with Valerie York-Zimmerman
JOIN US NOW IN A CALL TO ACTION!
Support Mindfulness-Based Programs in Your School to Improve Mental Health and Reduce Stress, Bullying & Violence.
Berger Singerman Law Firm, 1450 Brickell Avenue #1900, Miami FL
Monday, April 23, 2018, 5:30 until 7:30 p.m.
In 2015, 16.1 million Americans reported experiencing major depression during the previous year, often struggling to function while grappling with crippling darkness and despair.
There’s an arsenal of treatments at hand, including talk therapy and antidepressant medications, but what’s depressing in itself is that they don’t work for every patient.
“Many people don’t respond to the frontline interventions,” said Benjamin Shapero, an instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and a psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital’s (MGH) Depression Clinical and Research Program. “Individual cognitive behavioral therapy is helpful for many people; antidepressant medications help many people. But it’s also the case that many people don’t benefit from them as well. There’s a great need for alternative approaches.”
Shapero is working with Gaëlle Desbordes, an instructor in radiology at HMS and a neuroscientist at MGH’s Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, to explore one alternative approach: mindfulness-based meditation.
In recent decades, public interest in mindfulness meditation has soared. Paralleling, and perhaps feeding, the growing popular acceptance has been rising scientific attention. The number of randomized controlled trials — the gold standard for clinical study — involving mindfulness has jumped from one in the period from 1995‒1997 to 11 from 2004‒2006, to a whopping 216 from 2013‒2015, according to a recent article summarizing scientific findings on the subject.
The full article is here:
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/04/harvard-researchers-study-how-mindfulness-may-change-the-brain-in-depressed-patients/
Monday, April 23, 2018, 5:30 until 7:30 p.m.
YOU ARE INVITED TO MEET CONGRESSMAN TIM RYAN (D-OHIO) WHOSE PUBLIC SERVICE IS FOCUSED ON:
long-term economic recovery and growth across the U.S.;
getting people back to work through innovative and high-tech initiatives;
a transformational approach to mental health across America;
Safe Schools that foster learning and healthy students;
a just and mindful approach to criminal justice and immigration;
long-term public policy for our future and environment;
and other important issues impacting our families and our community.
LEARN MORE ABOUT HIS INSPIRED WORK IN EDUCATION – HEALTHCARE – MENTAL HEALTH – CRIMINAL JUSTICE and BUSINESS WITH LEADERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
Prior to Reception in his honor, Representative Ryan will visit South Florida inner-city public schools to talk about Safe Schools – Importance of Mental Health – Ending Bullying, Aggression and Violence – Improving Learning Environments – Fostering Happy, Healthy Students.
JOIN US FOR MEANINGFUL DIALOGUE TO CONSIDER WHAT WE CAN DO IN OUR OWN MIAMI and FT. LAUDERDALE COMMUNITIES!
RECEPTION IN HONOR OF CONGRESSMAN TIM RYAN
At the home of SHARON and MITCHELL BERGER
(Founder of South Florida Berger Singerman law offices)
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2018, 5:30 until 7:30 p.m.
Continue reading “News Release: U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan to Visit Miami-Dade County Public Schools”
Labor organizations estimated that 30% of all work-related illness is due to stress accounting for $6.6 billion of losses in the U.S. alone!
Chronic stress has a serious impact on physical and mental health increasing risk for heart disease, some cancers, diabetes, depression, anxiety, and obesity. According to Mark Bertolini, Chairman and CEO of Aetna, where Mindfulness-Based Programs provided for thousands of Aetna employees nationwide have demonstrated
JOIN LEADING hospitals and health systems, U.S Marine Corps, U.S. Army, Seattle Seahawks, NBA , major corporations and businesses of all kinds in diverse settings like: Google… Aetna… General Mills… IBM… Apple… Ford… Proctor & Gamble… Eileen Fisher… and more
Research in healthcare shows that reducing stress through Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) has a positive impact resulting in:
| • Improved performance | • Better decisions |
| • Reduced costs | • Improved teamwork |
| • Reduced absenteeism | • Improved communication |
| • Better customer satisfaction | • Kinder, happier workplace |
| • Healthier, more fulfilled staff | • Fewer errors, wasted time |
According to Mindfulness Research Monthly (Black, 2010), neuroscience research on the benefits of mindfulness has become more prolific. In recent years there has been a surge in NIH-funded research trials in the U.S. In 2008, even the U.S. Department of Defense began using mindfulness practice as part of its treatment for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to Black (2010), a meta-analytic review by Sawyer, Witt and Oh in 2010 found that mindfulness-based therapies had a dramatic effect on improving both depression and anxiety.
