SMART Facilitator Certification Ontario
Training Pathway
Mindfulness for Educators: smartEducation™:
A 9-Session Renewal Program
smartEducation™ (SMART - Stress Management and Resiliency Techniques for Educators) is an evidence-based program designed to address the needs of educators (K-12 and post-secondary), professional support staff and mental health professionals involved in the education and care of children, youth, and young adults, as well as orgnaizations committed to the health and wellness of their staff.
Who Should Attend
Education professionals including teachers, educational assistants, child and youth workers, social workers, psychologists, occupational therapists, audiologists and speech-language pathologists, physiotherapists, student support staff as well as administrators and office staff. The program is also suitable for healthcare professionals who work with children and teens. Previous experience with mindfulness is not required.
Organizational progfessionals interested in offering in-house mindfulness training to staff.
SMART Training Pathway:
- Offers a coherent, stepped approach.
- Integrates formal teaching with workshops/residential mindfulness trainings, skills training and supervision/mentoring.
- Uses the Mindfulness-based Interventions Teaching Assessment Criteria (MBI-TAC) (R. S. Crane et al., 2013) both to support SMART facilitator learning and to assess competency when teachers graduate from the training program, and are selected to be listed on a SMART teacher listing on the Mindfulness Everyday website.
- Expects SMART teachers to work within the ethical codes of their professional bodies. If they do not have such a code, training and attention to codes set out by the most relevant professional body are suggested as a safeguard and to promote good practice (Baer, 2015).
- Is evidence-based relying on and generating the best available evidence to inform the training.
smartEducation Facilitator Level 1
Certification Process
Certification Requirements
1. Prerequisites:
Completion of the following:
- An established mindfulness practice including meditation and mindful movement,
- Completion of face to face Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course (MBSR) or online (See Palouse Mindfulness http://palousemindfulness.com/) as a participant
- Completion of face to face Mindful Self-Compassion Short course (SC-MSC) or online as a participant
- Attending and completing one 20-hour smartEducation course
- A residential teacher led silent retreat that is a minimum of three to five days in duration (seven days preferred)
- Experience teaching adults and facilitating professional development activities for teachers
2. Academic Qualifications:
- Undergraduate degree in education, psychology, health sciences, social work, or equivalent degree, or
- Advanced professional degree and/or equivalent experience
Note: Completion of the above can be completed while completing the 100-hour training pathway.
3. Certification Training (100 hrs)
The training consists of a 25-hour facilitator training and 75 hours of practicum, assisting,
co-teaching and mentoring instruction in smartEducation program delivery.
It consists of the following components:
- 5-Day Foundational Concepts: practices and strategies for teaching SMART (25 hrs)
- Practicum: Participation and observing smartEducation (20 hrs)
- Assisting: smartEducation as taught by a qualified facilitator and/or with a fellow trainee (20 hrs) plus mentoring (10 hrs)
- Co-teaching: smartEducation (20 hrs) under the guidance of a qualified mentor
(5 hrs)
4. Ongoing Professional Development Training
- Professional Development Training Courses and Workshops, Retreats, and Mentoring with Mindfulness Everyday and other recommended orgranizations and teachers
- Resources, relevant research and articles
Please note that completing the above training components does not guarantee certification. Additional training and or mentoring may be recommended.