ERIC Number: EJ1190778
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 3
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0164-775X
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Available Date: N/A
Using Mindfulness to Improve Well-Being in Schools
Renshaw, Tyler L.; Bolognino, Sarah J.; Fletcher, Sarah P.; Long, Anna C. J.
Communique, v43 n6 p4, 6, 8 Mar-Apr 2015
Although there are several ways to go about influencing relationships and environments, one of school psychology's most tried-and-true strategies is to teach students and caregivers new social skills, which they can then put to use to improve their own and others' well-being. This approach to intervention has historically been called social skills training, but as it has grown and expanded over the years, it has come to be known as social-emotional learning. Lots of research has demonstrated the positive effects of social skills training and social-emotional learning on various aspects of students and caregivers' well-being. The purpose of this article is to provide a practical introduction to a key social-emotional skill known as mindfulness, which has promising utility for improving well-being and, at least over the past decade, seems to be growing in popularity in schools. Because many school psychologists might think of mindfulness as a rather solitary skill-something that is performed in one's head alone-or as something that is more akin to a cognitive ability than a learned behavior, the authors of this article intend to offer a strictly skills-based perspective on mindfulness, describing how it can be understood and learned by both students and caregivers as well as how it can function to promote positive relationships and environments. To do this, the authors first describe the lay of the land surrounding mindfulness by examining the nature of the skill itself and then summarizing what the research says about its correlates and effects on well-being. They then get to the heart of the matter by outlining how mindfulness can be used in schools and, specifically, by providing a script for how basic mindfulness skills training can be carried out with a classroom of students.
Descriptors: Perception, Metacognition, Well Being, School Psychologists, Caregivers, Educational Improvement, School Psychology, Intervention
National Association of School Psychologists. 4340 East West Highway Suite 402, Bethesda, MD 20814. Tel: 301-657-0270; Fax: 301-657-0275; e-mail: publications@naspweb.org; Web site: http://www.nasponline.org/publications/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
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Author Affiliations: N/A