The pathway to mindfulness for children and young people

Abstract

For more than two decades, there has been enthusiasm for mindfulness training and therapy for children and young people, though it seems the enthusiasm might still outweigh the evidence of efficacy (Greenberg &Harris, 2011). It is certainly an approach that, intuitively, sounds and feels like a good idea. Most of us, and our children, live very “crowded” lives and not only in terms of activities undertaken.We are constantly bombarded by noise, lights and smells; by the pressures to respond to our peers, to the demands of technology and to cultural expectations – family, community and beyond. There is little room for silence and quiet contemplation, time for emotional restoration or for the generation of ideas that come from within ourselves and are part of our creative spirit. So, the permission mindfulness gives us to stop and be in the moment has become more important than perhaps it might have been in times past. It’s no surprise, then, that in the last 10 years or so, mindfulness has grown beyond a therapeutic approach to be a restorative process for adults in all walks of life. In addition, numerous tools have been developed ranging from colouring-in, individual exercises to team and group work exercises. And in this same time frame, tools for children have also been developed in tandem with the introduction of mindfulness into contexts beyond the counselling room. Coholic’s Arts activities for children and young people in need (Coholic, 2010); and Plummer and Surrurier’s Focusing and calming games for children: Mindfulness strategies and activities to help children relax, concentrate and take control (Plummer & Serrurier, 2012) are but two examples of guides and activities that are now used in a variety of environments. Quite apart from mindfulness for children being supported by psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers, it has found purchase in the work of life coaches like van der Steenstraten (2017), who recorded her observations of themany benefits of mindfulness in Educating young children: Learning and teaching in the early childhood years. Many schools have been quick to include mindfulness in the classroom curriculum to allay issues of anxiety, of over-active behaviour (for instance, attention-deficit hyperactive disorder, and to teach self-calming techniques and increase focus as identified by Sheinman, Hadar, Gafni, andMilman (2018). The inclusion of mindfulness in school curricula has been to support positive development, to assist children and young people to overcome stress and promote life skill development that, together, support the educational process. It is the capacity of mindfulness to assist in coping with stressors that offers children and young people a tangible set of skills to build resilience. Most health professionals will be aware that children do not always recognise when they are stressed, but acute and chronic stress can lead to a range of physical symptoms as well as disrupting behavioural patterns and affecting the capacity to learn (Medline, 2019). Educationalists are also championing mindfulness, making strong claims for the differences they notice not only amongst students, but also among teaching staff and parents if their particular programme includes the wider school community. However, there are various approaches to promoting mindfulness in education and, in spite of burgeoning research internationally, there is still the intriguing issue of its long-term impacts on health and wellbeing (Sheinman et al., 2018). Some programmes include students, teachers and parents, while others are focused on the students and teaching staff. The Smiling Mind organisation has been a strong advocate of its Smiling Mind Education Program, which has been evaluated by academics of Deakin University and Insight SRC (Smiling Mind, 2017). The programme was established due to concerns that half of all adults had experienced mental health issues by the age of 14 years, and three-quarters by the age of 24 years, and the resulting high economic costs of mental illness in Australia. The programme also takes account of the Victorian 10-Year Mental Health Plan (State of Victoria, Department of Health and Human Services, 2015). In the first evaluation report, which included 1853 students and 104 teachers from 12 schools in Victoria, positive changes were noted for both groups. Students, for example, reported that “participation in the program significantly improved sleep,” and there was a