Join us for this IMA Webinar! Mindfulness-Based Mentoring: A Focus on Students from Pre-K to Higher Education Attend this webinar to explore the rationale for understanding mindfulness as applied to mentoring — including the research on neuroplasticity and the effectiveness of mindfulness in reducing stress and improving well-being, trends on its use, and the relationship to academic achievement. Participate in sample exercises and explore guidelines for how mentors could use

Dana Asby, CEI Intern Most parents want more information about parenting, yet 65% of all parents never attend a single class or discussion about parenting (Zepeda, Varela, and Morales, 2004). This may be due to a lack of accessibility with varied causes, including a lack of available programs in locations and at times convenient to the family. Most programs occur in the middle of the working day, so working parents cannot take advantage of them (Zepeda, Varela, and Morales, 2

Dana Asby, CEI Intern Many parents, especially first time parents, have low levels of self-efficacy in parenting. In fact, 79% of parents want more information about child-rearing (Zepeda, Varela, and Morales, 2004). Parent education programs typically involve a parent educator conducting a series of classes or workshops with new parents or parents experiencing certain contexts that can be risk-factors to responsive parenting. They have generally been proven to be effective i

Dana Asby, CEI Intern Whereas more and more people are aware of neuroplasticity, or the brain’s ability to heal and form new neural pathways, Mlodinow is talking about the elasticity of the thinking itself.  According to Mlodinow, ‘Elastic thinking endows us with the ability to solve novel problems and overcome the neural and psychological barriers that can impede us from looking beyond the existing order.’ (2018).  He claims that elastic thinking, also known as flexible thin

Andrew Davis, CEI Intern and Christine Mason, CEI Executive Director Math Performance in the US Falls Behind Many Other Countries While math skills are essential, many people in the U.S. don’t have adequate math skills and abilities. An estimated one-fifth of adults in the U.S. have numeracy skills below what is needed for everyday situations (Department for Education and Skills, 2003), and less than 50% of our children perform above the proficient level in math (U.S. Departm

June Naukeras, CEI Intern It’s Natural The relative success of pediatric art therapy may stem from its roots in natural childhood responses to trauma: many children who have been traumatized will independently choose to self-soothe by making art that represents or recreates the traumatic event (Morrison, 2017). As Morrison explains, ‘It is often seen as a way for children to reframe and integrate the traumatic experience as a way to help them cope with the traumatic event.’ (

By Dana Asby, CEI Intern One way to make mindfulness a regular part of your routine is to use a mindfulness journal to structure your practice. The Mindfulness Project, a German non-profit whose mindfulness methods have empirical evidence supporting their methods, publishes an excellent mindfulness guide and journal, I am here now. This journal is a valuable resource for mindful novices and experts. In addition to daily 5-10 minute mindfulness exercises to help you start the

By Suzan Mullane, CEI Research Associate and Faculty The number of children who experience tremendous horror in the first years of life is on the rise, as is the collateral damage of the opiate crisis. In 2015, my perspective on self-injury, shame, and repressed memory changed when as part of my trauma work with schools, I was asked to observe a rural Appalachian three-year-old in a town in the midst of the opioid epidemic. I had no background information on the child or her