What we do
Our mission is to engage young people in mindful movement, meditation and play to cultivate individual emotional and physical wellbeing that contributes to community change and global transformation.
At InnerConnected, we utilize mindful movement, meditation and play as vehicles for teaching Social Emotional Learning (SEL). SEL skills are largely recognized as self awareness, self management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making.
Increasing SEL within a child’s education has been demonstrated to improve attitudes about the self and others, promote positive social behaviors and increase connection to school community, while also decreasing behavior problems and stress levels.
SEL promotes educating the whole student by recognizing both psychological and academic needs.
SEL is a lifelong process and studies have shown that all learning – academic, social and emotional is inextricably linked. For this reason we have chosen to encompass SEL within our programs to act as a beacon to guide every young person to recognize their limitless potential.
Program Overview
We currently offer three Social Emotional Learning Programs
Resilience Rising
Resilience Rising, our 25-session program, culminates in a student-designed graduation ceremony.
The cornerstone of Resilience Rising is SEE Learning’s Social, Emotional and Ethical Learning Curriculum. Selected for its alignment with InnerConnected’s mission, SEE Learning’s strengths-based, trauma-informed curriculum, developed by Emory University, builds upon Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and other educational initiatives that promote social, emotional and systems intelligence.
Intended to be used across cultures and countries to facilitate holistic education and emotional literacy, the detailed curriculum and supplemental materials, including letters to parents and caregivers that accompany each chapter, provide a comprehensive SEL experience for both the student and InnerConnected Ambassador
I am InnerConnected
I am InnerConnected, our flagship 8-session program, integrates trauma-informed practices to teach the five core SEL competencies of self awareness, self management, social awareness, relationships skills and responsible decision making.
In Session 1, the creation of a brave space sets the foundation for the proceeding sessions that explore the SEL competencies through mindful movement, meditation and play using creative projects, activities and games. Session two explores self awareness through creativity. Self awareness is the first step towards inclusivity. By understanding one’s own emotions, values and experiences, students may recognize how they can influence their reactions and resulting actions.
Self management through emotional exploration and coping skills is relayed in Session three. As self management is fostered, independence and a greater capacity may be forged to challenge inequity and systems of oppression. Emotions in the social context reinforce efforts toward collective wellness, as social awareness is taught in session four.
Promoting mindful interactions with others allows for healthy relationships which is the focus of session five. Session six’s learning includes responsible decision-making through personal and social impact which extends to inspire youth’s limitless potential through action and service learning in session seven. In the final session, learning is integrated through a student-designed graduation celebration.
Workshops
Workshops serve as standalone sessions on mission-aligned topics relevant to youth. These one-time sessions allow students to learn about topics such as mindfulness through live instruction and collective practice.
Ambassador Program
“Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.” Arthur Koestler
InnerConnected Ambassadors are enthusiastic individuals who align with our philosophy, embodying our organizational core values as they deliver IC’s social emotional learning curriculum to actively engaged youth.
Displaying a propensity for self inquiry, IC Ambassadors are willing to learn, evolve and collaborate. We encourage our InnerConnected Ambassadors to approach this social emotional work with youth with curiosity, InnerConnected’s fundamental core value.
Curiosity allows for the cultivation of compassion and mindful emotion regulation. A compassionate Ambassador with a regulated nervous system invites co-regulation,
creating a brave space in which students may explore learning.
Ambassadors foster daily self care routines to include meditation, mindful movement and their own forms of play, even for a few minutes each day, to refuel them and enrich their teaching.
We encourage them to keep a journal throughout each course they facilitate to help them gain perspective on their students’ experiences, as well as their own, drawing upon the strength of their own experience and gaining feedback from the youth with whom they work.
We hope this synergy will craft a unique learning experience that nurtures resilience and “innerconnection” for all.
Augmenting their skillsets with our training, Ambassadors hail from a variety of backgrounds including Education, Social Work, Wellness and Volunteerism including Americorps and Peace Corps Volunteers.