Mindfulness Training

Coalitions that Adopted

Mental Health Matters - Chippewa & Eau Claire Counties

Strategy Type

School-based
Community-based

Strategy Goal

Build knowledge and practice around mindfulness for school staff to use strategies with youth and increase youth coping skills.

Intended Population

Middle and high school staff in Eau Claire & Chippewa Counties.

Strategy Background

In the Chippewa Valley, the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) revealed that nearly 30% of students were at risk for depression based on the question: “During the past 12 months, did you ever feel so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row that you stopped doing some usual activities?” In addition, suicide numbers were increasing and rates of hospitalizations due to self-injury were higher than the state average. These statistics prompted action by community health organizations to unite and maximize both resources and connections throughout the region for a broad approach to solving the mental health issues facing their communities.

One strategy enacted by the Chippewa Valley coalition, Mental Health Matters (MHM), was the creation and implementation of a six-session mindfulness fundamentals training course developed by the Mindfulness Training Institute and subsequent workshops and consultations for school staff. The full program generally ran the course of a single school semester, from the Fall to Winter or Winter to Spring.

Mindfulness in the classroom can be an important tactic to improve student mental health. Research shows that mindfulness skills can increase a teacher’s sense of well-being and self-efficacy, as well as their ability to manage classroom behavior and develop supportive relationships with students. It also improves students’ ability to focus in class, recognize and regulate their thoughts and emotions. By modeling and guiding mindfulness exercises on a regular basis, staff can help students develop their own mindfulness skills, increasing the likelihood of them continuing the practices outside the classroom and at home (Meiklejohn, 2012).

The training implemented by MHM was conducted by a “Mindfulness Trainer” and aimed to bring awareness, clarity, and calmness to the daily lives of school staff. It also introduced staff with practices and meditation techniques that cultivate mindfulness in their daily lives and educate on its benefits for interpersonal relationships, emotional, mental and physical well-being. Following the six-session course were a series of discussions with an “Implementation Coach,” who provided consultations for participants to develop their own schoolwide and classroom-specific mindfulness strategies that aimed to grow self-care, increase the use of mindfulness practices with students, and ultimately improve youth coping skills. Each participating school also embedded a “School Mindfulness Champion” – a staff member who worked internally with other participants, promoting the learned practices and determining the best strategies for the school and staff to use with students.

Through the facilitation of discussions with teachers and other school staff to develop in-class strategies to improve mindfulness, MHM helped schools better understand the challenges faced by their students and increase staff ability to manage stress in the classroom. The coalition’s training led to the implementation of unique mindfulness strategies for schools and individual staff across five districts in the Chippewa Valley.

Meiklejohn, J., Phillips, C., Freedman, M. L., Griffin, M. L., Biegel, G., Roach, A., Frank, J., Burke, C., Pinger, L., Soloway, G., Isberg, R., Sibinga, E., Grossman, L., & Saltzman, A. (2012). Integrating mindfulness training into K-12 education: Fostering the resilience of teachers and students. Mindfulness, 3(4), 291–307.

“They are much more calm even though some of my students still have many ACEs and are still working on calming their bodies. It has really helped with students who have anxiety or panic attacks.”

-Participant

Strategy

In order to successfully implement the Mindfulness training in your community, MHM has listed the following core components to guide you. While these items were key to the coalition’s success in the Chippewa Valley, you should consider what changes might be necessary based on the needs and behavioral health environment of your own community.

all

Partner with a Credentialed Mindfulness Trainer

The first step to developing is to partner with a credentialed mindfulness teacher with a well-established personal mindfulness practice to increase the efficacy of the trainings. Many accredited mindfulness teacher training programs require at least two years of personal mindfulness practice before being accepted into a teacher training program.

Tip: There are many programs available for training mindfulness teachers. One place to look for programs is the International Mindfulness Teachers Association.

Communicate Training Opportunity

Leveraging community networks and connections with local schools, communicate to administrators the opportunity for school staff to participate in mindfulness training. Communications should include information about the opportunity, who is eligible to apply, job descriptions for the three work partners, application questions, and the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) template.

Application for Mindfulness (PDF)
Application Communications (PDF)
Mindfulness Flyer (PDF)
MOU – School Agreement (PDF)

Evaluate Application

Once the application deadline has been reached, review each application using the Mindfulness Application Evaluation Form. The form allows you to grade each school based on readiness, staff identified for participation, and their letter of support. Once applications have been graded by all members of the work team, hold a group meeting to discuss scores and voice concerns and highlights.

Application Evaluation Form (PDF)

School Selection Process

After deliberations, hold a vote for work team members to anonymously share their preferences by ordered school rankings. Once votes have been cast, share the total vote count for each school with the group. The school with the most votes should then be contacted to move forward with coordinating the mindfulness training process.

