‘Better than Chocolate! Mindfulness Workshop for Workers & Carers’ assists workers and carers in social & community services, schools, out of home care, health services, youth justice etc. to understand and meet the needs of children, young people & adults who have experienced complex trauma.
The name of this workshop came from the terrific book ‘Why Mindfulness is Better than Chocolate?’ by David Michie (www.davidmichie.com). This book and others such as: ‘The Mindful Brain’ & ‘Mindsight’ by Dr Dan Siegel, 'Sensorimotor Psychotherapy' by Dr Pat Ogden and ’Full Catastrophe Living’ by Jon Kabat-Zinn have been used as references for this workshop. Dr Stuart Shanker’s work on the importance of self-regulation for children to enhance learning & relationships will also be discussed during this workshop.
During this workshop we will discuss mindfulness in the context of parenting & caring for children who have experienced complex trauma. You will be introduced to a range of resources to support children and young people healing from trauma.
Learning Outcomes
- Define ‘Mindfulness’.
- Explore the importance of 'Mindful Parenting' for attunement to children and young people in our care.
- Describe the neurobiology of mindfulness, including neural integration and mirror neurons.
- Discuss self-regulation and identify strategies to assist children and young people who have experienced complex trauma to regulate their states of arousal.
- Participate in some mindfulness based activities for reducing stress and improving physical and mental health.
