Mindfulness for Teenagers: Developing Empathy through Self-Reflection, Play, and Creative Expression
iBme transforms the lives of teenagers by equipping them with tools to approach their thoughts and emotions with curiosity and kindness
About You
About You
First Name
Patrick
Last Name
Cook-Deegan
Twitter URL
About Your Organization
Organization Name
Inward Bound Mindfulness Education
Organization Website
Organization Country
United States, DC, Washington
Country where this project is creating social impact
United States, DC, Washington DC
Is your organization a
Non‐profit / NGO / Citizen sector organization
Your role in Education
After-School Provider, Other.
The type of school(s) your solution is affiliated with
Other
How long has your organization been operating?
1‐5 years
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Innovation
Select the stage that best applies to your solution
Growth (your pilot is up and running, and starting to expand)
How long has your solution been in operation?
Operating for 1‐5 years
The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?
American teens are suffering from an epidemic of poor mental and emotional health:
- 10-15% of teenagers have symptoms of depression; 1 in 5 will know depression before adulthood. Teens are the most likely age to feel “alone.”
- 60% of high school students have contemplated suicide; 17% have seriously considered it; 8.4% have attempted in the past 12 months.
- 1 out of four teens are bullied. 9 out of 10 LGBT teens are bullied.
The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!
1) Teaching mindfulness and social-emotional learning courses in high schools. Our motto for teaching in schools is: engage, connect, and go deeper. During our 10-week courses, we equip teenagers to deal with their own thoughts and emotions. Until we start teaching these skills in schools, we will have a generation that is leading without feeling.
2) Weeklong residential mindfulness retreats for teenagers. On our 5-day nature based retreats we deepen teenagers relationships with themselves, others, and the natural world. Our daily schedule includes mindfulness meditation, mindful movement (yoga, Qi Gong), small group discussions, and creative expression. About a third of our retreats are spent in silence (without any cell phones/technology) balanced by times of mindful discussion amongst teens and staff members and fun.
The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities
The core practice of all of our work is mindfulness meditation. A growing body of scientific research demonstrates that mindfulness and social-emotional programs in schools improves students’:
- Attitudes about others, empathy, social interactions and classroom behavior
- Inner resiliency and self-esteem
- Decreases their stress and conduct problems
We also teach “heartfulness” – practices that cultivate compassion. At one of our retreats last summer, there was a moment when a dozen teenagers were weeping simultaneously as they felt compassion for themselves and their peers. By increasing the amount of compassion teens feel towards themselves, they are able to cultivate more empathy for others.
The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?
We are the only organization in the country dedicated to providing secular mindfulness meditation retreats for teenagers. Two Buddhist meditation centers, the Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock, also offer one five-day teen meditation retreat each year, but they are explicitly Buddhist organizations and have no plans to expand their programs.
In terms of our high school and after school programs, there is no other organization in the US dedicated to teaching mindfulness specifically to teenagers. There are a number of excellent organizations bringing mindfulness programs to younger students (K-8), but no one else focusing on teenagers.
Now that you have thought out your entry, help us pitch it.
Define your company, program, service, or product in 1-2 short sentences [136 characters]
iBme transforms the lives of teenagers by equipping them with tools to approach their thoughts and emotions with curiosity and kindness
Identify what is innovative about your solution in 1-2 short sentences [136 characters]
iBme integrates mindfulness and social emotional learning with fun games and creative expression—making mindfulness relevant for teenage
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What has been the impact of your solution to date?
Since our inception in 2008 we have:
- Reached over 200 teenagers through our teen retreats. 90% of teen participants say the retreat “changed their lives.”
- Carried out research on our teen retreats in conjunction with Virginia Commonwealth University. Initial studies demonstrated positive effects on our teen retreat participants including, “Significant improvements over time in positive and negative affect, life satisfaction, self-esteem, mindfulness, acceptance, relatedness, and all 6 subscale indicators of emotion regulation.”
- We have hosted workshops for over 300 professionals and parents who work with teens
- We have taught more than 1,000 students through our in-school programs in four states (CA, VA, MD, DC)
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
We aim to transform the lives of over 500 teens on retreat and reach over 10,000 teens through in-school programs. We also aim to train more than 200 teachers, professionals and parents in the iBme curricula and practices.
Our vision is to create a generation of leaders that are in touch with their own feelings, thoughts, and emotions. We want to create a generation of heart-centered leaders who are ready to tackle the challenges of the 21st century in collaboration with their peers and respect for the natural world.
Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone
Task 1
1) Develop a standardized iBme curriculum to use for high school and after school programs
Task 2
2) Provide in-school and after school programs at 10 schools
Task 3
3) Identify and train 10 new teachers for retreats and school programs
Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone
Task 1
1) Finish developing a comprehensive teacher-training program to work with school teachers
Task 2
2) Expand our summer mindfulness retreats to more explicitly include a service component and environmental education
Task 3
3) Expand our retreats to 5 new locations in the summer of 2013
Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world [125 words]
Joe Klein was a counselor to Virginia Tech students in the wake of the shooting rampage in 2007. As he counseled the students, he realized more than his counseling training or any other formal schooling, his mindfulness practice allowed him to connect with the students.
Right after this experience, Joe was introduced to mindfulness retreats for teenagers. In his twenty-five years of working with teens, he had never seen a program that had such an ability to change the lives of teenagers so quickly and powerfully, and at the same time nurture and nourish the adults involved. As he puts it, “Everyone’s battery was on gain.” He immediately quit his job and decided to bring mindfulness to teenagers full time through retreats and in-school programs.
Sustainability
Tell us about your partnerships
For research, we have partnered with some of the leading mindfulness centers in the country including the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center.
For developing curriculum, we have partnered with a UK-based organization called the Mindfulness in Schools Project (MISP). We are working on a partnership now to adapt their high school curriculum for an American audience and to integrate our relational games, mindful communication and creative expression activities into a joint MISP-iBme high school curriculum.
What type of team (staff, volunteers, etc.) will ensure that you achieve the growth milestones identified in the Social Impact section? [75 words]
We have a small staff: 3 full time persons and 6 part time staff. We have a large number of very active and dedicated volunteers, particularly who staff teen retreats- as many as 50 volunteers in 2012. We would like to keep our program staff small and increase our in-school teachers and retreat teachers. We are focusing on developing teacher-training models for both retreat and in-school teachers in 2013 in order to increase these numbers.
Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list
We are committed to offering our retreats and in-school programs to a diverse range of students and schools. However, to make our retreats sustainable we must come up with a pricing structure that allows for both diversity and revenue. This summer, we are piloting a new pricing structure that would allow us to offer scholarships to any needy student while also making revenue from our retreats.
 | 59 weeks ago Patrick Cook-Deegan updated this Competition Entry. |
| 59 weeks ago Patrick Cook-Deegan updated this Competition Entry. |
| 59 weeks ago Patrick Cook-Deegan submitted this idea. |
