Teaching Mindfulness Skills to Kids and Teens

Marvin G. Belzer, PhD, is Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and Associate Director of the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center.

Mark Bertin, MD, is a developmental pediatrician and author of the books The Family ADHD Solution and Mindful Parenting for ADHD, integrating mindfulness into evidence-based care. Dr. Bertin is on the editorial board of Common Sense Media and a faculty member at the Windward Teacher Training Institute. He blogs for The Huffington Post, Mindful.org, and Psychology Today. His website is www. developmentaldoctor.com.

David S. Black, PhD, MPH, is Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. He is Founding Director of the American Mindfulness Research Association (goAMRA.org) and Editor-in- Chief of Mindfulness Research Monthly.

Susan Bögels, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, and Professor in Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Amsterdam, as well as Director of UvA minds, the Academic Treatment Center for Parents and Children. She is coauthor of the book Mindful Parenting: A Guide for Mental Health Practitioners.

Willoughby Britton, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Public Health and Director of the Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory at Brown University. Her website is www.brittonlab.com.

Richard Burnett, MA, is Cofounder and Creative Director of the Mindfulness in Schools Project, which has been brought to thousands of students in multiple countries. He cowrote the highly acclaimed 9-week mindfulness course .b (pronounced dot-b), designed to engage adolescents in the classroom, which then led to Paws .b, a new curriculum for primary and prep schools. His website is www. mindfulnessinschools.org.

Jennifer Cohen Harper, MA, is Founder of New York–based Little Flower Yoga and The School Yoga Project, and Cofounder and board member of the Yoga Service Council. She is the author of Little Flower Yoga for Kids: A Yoga and Mindfulness Program to Help Your Child Improve Attention and Emotional Balance. Her website is www.littlefloweryoga.com.

Christen Coscia, BS, is a compassionate educator who has integrated mindfulness into many diverse educational and community settings. She has been creating and conducting Wellness Works in Schools classes, including at a juvenile detention facility, for over a decade.

Marcella Cox, MS, LMFT, RYT, is a psychotherapist, yoga teacher, and mindful self-compassion instructor. She specializes in mindfulness- and compassion-oriented psychotherapy for children, adolescents, and adults, and she teaches mindful eating to help clients cultivate a healthier relationship with food and improve the quality of their life. Her website is www.marcellacox.com.

Brian M. Galla, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Applied Developmental Psychology in the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. His research focuses on mindfulness, self-control, and their relationship to academic achievement and positive youth development.

Matthew S. Goodman, BS, is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at Alliant International University, San Diego. His research interests include mindfulness with elementary-age students and clinical interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders.

Lesley Grant, ECD, is Founder and Director of the Marin Mindfulness Institute and the Mindfulness and Child Development Institute, which offer certification in mindfulness in adolescent and child psychotherapy and education to psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers, and teachers for county mental health agencies, educational organizations, and to those in private practice. Her website is www.mindfulness-education.org.

Susan Kaiser Greenland, JD, is Cofounder of the InnerKids Foundation and author of The Mindful Child: How to Help Your Kid Manage Stress and Become Happier, Kinder, and More Compassionate. She teaches worldwide on mindfulness with young people.

Betsy Hanger, MEd, is an instructor certified by Mindful Schools, teaching mindfulness in the Los Angeles Unified School District and working with transgender youth and their families.

JoAnna Harper, BA, has been practicing mindfulness since 1999. She is a graduate of Noah Levine’s Against the Stream teacher training and is currently in the Spirit Rock/IMS/IMC 4-year teacher training. She leads adult and teen silent retreats and daylong and weekly classes, and works with all kinds of youth.

Sam Himelstein, PhD, is a licensed psychologist at the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center who works with incarcerated youth suffering from trauma, addiction, and other psychological/systemic issues. He has written multiple articles and two books, A Mindfulness-Based Approach to Working with High-Risk Adolescents and the forthcoming Mindfulness-Based Substance Abuse Treatment with Adolescents: A Guide for Clinicians, Teachers, and Mentors, and presents nationally on these topics. His websites are www.samhimelstein.com and www.mbaproject.org.

Iman L. Khan, MS, LPC, is founder and owner of Blooming Minds, where she is a mindfulness meditation coach and instructor, a certified family mediator, a speaker, and a learning and behavior consultant. She is a psychotherapist at Johansen and Fleming Psychological Services in Kenosha, Wisconsin, specializing in interpersonal neurobiology and contemplative neuroscience. She works with adults, children, couples, and families treating and preventing a variety of psychological diagnoses. Her website is www.bloomingminds.org.

Wynne Kinder, BA, Ed, a former classroom teacher, teaches the mindful awareness program Wellness Works in Schools in settings including urban, general education, special education, and alternative classrooms. She developed mindful brain breaks with www.GoNoodle.com, a free online digital tool for teachers and their students; FLOW is a new category of 3- to 5-minute activities with self-care and self-regulation in mind and in practice. Her website is www.WellnessWorksinSchools. com.

