Resilient Kids

The Center for Resilience teaches youth about mindfulness and what it means to be mindful in the classroom as well as outside the classroom. Youth are taught how to be resilient and be able to bounce back from mistakes and challenges. Many Rhode Island schools that have partnered with the Center for Resilience have seen positive changes in their classrooms, including academic performance, behaviors and the well-being of their students.

This center has curriculum that includes strategies that manage "academic, emotional, and social challenges." Educators are taught how to apply these strategies into the classroom setting for students of all ages with a variety of coping needs. These strategies benefit students that are unable to cope with uncomfortable and unfamiliar challenges. These strategies help students "re-set" their minds in a positive and healthy way. Results of the Center for Resilience show decreases in behavior referrals, stress rates, and violence within the schools.

Providence Elementary School teacher, Amy Leclaire, talks of how the center of resilience has benefited in her Kindergarten classroom. Her class settles down quicker and more easily by practicing their mindfulness techniques, such as slowly saying words and phrases such as, "I can do this", while pressing their fingers together gently and slowly. The skills and techniques allow students to focus and settle back down into the learning environment after being outdoors. Other techniques offered on the site include glitter jars. Amy Leclaire is a family friend of mine and often talks about how much she loves her classroom and the challenges she often faces of students coming from so many different environments. These techniques have allowed her to become a great teacher!