Coordinate Training Logistics

Once the school administrator has been notified that their school has been selected for mindfulness training, coordinate a meeting with the school to discuss the opportunity, including the MOU and position descriptions for each of the four positions. This meeting should also be used to review and confirm the roster submitted in the original application and determine the schedule for the six training sessions.

Three Key Positions:

Mindfulness Trainer
Implementation Coach
School Champion

Tip: If the program is expected to start at the beginning of the Fall semester, training sessions with the selected school should be coordinated at least 3 months in advance.

Letter of Agreement – Implementation Coach (PDF)
Letter of Agreement – Mindfulness Trainer (PDF)
Mindfulness Champion Activities Form (PDF)

Communicate Pre-Training Survey

Once the School Champion position has been identified and training sessions are scheduled, share the Pre-Training Survey with staff participating in the training. Once all responses have been received, be sure to track it in the Attendance and Survey Completion Form.

Tip: Ask school administration or the School Mindfulness Champion to work with their internal IT department to ensure survey emails are delivered to staff inboxes to avoid them from being marked as spam or blocked.

Evaluation Email (PDF)
Pre-Training Survey (PDF)
Attendance and Survey Completion Form (PDF)

Conduct Mindfulness Training Sessions

The six-session mindfulness course introduces staff to practices and techniques that promote mindfulness in their daily lives. Working with staff, you should explore the benefits of mindfulness for emotional, mental, and physical well-being and interpersonal relationships. The Mindfulness Trainer should support school staff in establishing their own practices, encouraging them to continue practicing mindfulness in the future. The course should follow a six-session program as follows:

Session 1: Mindfulness of Breath
Session 2: Mindfulness of the Body
Session 3: Mindfulness of Feeling Tone
Session 4: Mindfulness of Emotion
Session 5: Mindfulness of Thinking
Session 6: Kindness Practice

Tip: Instead of holding a single, day-long workshop, it is important to spread out the training across multiple weeks, allowing participants to train and practice in order to develop and maintain their mindfulness skills.

Communicate Post-Training Survey

Upon completion of the training sessions, communicate the Post-Training Survey with participants. Once all responses have been received, track the progress in the Attendance and Survey Completion Form.

Post-Training Survey (PDF)

Hold Debrief Meeting

After the post-training surveys have been submitted and analyzed, schedule a debrief meeting with the group to review surveys from before and after the training session. The debrief meeting will be useful to review the progress participants feel they’ve made and provides an opportunity to discuss the transition to the implementation phase, and next steps in the mindfulness program.

Hold Implementation Workshops

The next step of the strategy involves the Implementation Coach holding three-to-four hours of large group workshops to explore mindfulness strategies already being used and those that can be adopted by the school in their Mindfulness Implementation Plans. The workshops should be used for discussions around best practices to foster and sustain mindfulness by school staff in the classroom and school structure, including sharing tools and scripts, how to get started, when to use specific practices, and the outcomes of those practices.

Tip: The Mindfulness Implementation Plans should serve as a living document that can be edited according to the needs of the school.

Mindfulness School Implementation Plan (PDF)

Hold Implementation Consultations

In addition to large group workshops, the Implementation Coach should also host around three hours of smaller group and/or individual meetings to provide deeper insights on specific topics and model individual Student and Staff Plans.

Examples of consultations can include the following:

Group Q&A;
Developing small group plans for class classroom subjects, like math or English; and
Office Hours

Mindfulness Student & Staff Plan (PDF)

Communicate Follow-Up Survey

Upon completion of the implementation phase, communicate the Follow-Up Survey with those who participated in the training and implementation discussions. Once all responses have been received, track the progress in the Attendance and Survey Completion Form.

Follow-Up Survey (PDF)

Develop Mindfulness Summary Report

The Summary Report should be developed to provide an overview of the evaluations completed throughout the training program. This highlights how staff opinions and attitudes have changed throughout the mindfulness training and provides an outlook on next steps for implementation of classroom and school strategies.

Blank School Summary Report (PDF)

Hold Follow-Up Meeting

Once the implementation phase has been completed and responses to the Follow-Up Survey have been collected, coordinate a meeting with school administration, the School Mindfulness Champion, and key stakeholders to debrief on the mindfulness strategies developed in the implementation workshops and the Mindfulness Summary Report.

Challenges & Tactics to Address Them

Navigating successful strategy implementation can be complex, and obstacles will arise that set your plan back.

