Imagine a 1st grader girl who wears the exact same outfit (short, underwear and shirt, never socks) everyday for over 4 months, refusing all other clothes in her closet. Her mother washing the outfit every evening until the clothes are becoming threadbare and the morning routine for this family is fraught with heightened emotions, tears and tension.

Imagine a 3rd grade boy who several months post strep throat has not/will not resume swallowing or easting solid food and is unable to take his medication for ADHD and anxiety and has lost 30 pounds.

Imagine a 9 year old boy, a bright child from a solid home, who gets expelled from his private elementary school for a series of behaviors including hitting a teacher and throwing a book at a classmate.

Imagine a girl who likes her clothing so tight that she wears up to 7 shirts and pulls her shoelaces and belts so tight that her parents have concerns about potential internal injury.

Since I've learned all the strategies and the ways to manage my stress I've been more productive. The strategies to notice my feelings, and share them with others - to let other people know what I'm feeling, and how my day's been going, how other people made me sad, mad, or uncomfortable and how to help me has made a big difference.
 
Kaz, age 14

What is Self-regulation ?

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Self-regulation sometimes referred to as self-control or self-management, is a complex and multi-faceted skill, linked to several parts of the brain. Self-regulation is our ability to adjust our level of alertness and arousal, and our display of emotions through our behavior to attain our goals in socially adaptive ways.

Self-regulation allows us to establish and maintain an optimal state for a given situation, and encompasses a variety of underlying skills and abilities such as:

What is Mindfulness ?

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Mindfulness is the awareness that arises when we pay attention, on purpose, to the present moment, non-judgmentally, without attachment to a particular outcome.

Mindfulness, both a noun and a verb, is both utterly simple and simultaneously vast and complex.

As a verb, being mindful refers to the process of intensifying our presence and stilling ourselves to fully experience the present moment, instead of escaping it or trying to alter it, through thought or action. Living in mindfulness means regularly paying calm attention to the present moment. This attitude and practice has the ability to radically alter our relationships, including our most important relationship – with ourselves, enhance our joys and ease our suffering.

When used as a noun, mindfulness refers to a type of meditation, with both formal and informal practices. Although the basic techniques of practicing mindfulness are relatively simple to learn, they generally take years to master, which is why the word ‘practice’ often follows the word mindfulness.  Living a mindful life can be expressed in only six words: understand, feel and practice, repeated over and over.