Robert W. Coleman a school in Baltimore has just won our hearts! There’s no such thing as detention at the Baltimore elementary, instead they have a Mindful Moment Room, a brightly colored “oasis of calm” that looks about as far as you can get from the detention rooms typically used to punish kids. It’s part of a program called Holistic Me, an initiative that teaches children to practice mindful meditation and breathing exercises while encouraging them to talk to behavioral professionals.
Past research has shown that punishing kids with detention does little to improve their behavior in the long term. The faculty at Robert W. Coleman Elementary witnessed this ineffectiveness firsthand and decided to make some changes. Instead of being sent to the principal’s office, kids who act up now pay a visit to the school’s Mindful Moment Room.
The room is a collaboration between the school and the Holistic Life Foundation, a local nonprofit that offers yoga and mindfulness classes to the community. Led and founded by three men, brothers Ali and Atman Smith and Andres Gonzalez who met at the University of Maryland College Park (pictured above). The Holistic Life Foundation is a Baltimore-based 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization committed to nurturing the wellness of children and adults in underserved communities. Through a comprehensive approach which helps children develop their inner lives through yoga, mindfulness, and self-care HLF demonstrates deep commitment to learning, community, and stewardship of the environment. HLF is also committed to developing high-quality evidence based programs and curriculum to improve community well-being.
When they arrive, students are asked to sit in silence and quiet their minds. They might focus on their breathing or practice some other mental exercises that encourage mindfulness. The idea is that misbehaving kids will train themselves to calm down during stressful or hyperactive moments instead of going to a place where they might be further distracted.
The program works in partnership with a local non-profit called the Holistic Life Foundation, and the results so far have been pretty impressive. In fact, since first taking part in the program the school hasn’t issued a single suspension in two years! We love this, what schools are implementing this next?!
