A report released today by Georgetown Law’s Center on Poverty and Inequality calls for specialized yoga programs to be offered widely to girls in the juvenile justice system amidst growing evidence that they can help them overcome the harmful effects of pervasive childhood trauma.
The first of-its kind report – which draws on original pilot studies in Pennsylvania and Connecticut, an extensive literature review, and interviews with experts and girls around the country – finds that tailored forms of yoga and mindfulness programs can be uniquely effective in supporting traumatized girls.
Benefits include better coping skills, increased emotional regulation, improved neurological and physical health outcomes, and healthier parenting practices and relationships, the report finds.
Children in the juvenile justice system have experienced disproportionately high rates of childhood trauma, which has long-term harmful effects on physical and mental health. Girls in the system are more likely than boys to have experienced all forms of abuse – but particularly sexual violence.
[For more of this story go to http://www.law.georgetown.edu/...ps-at-risk-girls.cfm]
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