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smartEDUCATION

 SMART (Stress Management and Resiliency Techniques) For Educators and Helping Professionals

Why Bring smartEducation to Your School?

smartEducation™ equips your staff to effectively manage stress and embrace challenges while preparing them to guide students to be with the ups and downs of life.

Discover a program that:

  • Is Trauma-Sensitive and SEL-informed (SEL = Social and Emotional Learning) 
  • Fosters a deep sense of belonging and connection within your school community, setting the stage for improved student well-being.
  • Develops Effective Strategies for Challenging Situations: Acquires strategies to relate effectively, ultimately improving your ability to engage with students and colleagues constructively.
  • Manages Stress and Fosters Emotional Control: smartEducation equips you with tools to manage stress through a greater understanding and control of emotions, empowering you to create a positive learning environment.
  • Prioritizes Self-Care and Build Resilience: Learn self-care techniques that foster personal and professional resilience, enhancing your ability to handle the challenges of education effectively.
  • Enhances Concentration and Executive Function: Gain insights and practices to help yourself and your students enhance concentration and executive function, vital for efficient planning, decision-making, and impulse control.
  • Revitalizes Purpose and Enhance Physical and Mental Well-being: Experience how SMART Education can rejuvenate your sense of purpose, both personally and professionally, promoting happiness through healthy habits of the mind while cultivating overall mental and physical well-being.

Aligns with Ontario’s Education Focus

  • smartEducation™ aligns with Ontario’s emphasis on enhancing mental health learning for educators and addressing stress management within the education system.

Aligns with Annual Learning Plan (ALP)

  • Supports the teacher’s professional learning and growth by providing skills to manage stress and enhance mental health literacy.

Funding may be available through OSSTF, ETFO and other professional organizations.

Let us know how we can help you. 

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smartEducation™ – A 9-Session Renewal Program

Program Structure:

smartEducation™ is a 9-session, 20-hour, evidence-based secular program, designed for all educators, including teachers, educational assistants, child and youth workers, staff, administrators, social workers, psychologists, and other helping professionals working with students.

Each session includes:

  • Presentations
  • Group discussion
  • Experiential practices in mindfulness >
  • 4-hour silent retreat
  • Weekly home practice
  • Engagement and Interactivity

Certification:

Successful participants receive a smartEducation Certificate of Completion.

SMART Integrates the teachings, practices and research from:

  • Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
  • Mindful Self-Compassion
  • Mindfulness-Based Emotional Balance
  • Mindful Movement
  • Kindness and Compassion training

Who Should Attend:

  • Education professionals include teachers, educational assistants, child and youth workers, social workers, psychologists, occupational therapists, audiologists and speech-language pathologists, physiotherapists, student support staff, and administrators and office staff.
  • Helping professionals who work with families, children and teens, including healthcare professionals, community leaders and staff. 

FAQ's about SMART

An evidence-based, trauma-sensitive, SEL-informed program designed to address the needs of educators (Kindergarten to Grade 12) and professional support staff.

Stress Management and Resiliency Techniques

The 20-hour program is delivered in a workshop setting, consists of 8 x two- hour sessions, a 4-hour silent retreat and includes home practice.

Participants who have completed the requirements receive a smartEducation Certificate of Completion.

ME researches and manages the development of the evidence base for continual updating of the curriculum and training of SMART facilitators

Heidi Bornstein, Director, SMART Ontario
416 267-4707 | heidi@mindfulnesseveryday.org

SMART Participant Manual
Additional relevant resources: articles, books recommendations, websites, cds.

There is a manageable amount of home practice – between 15-20 minutes per day.

Educators and helping professionals, nurses, community organizational leaders and staff as well as organizations interested in creating a community of wellness.

SMART facilitators have engaged in a 100+ comprehensive training pathway consisting of training programs (Foundations), practicums, mentoring and on-going professional development.
The facilitators each have a personal mindfulness practice, have educational and community experience and are supported by Mindfulness Everyday’s Community of Practice.

SMARTeducation Research
Thirty years of informed basic research and, more recently, neuroscience, offer compelling evidence to support the use of employing mindfulness practices in education. The application of mindfulness by students and teachers has the potential to improve academic achievement, mental health, and positive relationships. Scientific studies show that mindfulness training develops one’s concentration, attention, executive function.
Download Research Summary from UBC Here
More Smart Research
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Karen-Ragoonaden

Participants notice increased capacity to:
– befriend your emotions
– use deep self-care to maintain emotional balance, leading to a change of trait, not just a change of state
– manage challenging situations
– effectively improve concentration,
– decision making & wise action enhance purpose and joy in your work and personal life
– relate & respond more effectively to stress to avoid burnout feel better,
– physically and mentally feel connected and part of a like-minded community
– promote leadership develop effective communication skills
– promote positive relationships increase presence
– build on inner resilience

– Explicit teachings on intention, self-compassion, kindness, empathy and compassion
– Explicit teachings on emotions, emotional balance, emotional literacy and managing strong emotions
– Sessions include simple foundational Mindful Movement flows
– Emphasis on bringing mindfulness into daily life using the attitudes of mindfulness and informal mindfulness practices

SMART is delivered both In-Person in Ontario and BC, and ONLINE, in a method that is highly participatory, engaging, and interactive.

SMART FEE Winter 2023= $500.00 per person CDN
More Information HERE: https://mindfulnesseveryday.org/schedule.html
Organizational Rates Are Available
Subsidies are available. More Information HERE: https://mindfulnesseveryday.org/mindfulnessineducation.html#scholarships

The SMART Facilitator Training Pathway is a 100+ hour program that involves direct teacher training programs, practicums, mentoring and on-going professional development. More information HERE:

Mental Health – Mindfulness as Professional Development smartUBC™
Exerpts from article by Karen Ragoonaden, PhD | Visions Journal, 2016, 12 (2), p. 30. Link to Article HERE
About the author: Dr. Ragoonaden was the Chair of the smartUBC curriculum and certification committee.

Mindfulness Everyday Refund Policy for SMART

We are confident you will find our classes enjoyable and beneficial. However, we do understand there are times when you may need to drop out of the course. Our refund policy is to provide a full refund, less a $50.00 administration fee, if the request is in writing and received by us, at least 5 business days prior to the course start. For subsequent written requests to withdraw, received by us up to 48 hours prior to the start of the second class, a refund of course fee will be given, less $100.00 to cover our costs up to that time (not including materials received). Course fees will not be refunded thereafter.

To request a refund, please send an email to payments@mindfulnesseveryday.org indicating your name, the name of the class, reason for the refund, and a phone number where you can be reached in case of questions. *Prices quoted may change without notice reflecting market changes beyond our control.

Insurance

SMART is not therapy or medical treatment. However, some insurance plans do cover health education and wellness classes. If your plan covers Mindfulness-based programs, we will provide the information you need to request reimbursement directly from your insurer.

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