Creative Wellbeing in Schools Programme

With schools expected to timetable a minimum of 400 hours of wellbeing by 2020, schools can benefit from the resources of facilitators specialised in Creative Wellbeing for children.

There are many measurable benefits to be gained from bringing mindfulness and yoga to classrooms. It has been shown to reduce stress, bullying and anxiety while boosting attention, performance, emotional regulation and school satisfaction. It helps to promote strength, confidence along with compassion and self-acceptance. It is particularly helpful for children suffering from PTSD and ADHD.

My Creative Wellbeing for children at Pre, Primary and Secondary level consists of these main modules:

Physical Wellbeing

Yoga, stress and tension release.

Mental Wellbeing

Mindfulness, Meditation, Breath Work, Self Compassion, Yoga Nidra and Creativity for Health.

Self Awareness

Values, Needs and Boundaries, Decision making, Realising fears and Ambitions and Goals.

Leading to skills for Life

Equipping children with self care tools for life, which empowers the young to actively manage both their mental and physical health and develop emotional intelligence whilst motivating them to progress towards their goals.

Primary and Second Level School Programme

Classes are scheduled within the school timetable. Classes are typically 45 minutes each one day a week, for a specified duration. The Primary programme is designed to complement both the SPHE and PE strands of the Primary School Curriculum.

Classes bring children through a range of creative practices to build their personal awareness of themselves, how they feel, how they relate to their body and how they engage with others through the group and partner work activities.

These are age specific classes tailored to the needs of each group. Classes may begin with breathing techniques and yoga. The different qualities of experience can be learned through creative practices and discussion exploring characteristics such as friendship, trust, confidence and sensitivity. This helps children develop active listening skills, emotional intelligence, empathy, personal understanding and patience.

Children will learn different meditation, mindfulness and breathing techniques to restore balance and calm in their bodies.

 These tools empower children to check how they are feeling and use techniques they have learnt to help themselves calm-down, self-soothe, relieve any worries and busy thoughts, go to sleep more easily or to be more patient with teachers, friends, and family.

Classes end with a guided relaxation where each child can sit or lie down with a blanket relaxing their minds and bodies to allow them to rest, absorb new learning, calm their nervous system and become more aware of their body.

The classes can be of great benefit for children with ASD.

Classes can be aimed at Transition Year Student’s or for Leaving Certificate Groups.

It can be helpful to work with Creative Mindfulness with Teachers and to also offer it to families as a way to bring mindfulness practices into the home.

During the course of the classes props for a creative mindfulness corner can be made for the classroom and used as needed, if this is desired.