Lindsey M. Knowles, MEd, is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at the University of Arizona. She is certified as a mindfulness facilitator by the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center, and is a staff member for Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme) retreats. Her research interests include mindfulness, bereavement, attachment, and psychoneuroimmunology.

Gregory Kramer, PhD, is Founder and Guiding Teacher of The Metta Foundation and has been teaching insight meditation since 1980. He is the author of multiple books and the developer of Insight Dialogue practice, which he has been teaching since 1995, offering retreats in North America, Asia, Europe, and Australia. His website is www.metta.org.

Jeffrey Pflaum, BA, has been an inner-city elementary school teacher in the New York City Department of Education for over 30 years. He is the author of Motivating Teen and Preteen Readers: How Teachers and Parents Can Lead the Way and is a featured blogger on The BAM Radio Network’s EDWords (www. bamradionetwork.com/edwords-blog/blogger/listings/jeffpaul), where he writes about the mindfulness curricula that he started in the 1970s. His website is www. JeffreyPflaum.com.

Deborah M. Plummer, BSc, is a writer, Imagework practitioner, and workshop facilitator. She is formerly a clinical lead speech and language therapist working within the NHS in the United Kingdom and senior lecturer in health psychology and counseling at De Montfort University, Leicester. She is the author of 10 books, including Focusing and Calming Games for Children: Mindfulness Strategies and Activities to Help Children to Relax, Concentrate and Take Control. Her website is www.deborahplummer.co.uk.

Betsy Rose, MA, is a singer, songwriter, and mindfulness educator. Her in-school programs and trainings for teachers, parents, and youth invoke the magic of song, breath, and presence—mindfulness with a beat! Her recordings include Calm DownBoogie and Heart of a Child. Her websites are www.betsyrosemusic.org and www.mindfulsongs.org.

Amy Saltzman, MD, is a holistic physician and mindfulness coach whose passion is supporting people of all ages in enhancing their well-being and discovering the Still Quiet Place within. She is recognized by her peers as a visionary and pioneer in the fields of holistic medicine and mindfulness for youth, and her current work focuses on sharing mindfulness with school-age youth in socioeconomically diverse school and community settings. In collaboration with the Department of Psychology at Stanford University, she has conducted two research studies evaluating the benefits of teaching mindfulness to child–parent pairs and to children in low-income elementary schools. To support others in discovering the joy and peace of the Still Quiet Place, Dr. Saltzman has written the book A Still Quiet Place: A Mindfulness Program for Teaching Children and Adolescents to Ease Stress and Difficult Emotions and created two CDs, Still Quiet Place: Mindfulness for Young Children and Still Quiet Place: Mindfulness for Teens. Her website is www.stillquietplace.com.

Randye J. Semple, PhD, is Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. She is the codeveloper of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for children and Mindfulness Matters, Associate Editor of the journal Mindfulness, Consulting Editor of the journal Spirituality in Clinical Practice, and past president of the Mindfulness and Acceptance special interest group of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies.

Arielle Sydnor, BA, works for Teach for America and is pursuing a master’s degree in teaching.

Suzi Tortora, EdD, LMHC, is a dance movement and creative arts therapist, working with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the New School for Continuing Studies, the Pratt Institute, the 92nd Street Y, and the Harkness Dance Center in New York City. She is the author of The Dancing Dialogue: Using the Communicative Power of Movement with Young Children. Her website is www. suzitortora.com.

Ozum Ucok-Sayrak, PhD, is Assistant Professor at the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies at Duquesne University, where she teaches courses on intercultural communication, integrated marketing communication, business and professional communication, and public speaking.

Vanessa CL Weiner is Founder and Executive Director of the ResilientKids organization. Her website is ResilientKids.org.

Char Wilkins, MSW, LCSW, is a mindfulness-based psychotherapist working with women with childhood trauma and disordered eating. She is a senior teacher of mindful eating–conscious living and mindfulness-based stress reduction professional trainings for the Mindfulness-Based Professional Training Institute at the University of California, San Diego. For information on mindful eating, visit www.me-cl.com.

Christopher Willard, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist and educational consultant with a specialty in mindfulness and self-compassion. He speaks on the topic of mindfulness and meditation with young people nationally and internationally, and holds teaching appointments at Lesley University and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Willard is on the board of directors of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy and the Mindfulness in Education Network. He has been practicing sitting meditation since 1999. Dr. Willard is the author of Child’s Mind: Mindfulness Practices to Help Our Children Be More Focused, Calm, and Relaxed; The Mindfulness and Anxiety Workbook for Teens; and the forthcoming Growing Up Mindful. His website is www.drchristopherwillard.com.