List of Challenges & Tactics

From aligning diverse teams to managing unforeseen roadblocks, the path forward is often uncertain and challenging. The following section includes common challenges faced when coordinating a Mindfulness program and tactics recommended by MHM to address them and pave the way for successful implementation.

all

School Administrator Support

Without school administrator support, after-school scheduling conflicts are much more likely to arise, leading to decreased participation. During the application review process, make note of which schools have administrative support to aid in further schoolwide buy-in.

Contracts and Agreements

The various positions included in the mindfulness training program can seem confusing for participants initially. Clearly drafting the roles and responsibilities of the Implementation Coach, School Mindfulness Champion, and Mindfulness Trainer will be instrumental in carrying out a successful training program.

Scheduling

With the many afterschool activities that occur, scheduling a regular meeting cadence may not be possible. To avoid future conflicts, maintain good communication with participants to understand school schedules and avoid program delays.

Staff Turnover

In the event that a staff leader in the mindfulness program is no longer able to participate, it’s important to take account of whom the other leaders in the group are and to be flexible in handing the position over to a participant willing to take up the role.

Moving from In-Person to Virtual

In the event that in-person instruction is not available, you may need to quickly adapt to virtual instruction. There is a plethora of resources that allow you to conduct live meetings via video, such as Zoom and Webex. Ensure a contingency plan is in place and resources are available to move the training, workshops, and consulting online as needed.

“This is a life changing course. I feel empowered to deal with my stress and help students with anxiety. This has real power and I think all of our teachers and students in our district would benefit from mindfulness training. I think it is a no brainer that it should be incorporated into our Professional Development, wellness and teacher training. I am very appreciative to have participated.”

- Participant

Best Practices

Through the process of implementing their respective behavioral health strategies, each AHW-funded coalition recorded its lessons learned to streamline their strategy processes going forward. Tried-and-true best practices also enhance the likelihood of achieving desired outcomes. The following section includes an insightful list of learned best practices MHM recommends other organizations employ to steer their strategy towards successful implementation.

all

Partner with a Credentialed Mindfulness Trainer

Having a well-established personal mindfulness practice is essential to teaching others mindfulness and reduces the risk of unintentional harm or a non-effective program. Many accredited mindfulness teacher training programs require at least two-years of personal mindfulness practice before being accepted into a teacher training program.

A Mindfulness Day for Educators was held annually, bringing together staff from schools in the Chippewa Valley to connect, practice, and share their own mindfulness practices.

Work with a Wide Range of School Staff

Focus your efforts on school staff skill building with teachers, attendance office staff, bus drivers, coaches, nutritional staff, and any youth-serving staff member. Providing the program to all staff can improve the overall school climate and student-staff relationships.

Be Flexible with the Program

Not all schools are the same, and some may have more buy-in than others. Being flexible and creative to what works for each school is crucial to the success of conducting mindfulness instruction. You may need to extend the training timeline or delay start times based on availability.

Create Fluid Sustainability Plans

Keeping continuous improvement at the core of school sustainability plans allows school staff to try different tactics and make changes as they go. Not every strategy will pan out as anticipated, so it’s important to make sure staff know to revise their plans based on what works in practice and what doesn’t.

Establish Incentives

Incentivizing school staff to engage in the program can be helpful to encourage consistent participation. If the course is being provided in-kind, ensuring participants understand the value will reinforce that effort. Working with school administration to coordinate stipends and other support for participants can also advance your efforts to encourage consistent participation.

Resources Needed

An understanding of the broad time and financial costs involved in the lead-up to, facilitation of, and follow-up to the Mindfulness program will assist in planning team member roles and responsibilities within your organization and prevent unexpected delays or shortages that could hinder progress. Each workshop incurs costs, whether financial or time-based. The following is a breakdown of the costs that can generally be expected over the course of the Mindfulness program lifetime.

all

Programming and Outreach Costs

In total, the Mindfulness program costs under $10,000 for a school to implement, including $4,500 to pay the Mindfulness Trainer, Implementation Coach, and School Mindfulness Champion. Many schools also provided materials, such as books and classroom supplies, as well as stipends for participants that ranged between $1,200 and $4,500. In short, the program can be expected to cost between $150 to $425 per participant.

Mindfulness Resources (PDF)

Time Commitments

In addition to the financial costs associated with the program, time should also be considered in the lead-up and facilitation processes. The following is a breakdown of the time commitments that can generally be expected of the trainers over the course of the program’s lifetime:

Project Administrator: 6 hours for program outreach, the school selection process, and coordination with school administration
Mindfulness Trainer: 9 hours of in-person training
Implementation Coach: 6 to 7 hours of individual and group consultation
School Mindfulness Champion: Dependent upon level of engagement
Participants: 12 to 15 hours in total

Mindfulness Program Statistics

participating schools

106

participating staff positions

4.8/5

rating for instructor’s subject knowledge