Teaching Mindfulness & Emotional Literacy to At-Risk Youth

This intensive weekend training (May 21 & 22; 9:30am-6pm each day) will teach educators, parents, social workers, probation officers and other youth service providers how to integrate mindfulness and emotional awareness techniques into their work with at-risk youth. The trainings will also be appropriate for those with a contemplative practice background who seek fresh ideas and practical, concrete approaches to teaching mindfulness meditation and related techniques to at-risk, urban adolescents.

The training will address two complimentary issues:

- The first is "how we are" in our work with youth with traumatic histories. What does mindfulness practice have to say about approaching communities of youth who have endured significant violence, emotional and sexual abuse, substance abuse and related mental health issues? How can mindfulness practice empower us to deal with the common problems we face serving this community, particularly stress, anxiety, burnout and vicarious trauma? Why is focusing on our own authenticity, on our own ability to show up honestly with the youth we serve, the foundation of what we hope to teach and transmit?

- The second is how we can adapt traditional mindfulness practices to the needs of at-risk youth. How do we talk to adolescents about mindfulness and mental/emotional awareness in a way that cultivates interest and curiosity? What kinds of metaphors, teaching stories and exercises work best? How can we move beyond delivering “cookie-cutter” speeches and lesson plans to teaching content that is relevant to the lives of youth and rooted in our personal experience? What is the role of personal disclosure in creating a real connection with our clients?

The training will include periods of mindfulness practice, guided inquiry and discussion, and role-play as well as significant time for participants to bring specific questions and issues from their own work with youth to the MBA teaching staff. Participants should come ready to actively participate (this training is not a lecture or a passive transmission of new concepts/information). Participants will receive a manual of mindfulness and emotional awareness exercises and curriculum modules adapted specifically for use with at-risk youth.

The training will be led by MBA Training Director Vinny Ferraro, a long-time mindfulness meditation practitioner, meditation instructor and a nationally recognized pioneer in bringing contemplative practice and emotional awareness programming to at-risk, gang-involved and incarcerated youth and the community of providers that serve them. The child of an incarcerated father, Vinny spent the majority of his teenage life hustling and living on the streets. In 1987, in the process of recovering from a severe drug addiction, he began leading youth groups in rehabilitation centers, juvenile halls and half-way houses through the Hospitals and Institutions Program of Narcotics Anonymous. In 2001, he began teaching for Challenge Day, a nationally-recognized transformational change organization that helps adolescents overcome internalized and external oppression, cultivate emotional well-being, and create healthier communities. He eventually became Challenge Day’s Director of Training, leading workshops in four different countries to over 100,000 youth. Vinny leads meditation retreats for adults nation-wide and is a graduate of Spirit Rock Mediation Center’s Community Dharma Leader’s Program. He has received national media coverage for his work with at-risk youth; he is the subject of the MTV series "If You Really Knew Me."