photo by JOE GUSZKOWSKI
Holistic Life Foundation instructors Michelle Lee (left) and Jazmine Blackwell lead students through an exercise during an after-school yoga and meditation program at Lillie May Carroll Jackson Charter School. The instructors told the girls to pull the "weight of the room" toward them and push it back away from them.
Neuroscience has revealed in recent years that trauma resulting from adverse childhood events can actually change the brain — for the worse — of a developing child. And their thought processes and behaviors can become impaired as a result. They may be less able to control their emotions than youth who have not been traumatized, and they may experience reinjury and disturbing flashbacks.
With about 17 million young people with a mental health disorder of some kind, according to the Child Mind Institute — and with this greater awareness about the lifelong effects of trauma — anxiety grows among youth workers who wonder how best to get help for their charges.
A growing number of experts, including psychologists, social workers and physicians, have found a new tool in their kits for treating young people: mindfulness.
Read entire article by Lynne Anderson from YouthToday.org
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