by R.S. Crane, J. Brewer, C. Feldman, J. Kabat-Zinn, S. Santorelli, J.M.G. Williams and W. Kyuken, Psychological Medicine (2017), 47, 990-999, Cambridge University Press 2016
October 2015, Review of Scientific Evidence and Current Best Practices in Mindfulness Training, re public policy in health, education, workplace, criminal justice system.
www.themindfulnessinitiative.org.uk Video, Report, Research, January 19, 2021
Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRwh-OrVQbg
Research among the scientific community has grown exponentially with researchers from leading institutions around the world leading the way. Numerous studies now show that mindfulness practice can have a profound impact on our emotional wellbeing, physical health, ability to cope with stress and challenges, relationships, and performance.
Brain scanning technologies reveal that not only does the activity of the brain change from moment to moment but the actual structure of the brain itself can change. New synaptic connections can form among brain cells and new brain cells can develop. Practice has been shown to lead to growth of key brain regions associated with emotional regulation, concentration and self-control, as well as reductions in grey-matter density, the area of the brain central to the stress response, fear and anxiety.
In the 2015-2016 school year a research study was conducted on a Professional Development Pilot Program for Miami-Dade County Public School Teachers and Administrators based on the Inner Journey ~ Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (IJ-MBSR) Program, the MBSR adaptation developed and taught by Valerie York-Zimmerman beginning in 2002.
As Founder of, Executive Director, and Senior Trainer for Mindful Kids Miami, from its inception through 2016, Valerie taught the 200 teachers and mental health school counselors from 100 schools who participated in the Pilot Program during the 2015-2016 school year. Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) is the 3rd largest and one of the most diverse districts in the U.S.
The study was a research collaboration led by Judson Brewer, M.D., Ph.D., Center for Mindfulness at University of Massachusetts School of Medicine, David J. Lee, Ph.D., University of Miami’s Department of Public Health Sciences, and Tarek Chebbi, Ed.D., Chair, Research Review Committee of MDCPS.
Study description and conclusions were included in a project supervised by Dr. David Lee in the UM – UMass REDCap System collaborative study entitled “Effectiveness of Mindfulness Training on the Well-Being of Educators.” It was a UM Medical School IRB and Miami-Dade County Public Schools approved study, which objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness training on teachers and administrators that participated in the 8-week Inner Journey ~ Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (IJ-MBSR) Program training. The “Effectiveness of Mindfulness Training on the Well-Being of Educators” study was embedded in the IJ-MBSR Program as a pilot program for Miami-Dade County Public Schools Professional Development and Evaluation.
These results suggest improvements in self-compassion and mindfulness, and decreased levels of anxiety in individuals that participated in the IJ-MBSR 8 week program. These findings are consistent with previous research on the benefits of IJ-MBSR as presented in other research studies conducted below.
During the two years prior to the M-DCPS IJ-MBSR Pilot Program, research studies with adult participants in all of the Inner Journey~ Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (IJ-MBSR) Programs taught by Valerie York-Zimmerman were overseen and evaluated by Sharon Theroux, Ph.D., neuro-psychologist and founder of the South Florida Center for Mindfulness. Pre- and Post- Surveys which included the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), Zung Anxiety Scale, and Self-Compassion Surveys were conducted.
Analysis of the data from all adult participants in the IJ-MBSR trainings resulted in significant improvements in each area: reduced anxiety, increased compassion, and improved mindfulness.
The Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) measures improvements associated with positive well-being something that is necessary to help reduce burnout. Higher scores in the “observing” facet are associated with good psychological adjustment. (Baer, 2008). The five facets are:
1. Observe surroundings
2. Describe thoughts and emotions
3. Act with awareness
4. Be non-judgmental
5. Be non-reactive in day-to-day life
John Meiklejohn, Catherine Phillips, M. Lee Freedman, Mary Lee Griffin, Gina Biegel, Andy Roach, Jenny Frank, Christine Burke, Laura Pinger, et al., Springer Science+Business Media, Mindfulness, ISSN 1868-8527, DOI 10.1007/s12671-012-0094-5, published online: 14 March 2012
As Jon Kabat-Zinn stated in an article in Mindful, February 2014,
“The brain science has become very rigorous. A lot of credit obviously goes to Richie Davidson in his lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds. Their work is unique and focuses on both basic science and translational research, which takes place in real-life settings such as Madison’s public schools.”
