"Are You Listening to Me?"

While studying at Edgewood College, I developed and implemented a mindfulness study alongside team members Hayley Clark, LMFT and Kelsey Schroeder-Gasser, LMFT. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of mindfulness activities in the classroom. We were specifically measuring the frequency with which a teacher has to engage in corrective behavior (e.g., telling a child to not speak out of turn, staying seated, etc.) with their students before, during, and after the implementation of a 5-7-minute daily mindfulness activity. We recruited seven teachers from the Monona School District in Madison, Wisconsin. The teachers completed three phases of the study: pre-mindfulness, mindfulness, and post-mindfulness. During the pre-test phase, teachers completed a daily tally of the number of times they corrected behavioral problems in the classroom. The second phase included the 5-7 minute mindfulness activity and participants continued to tally their corrective behaviors on a daily basis. Lastly, a post-test was conducted to collect the number of corrective behaviors while the mindfulness activity was discontinued. Each phase was four weeks in length, twelve weeks in total. It was hypothesized that there would be a reduction of corrective behaviors through the implementation of a daily mindfulness activity. During phase 1 and phase 2, there was a significant reduction in corrective behaviors reported during the implementation of a daily mindfulness activity. It was exciting to see that mindfulness truly makes an impact with these children at some level in order for corrective behavior to decrease. Mindfulness and meditation are wonderful tools we can all implement into our lives. I have not only worked with this research but have been using mindfulness myself for almost 3 years and have experience collaborating with clients on how it works best for them. What would happen if you tried some mindfulness activities for yourself? I would be happy to work with you to see what may be useful for you to try.

Where are they now?
Hayley Clark, LMFT - Wildflower Counseling LLC - Fitchburg, WI
Kelsey Schroeder-Gasser, LMFT - Journey Mental Health Center - Madison, WI
Miche'l Moore, MS MFT-IT - EVOLVEwithin LLC - Elm Grove, WI