Child practicing meditation

I hope you are enjoying the fall and the beautiful warm days and crisp evenings.  This season has brought many changes for me.  As most of you know, I am no longer with Second Nature Wilderness Programs.  Although my almost ten year tenure there provided many wonderful friends, colleagues and memories of loving families, it was time for me to focus on my own family, health and further professional development.  Summer and early fall brought a certification in teaching mindfulness to teens.  The structured curriculum I use has been shown to facilitate the development of cognitive and performance skills, as well as improve mental, emotional, and physical health.  Click here if you are interested in the research supporting this.

Similarly, I built on the many years of working with adolescent girls by spending a week with Rick Hanson and his lovely wife, Jan.  Rick is the NYTimes bestselling author of Buddha’s Brain:  The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom, and Hardwiring Happiness:  The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm and Confidence.   I have successfully used Rick’s techniques with students and they respond well to his clear, direct and useful style of writing.  In other exciting news, I am pleased to have found comfortable and easily accessible office space at 150 E. Ponce de Leon Avenue in the heart of Downtown Decatur.  I can be reached at 404-692-7027 to schedule individual therapy for teens or counseling with parents.

In addition to the teen group Dr. Mary Helen Hunt and I began offering in September, we will offer a group for 8-10 year olds and a group for 11-13 year olds beginning in February.  We traveled to Manchester, UK in October to connect with other professionals using this curriculum and the more we use it the more our excitement about its robustness and utility grows.  Frankly, we feel like we have our hands into something pretty special.  If you would like to hear more, give me a call at 404-692-7027.  Please note these groups are not clinical in nature and are not a substitute for therapeutic work or DBT skills.  The ideal student for these groups:

  • is struggling with some attention and concentration
  • wants to increase his or her sense of self-control
  • enjoys learning about strategies to develop confidence, insight, and self-acceptance.

Information on how to register for the 8-10 year old group can be found here. Information on how to register for the 11-13 year old group can be found here.

As I close, I am sending you warm wishes for a grateful and rich holiday season.  As a send off, you might enjoy the following video of cute British kids using this curriculum.

http://www.itv.com/news/wales/update/2013-12-08/new-mindfulness-techniques-used-in-schools/