INTRODUCTION

This 6 x 2 hour session Zoom course is for educators who wish to deliver Mind With Heart’s Connected With Myself course to teenagers. This is a hands-on skills training for educators - participants will practice teaching the 10 sessions from the course. They will rehearse holding debates, investigations, creative games and guiding exercises in mindfulness, empathy and compassion.

CONNECTED WITH MYSELF is a programme of ten x 1-hour sessions for teenagers. These sessions build skills in an area that is so important for teenagers – understanding themselves and cultivating self-motivation and agency. Mindfulness-based, the sessions enable students to develop a stronger sense of connection with themselves and with others, and to form healthy relationships. Through the sessions, students gain key emotional and social learning competencies including self-awareness, self-kindness, empathy, listening skills, compassion, and altruistic behaviour.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES FOR TEENAGERS

* Develop self-awareness and explore how positive relationships are key to our own well-being;

* Cultivate the ability to be present with ourselves and with others

* Develop an awareness of others and a sense of solidarity and common humanity

* Cultivate a caring and kind attitude towards self and others

* Understand key principles regarding connection, including emotional cut-off, emotional contagion, empathy and compassion

* recognise the benefits of social engagement, and cultivate courage and a readiness to help

What the 10-session course looks like for teenagers

SESSION 1

starts from where students are at. We distinguish two types of happiness –

* hedonism [pleasure based on the senses, and what the world brings to us]

* eudaemonia [genuine human flourishing, brought about by cultivating qualities of mind, and what we bring to the world]

SESSION 2

takes at look at the mind - what the mind is, its potential and the important part it plays in shaping our world. The session has two main threads –

• Identifying the qualities of mind associated with well-being, including non-distraction

• Understanding how the mind is when settled, relaxed and alert; and when distracted, like a wild horse.

SESSION 3

This session is about being present, and coming into the present moment through placing attention on the five senses. Students explore the value of staying in the present, as a tool for overcoming stress (rumination, anxiety, restlessness etc.) and boredom (lethargy, lack of enthusiasm etc.).

SESSION 4

We identify physical sensations in the body, and we explore how stress and relaxation feel in the body.

SESSION 5

We define and identify feelings, relating them to the three-tier model of the brain. By connecting with our feelings or impulses, we are more aware of how they impact on our choices and behaviour, and can chose to respond differently.

SESSION 6

explores how to be a good friend to ourselves. As we come to know ourselves better, we don't always like what we see – this session shows us how to cultivate a kinder, less judgemental, less critical attitude towards ourselves.

SESSION 7

explores our relationship with our thoughts – who is really in charge? How could I be in charge of my mind? We do some fun exercises to identify thoughts in the mind, and explore the problem with completely believing everything we think.

SESSION 8

explores emotions – what they are, how they feel, which emotions bring happiness, which bring suffering.

SESSION 9

clarifies the training in mindfulness and awareness, and how they can support us in our lives. We explore spaciousness, a sense of simply being; in the present moment.

SESSION 10

includes a recap of the learning, a plan for continuing, a mindful listening exercise and a celebratory mindful chocolate