The body of research on mindfulness training for children and teens continues to grow. There is now evidence to show the impact which mindfulness has on the prefrontal cortex and interconnections involved in attention, working memory, executive function, emotional and behavioral regulation, all of which are relevant to academic, psychological and social well-being and the success of youth today.
Several more prominent school-based interventions (Napoli, 2002; Napoli, 2004; Napoli, Rock Krech, and Holley, 2005; Flook et al. 2010; Rechtschaffen and Cohen, 2010) focused on mindfulness training for elementary school students. Linda Lantieri’s work in New York City after 9/11 with children in crises culminated in interventions for students and teachers (Lantieri and Goleman, 2008). Willingham (2011) notes that teachers who use emotion regulation skills in their classrooms can improve the self-control capacities of their students.
In the 2011-2012 school year, Mindful Schools partnered with the University of California at Davis to conduct the largest randomized-controlled study to date on mindfulness involving 915 children and 47 teachers in 3 Oakland public elementary schools in a high crime area. Substantive behavioral improvements were apparent after just six weeks of training.
Mindfulness teachers in the study had a strong mindfulness background, which is a key determinant of success when teaching mindfulness.
‘On Being’ host and producer Krista Tippett interviewed Mindfulness expert Jon Kabat-Zinn. Listen now or read the transcript of the May 2016 podcast. (By Krista Tippett on May 9, 2016)
SOUTH FLORIDA VISIONARY AWARDS IN EDUCATION
As a measure of the impact of Valerie York-Zimmerman’s mindfulness-based work on behalf of adults and children throughout the Miami community, she was nominated as one of three finalists by the Miami Herald for the 2016 South Florida Visionary Award in Education. Miami Herald South Florida Visionary Awards in Education
This article is cross-posted from 60 Minutes on CBS News.
Anderson Cooper reports on what it’s like to try to achieve “mindfulness,” a self-awareness scientists say is very healthy, but rarely achieved in today’s world of digital distractions
The following is a script from “Mindfulness” which aired on Dec. 14, 2014. Anderson Cooper is the correspondent. Denise Schrier Cetta, producer. Matthew Danowski , editor.
Our lives are filled with distractions — email, Twitter, texting we’re constantly connected to technology, rarely alone with just our thoughts. Which is probably why there’s a growing movement in America to train people to get around the stresses of daily life.
It’s a practice called “mindfulness” and it basically means being aware of your thoughts, physical sensations, and surroundings.
Tonight, we’ll introduce you to the man who’s largely responsible for mindfulness gaining traction. His name is Jon Kabat-Zinn and he thinks mindfulness is the answer for people who are so overwhelmed by life, they feel they aren’t really living at all.
Jon Kabat-Zinn: There are a lot of different ways to talk about mindfulness, but what it really means is awareness.
Anderson Cooper: Is it being present?
Jon Kabat-Zinn: It is being present. That’s exactly what it is.
Anderson Cooper: I don’t feel I’m very present in each moment. I feel like every moment I’m either thinking about something that’s coming down the road, or something that’s been in the past.
Jon Kabat-Zinn: So ultimately all this preparing is for what? For the next moment, like the last moment, like, and then we’re dead (laugh) so in a certain way…
Anderson Cooper: Oh God, this is depressing.
Jon Kabat-Zinn: Are we going to experience while we’re still alive? We’re only alive now.
Jon Kabat-Zinn, is an MIT-trained scientist who’s been practicing mindfulness for 47 years. Back in 1979, he started teaching mindfulness through meditation to people suffering from chronic pain and illness. That program is now used in more than 700 hospitals worldwide.
Anderson Cooper: So how can you be mindful in your daily life?
Read the full text at CBS News.
Content Copyright (c) CBS News.
Selected Excerpts from the Mindfulness in Education section of the A Mindful Miami Conference, sponsored and produced by Mindful Kids Miami, on October 18, 2014.