by Lynea Gillen | Aug 30, 2020 | Attention / Focus, Behavior, Families, K-12 Education, Mental Health, Social-Emotional Learning
Not long after I’d begun work as a counselor in a high poverty, high trauma school, I played a social/emotional game with a group of students in which I’d ask questions to get them thinking. “What would you do if you found $10,000?” I asked the children. Having come... 
by Jim & Lynea Gillen | Apr 5, 2020 | Mental Health, Social-Emotional Learning
It’s more than a little ironic that some key things that could most help us manage stress can seem hardest to come by during times like our current health and economic crisis: hope, gratitude, and joy. Or at least it is when you believe they depend on circumstances... 
by Lynea Gillen | Aug 4, 2019 | Social-Emotional Learning
Since Jim is an avid cycling fan, he’s spent the past month following the Tour de France – a race made even more challenging this year by a brutal heat wave, hazardous weather, and landslides that forced a change in course. With such conditions, you might think that... 
by Jim & Lynea Gillen | Jul 7, 2019 | Social-Emotional Learning
Since last week’s Democratic Debate, so much attention has been paid to “winners” and “losers” and moments such as Kamala Harris’ rebuttal to Joe Biden, a rather important moment has gone overlooked. It came on the first night, after the topic shifted to the matter of... 
by Jim & Lynea Gillen | Jan 27, 2019 | Social-Emotional Learning
There are those who think bringing social-emotional learning into the classroom is some sort of fad. Not so, asserts a new national commission report from the Aspen Institute. “The promotion of social, emotional, and academic learning…is the substance of education... 
by Jim & Lynea Gillen | Nov 30, 2018 | Mindfulness, Social-Emotional Learning, Yoga Calm
It’s amazing to realize that, today, twice as many kids are doing yoga than just five years ago. According to the latest figures from the CDC, 8.4% of youth now practice yoga. Back in 2012, only 3% did. Meditation practices have increased more than five-fold. That’s...