This training is appropriate and tailored to classroom teachers, school administrators, psychologists, social workers and other mental health providers, mentors, youth and family service organizations or employees, organizations providing mindfulness services, and anyone interested in integrating mindfulness into their individual or organizational work with young people in a profound and meaningful way.
The content of the year-long training will fall into the following three categories:
Mindfulness Fundamentals*: If you do not have a prior mindfulness practice, you will be required to take the Mindfulness Fundamentals online course to prepare you for the retreats and a year of delving into personal practice.
For participants coming to this training with an established practice, you will be required to take the Mindfulness Fundamentals online course in order to familiarize yourself with the Mindful Schools vocabulary and approach to secular mindfulness training.
Mindfulness Fundamentals is a 6-week online course requiring about 90-minutes of your time per week.
Curriculum Training*: The Curriculum Training is a thorough training in our curricula for children and adolescents. It will provide the foundation for your practicum and yearlong exploration of presenting mindfulness to youth.
The Curriculum Training can be taken in person over 2.5 days, or online over 8 weeks.
*Mindfulness Fundamentals and the Curriculum Training must be completed before the beginning of retreat one.
Intensive Residential Practice: The year includes two week-long intensive residential retreats. These sessions will focus in large part on the development (or further development) of our personal mindfulness practice. The retreat space allows us to enter into a deeper understanding of the principals and instructions of mindfulness. It supports our exploration of ourselves, and our lives, and provides the foundation for being an embodied and authentic mindfulness teacher.
Curricula and Videos: This training will provide curriculum training for working with children and adolescents (aged 5-18). You will receive two extensive curricula, and over time you will be encouraged to expand on these by creating your own lesson plans. You will also have access to our library of recorded Mindful Schools’ lessons in classrooms and other youth environments.
Weekly Personal Practice: You will be asked to maintain a personal practice. What this looks like will vary from person to person. Guidance around personal practice will be offered during our monthly mentorship calls.
Monthly Support Modules: The year includes a wide variety of supportive training, ranging from mindfulness & trauma, compassionate & mindful communication, working with resistance, presenting to administrators and parents, skillful group facilitation, the relationship of mindfulness to Social & Emotional Learning (SEL), understanding relevant research, demystifying curriculum components, mindfulness adaptations for youth with special needs, and many other topics.
Monthly Mentorship Support Teams: You will be placed in a small sub-group with a Mindful Schools trainer and with participants from a similar geographic location and/or who have similar professional background.
Practicum and Evaluation**: Participants seeking certification will be required to put their skills to work by completing the Practicum and Evaluation component of the program. Participants may take the program without seeking certification, in which case the practicum and evaluation components will be waved.
Practicum: Participants will be required to teach mindfulness curriculum material to children or adolescents at least once a week for at least 12 weeks. Specific suggestions for meeting the practicum requirement will be offered for different populations (classroom teachers, therapists, social workers, etc.). Participants will be required to videotape a complete lesson, unedited. This will be submitted for review by the trainers.Evaluation: Participants will be required to administer evaluations to the youth they are teaching and to one administrator, professional, or parent who has approved and/or witnessed the program. These evaluations will be part of determining your full certification.
**Please note: If you are participating in the yearlong and seeking certification and you do not have access to youth to fulfill the practicum requirement, you will have one year after the second retreat to complete this requirement.
The Mindful Schools Certification is designed to create a world-wide community of highly trained and committed mindfulness in education practitioners. In addition to the lasting bonds that will form during the in-depth yearlong training, Mindful Schools will offer annual restricted retreats for certified instructors that will include time for personal practice, networking with other graduates, creative curriculum development and revision, updates and further training from the field, and special guest speakers.
Additionally, Mindful Schools will maintain restricted forums and list serves for certified instructors to discuss program and curriculum development, implementation challenges, and personal practice.
The primary instructors for this training are Vinny Ferraro, Chris McKenna, Megan Cowan, and Pam Dunn. These instructors have over 55 years of combined mindfulness practice and over 30 years of teaching mindfulness and/or emotional intelligence to youth, making them the most experienced team in the field. Please click on the names to see complete bios. In addition to this team, other experts will be brought in for the monthly didactic trainings to bring you the most well-rounded, most up-to-date information on the many topics we will be covering.
United States
Europe
For participants who choose to complete all the certification requirements, the training will offer them the opportunity to become a Certified Mindful Schools Instructor*.
With the growing recognition of mindfulness as a critical factor in Social & Emotional Learning (SEL), and with Mindful Schools having the largest research study to date on mindfulness in education, this certification is a valuable and meaningful addition to your resume or list of professional trainings. Certified Mindful Schools Instructors will be featured prominently on the Mindful Schools website, enabling schools and organizations in their geographic area to easily contact them about receiving mindfulness services. Mindful Schools is the main worldwide portal for mindfulness and education activities. Our website receives over ten thousand visits a month and is in the top five google search results for “mindfulness.”
As an established leader in the mindfulness & education field, Mindful Schools has trained several thousand educators in our curriculum. However, this is the first time we are offering a training that will establish the level of expertise necessary for a formal certification. By making the commitment to the yearlong certification, participants will be joining a small group of pioneers from around the world who have put in the time and effort necessary to develop truly innovative programs and spread this work to new and diverse youth populations.
* Many people may decide to take the year-long program without pursuing formal certification. This is completely acceptable and for many participants it may be a good option.
In order to maintain certification and recognition on the website, participants are required to attend a Graduate Retreat once every two years. Graduate Retreats will be offered annually and will include time for personal practice, networking with other graduates, creative curriculum revision and development, updates and further training from the field, and special guest speakers including leading mindfulness teachers, educational theorists and neuroscientists.
You can opt for a payment plan which requires a $1000 nonrefundable deposit and 8 monthly payments thereafter.
Scholarships are available for participants working in public school and agency environments and/or serving high-risk youth populations; if you are applying for a scholarship, please use this application.
Lodging expenses for the U.S. based certification are an additional $135 per night ($1,890 total for all 14 retreat days) for 2013/14. Lodging expenses for the European certification are an additional $112 a night ($1,567 total for all 14 retreat days).
Travel expenses and plans are the responsibility of the participant (limited discounted airport transportation to and from the retreat center will be provided by Mindful Schools).
A refund minus $1000 will be given before May 15, 2013. No refunds will be given after May 15, 2013.
Our Mindfulness Fundamentals and Curriculum Training graduates will be given a discount on the price of the year. Discounts are given according to the rate you paid for your course(s).
You are not required to participate in MF or CT again, but you can join the online version as part of the yearlong training. You will be asked to identify your previous training with Mindful Schools in your application.
