Mindfulness – Winter/Spring 2020

Building skills to maintain attention and self-regulation

through mindfulness-based activities for children 6 thru 9 years old

Our Mindfulness group is a therapeutic small group that empowers children to use the tools of mindful breath and movement to boost mood, reduce stress, improve their ability to sustain attention, and appropriately maintain self-regulation. Children often feel the stress of their world imposed on them, which can make it difficult to respond appropriately to the demands, and result in poor self-regulation. Using mindfulness-based interventions, we will teach children to be fully present in their tasks with sustained attention, balanced emotions and well-regulated bodies. When children are fully present and connected to their bodies, they are better able to attend and respond to cues from within their own bodies (interoception) to maintain a well-regulated state more independently.  Mindfulness will be led by two occupational therapists and limited to six children.

 

Goals include:

  • Develop increased self-awareness, by facilitating responsibility and ownership over thoughts and actions
  • Build and utilize strategies to practice mindfulness
  • Build and utilize strategies to identify and reduce stress
  • Improve self-regulation and sustained attention
  • Develop social skills, including perspective-taking, cooperation, and flexibility to build friendships
  • Improve body awareness as it relates to mindful movement, participating in social interactions, and maintaining emotional regulation

 

When: Tuesdays, January 14th – June 2nd (No group the week of April 13th)    

Time: 3:00 – 4:00 pm                                     

Cost:  $100 per session  

Registration Information

To register, submit an electronic form.

Children are expected to attend every session (barring illness), as the sessions build on each other and group dynamics are an important component. These services are billed as Occupational and/or Speech Therapy services and many parents receive partial reimbursement from their insurance companies.

If your child is not attending therapy sessions at Emerge, we will be in touch with you to set up a brief free screening to determine if this program is a good match for your child.