents who are interested in learning Mindfulness practices, to help them navigate the parenting process and deepen their connection to their family. Through these workshops, parents will be exposed to methods of problem solving and communicating that help build emotional resilience in their children.

A Educators Workshop. A daylong program held twice a year to provide experiential learning opportunities for teachers interested in reducing stress in both their personal and professional lives. This workshop is a great first step for those who may be interested in integrating Mindfulness into the classroom to help improve the attention, concentration and self-regulation of their students.

School In-Service Training. Intended to introduce the foundations of mindfulness to school faculty and staff, these short workshops are intended to teach the value and benefits of mindfulness in promoting greater concentration and self-regulation in the classroom.

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few” ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn